Women entrepreneurs in Cairo and other governorates have affirmed that the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) will help them set up their own businesses.
They said that they benefited from the various aspects of financial and technical support provided by the Agency, starting from the launch stage, training and skills development, until the stage of enhancing capabilities for expansion, production development, and the export phase.
The messages of women entrepreneurs came on the occasion of the celebration of International Women’s Day, as the Enterprise Development Agency puts women’s support at the top of its priorities, by facilitating the provision of various services and benefits to them, as well as programs specifically designated for them, in a way that helps empower them economically and socially.
Among the female models that were assisted by the Chemical Projects Development Agency was Hala Saleh Dakmak, who decided to cooperate with her husband, the doctor, to establish a private medical activity, a clinic and an analysis laboratory, where she managed the activity herself, and through it, the idea of her project was born to establish a factory for gauze and medical supplies in Qalyubia Governorate, and she did not wait for the typical job like other graduates.
Hala started her activity with self-savings, and with the passage of time and the increase in the volume of production, she went to the MSMEDA to cover production expenses and develop equipment and machines, as the factory employs approximately 40 workers, as she obtained financing from the agency, in addition to obtaining a free training course to develop the skills of entrepreneurs at the American University in Cairo, which worked on developing its project management capabilities.
As for Susan Mounir, she started her career with an idea that was inspired by her husband’s field of work, who was working as a representative for a tissue company. With the help of her husband, she decided to establish a project for the manufacture of paper tissues since 2004. He moved towards making a tissue production machine locally, as the cost of manufacturing it at that time amounted to about EGP 20,000.
After a period of time passed in that industry, during which they were able to own 4 industrial workshops in the industrial zone of May 15th City, and at that time they needed financial support, so they decided to go to MSMEDA to obtain financing, and then the financing continued until the total value reached EGP 3m.
Susan said: “Over the course of my work in the tissue industry, the MSMEDA has been a main supporter of my project, providing all means of support.”
As for Mona Sami, the owner of the activity of manufacturing children’s bags and educational and interactive games, she believes that “will is the real engine that drives people, so always support your will with what you want, and decide in yourself that you can.”
In this way, Mona Sami summed up the journey of success of her project, as the young woman who loves drawing was able through her hobby to create a key to her practical and professional life on her own through interactive educational books for children in the nursery, and Mona decided in 2018 to transform her manual skills into a small project and within a short period she was able to participation in several exhibitions with a wide range of educational books for children with special abilities and other books to develop children’s skills and raise their mental abilities.
After two years of hard work, Mona saw on one of the television channels an advertisement of MSMEDA. Immediately, Mona went to the agency’s branch in Cairo, where they welcomed the idea of her project, and she obtained financing of EGP 40,000.
Mona was able, through the funding she obtained from the agency, to buy some machines that effectively contributed to raising the quality and efficiency of the product and became more competitive. Mona added a new activity, which is the manufacture of bags for children, and increased the volume of employment until it reached 5 female workers to work with her after the activity was individual.
In addition to the financial support, the agency helped her to market her products, as Mona obtained marketing support through her participation in some exhibitions organized by the agency, including the Ahlan Schools exhibition.
As for Ihsan El-Badrawy, she started her project in 2019, with personal savings that do not exceed EGP 50,000.
Ihsan said: “I started the project with the assistance of a number of workers that do not exceed 5 individuals, and the number of workers changes according to the needs of the work.”
She adds: “I dealt with the armed forces in the “Bashayer Al-Khair” project in the Al-Qabbari neighborhood in Alexandria, which is one of the slum development projects adopted by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The agency helped Ihsan to spread, open new markets, and get to know more customers through exhibitions that it organizes on an ongoing basis.
