Minister of Trade and Industry Nivine Gamea said boosting co-operation and trade exchange with African countries comes at the top of the state’s priorities.
She said the Egyptian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) is coordinating with all the bodies concerned to benefit from the promising African market in opening new vistas for exporting products of small businesses.
She made the remarks on Sunday during a meeting which the MSMEDA held with representatives from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The meeting tackled means of activating services of the 50 Million Women African Speak platform (50MAWSP), which is the first platform to group 50 million women in the trade and industrial domains in 38 African countries. The platform addresses the specific problems faced by women, particularly female entrepreneurs, namely low levels of education and entrepreneurial training, poor access to finance and financial services, and poor access to information.
In particular, women will benefit, through this initiative, from entrepreneurial training, mentoring, financial services and relevant local business information, while establishing their own networks of contacts.
The platform is also meant to contribute to realizing economic integration and boosting trade exchange among African countries.
MSMEDA Deputy CEO Tareq Shash said the meeting falls within the framework of the MSMEDA efforts to co-operate with development partners to promote small and medium sized enterprises and offer tangible services for businesswomen via the 50MAWSP, which was officially launched in tandem with the COMESA and the African Development Bank.
