On 15th Febrauary 2018 the coordination meeting of the EU-funded project “Support to Implementation of Strategies to Foster MSME Development in Egypt” (MiSMESIS) was held in the premises of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Cairo.
The purpose of this meeting is to create a cooperative environment in order to enhance interactions among initiatives to support SMEs in Egypt, funded by several international donors.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Egyptian Central Bank, USAID, ILO, MSMEDA, ETF, IMC and MTI.
The meeting was opened by Mr. Angel Gutierrez, Head of EU Economic Cooperation, giving an outlook of the current SME initiatives funded by the EU; Ms. Clara Beffa, Project Manager of Eurecna, leader of the MiSMESIS implementing consortium, highlighted that the purpose of the meeting is to have an exchange of views and ideas on how to create synergies between projects.
Mr. Malherbe, Team Leader of MiSMESIS project, presented the activities of MiSMESIS and the planning of interventions for the following months. He also introduced three main discussion topics of the meeting, namely views on how to translate SME strategies into tangible impacts and how to implement actions which enable SMEs to benefit from public funding and support. Last but not least the discussions also covered suggestions on the leading role of MSMEDA in the Egyptian economic environment.
A very dynamic discussion was triggered among the participants. The need for coordination among donors is seen as crucial for all the participants, as well as a continuous monitoring of impact. The need for a unified definition of SMEs has become very urgent since it is the cornerstone on which interventions can be tailored. An important comment was also pointing out that while quick wins are paramount, education is a key factor to achieve long term success.