To raise awareness of financing opportunities and digital solutions for Upper Egyptians women

05/04/2021

To raise awareness of financing opportunities and digital solutions for Upper Egyptians women
The Federation of the Chamber of Commerce and The United Bank are organizing a workshop for women in the manufacture of Tulli and food products in Sohag Governorate


Nevine Kashmiry - Deputy Managing Director for Business Sectors at The United Bank
•    We are working on implementing a package of programs to empower the Egyptian women economically, especially in Upper Egypt governorates.
•    Funding and training to qualify women with the skills necessary for the success of the project.
•    Digital solutions enhance the mechanisms of financial inclusion and integration into the formal economy.

Khaled Abou El Wafa – President  of the Chamber of Commerce in Sohag
•    The cooperation of economic agencies to empower women has become a necessity to achieve sustainable development according to2030 Vision.
•    Small, medium and micro projects contribute in reducing the unemployment rates.
•    Microfinance supports the state and the central bank orientations towards combating poverty and eliminating unemployment.
•    Increasing production and improving per capita income are the criteria for sustainable development.

Cairo: April 5th, 2021

In order to empower women economically in the governorates of Upper Egypt, The United Bank and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce organized today a workshop at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in Sohag on financing services and digital solutions for businesswomen who own small and micro projects in the governorate aiming to develop awareness of the digital skills required for projects owned by women according to the labor market needs.

The workshop was attended by  Khaled Abou El Wafa- President of the Chamber of Commerce, Ahmed El Laban - Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, Gihan Ali Rabie - Chairman of the Economic Council for Businesswomen in the Chamber of Commerce, Nancy El Masry - a member of the Businesswomen Council, and Ahmed Beltek - Public Relations’ Manager from the Chambers of Commerce in Sohag side and Samia Madani - Head of the Upper Egypt Branch Area and Mohamed El Tobgi - Director of Sohag Branch and Germien Amer - Head of Institutional Communication, Dina Anan - Director of Financial Inclusion Department, Beshoy Kamal - Director of Microfinance Department, Haytham Mohamed - Director of Institutional Communication Department and Moatazah Omar - Nile Pioneers and Karim Amer - Corporate Communication from the United Bank’s side.

The United Bank team presented the distinguished financial services and programs for the small and micro projects sector specialized in empowering women and increasing employment rates in various parts of the Republic, especially Sohag Governorate, whereas, Sohag governorate has a great comparative advantage in the handicrafts, especially Akhmim products and Tulli industries, as well as handicraft industries.

This is within the framework of the initiatives sponsored by the Egyptian state, The Central Bank of Egypt and The United Bank for the women’s economic rehabilitation of and the financial inclusion programs. This is in addition to a set of technical support programs for microfinance clients in the form of specialized training courses in: management, raising the technical competence of the project, and banking qualification for the project, as well as qualification for entrepreneurship as these are the basics for projects’ good marketing.
 
The team also presented a group of digital solutions of The United Bank, which operates under the policy of "Your Bank Online" 24 hours, 7 days a week, to educate customers about digital payment methods such as Mobil Bank, Internet banking, as well as a digital wallet and automatic teller machines. This contributes to saving the customers' time and effort.

Nevine Kashmiry - Deputy Managing Director for Business Sectors, The United Bank - said that Egyptian women represent 49.1% of the Egyptian population. She added, according to the report of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies of 2019, the unemployment rate among females has reached 22.4%. This means that the percentage of women’s participation is very small in the labor market. Egyptian society loses about 40% of its human capacity as a result of the challenges of women's work.

Kashmiry attributed that such challenges that slow down the work and employment process of the Egyptian women to the culture and social legacies. This is despite the state's efforts to empower women economically and allocate the last 2018 year for women to support and qualify them. It has also set special features for women to finance small, medium and micro projects that are carried out by women, but they are still obstacles.

Microfinance supports the state and The Central bank orientations towards combating poverty and eradicating it
Nevine Kashmiry indicated that financing the micro projects sector is no longer a problem. The Egyptian state and The Central Bank of Egypt are implementing a huge policy aiming to develop this promising sector. Supported by a political vision to combat poverty and eliminate unemployment. Also, the per capita income improved, the production increased, the quality of the Egyptian product improved, and thus exports increased.

Khaled Abou El Wafa - President of the Chamber of Commerce in Sohag - stated that the effective cooperation between the state sectors and its economic entities and chambers of commerce, as well as the financial institutions led by The Central Bank of Egypt and The United Bank, aims to serve the purposes of comprehensive and sustainable development for Egypt and to create a fertile environment for creativity. As well as adopting stimulating policies with the provision of financial support and financing necessary for the development of services provided to small, medium and micro projects, emerging companies and entrepreneurship.

Khaled Abou El Wafa said that Egypt has advantages that qualify it to attract more local and foreign investments, especially with the availability of factors that attract investments, including: human elements - geographical location - programs and governmental strategies to support the sector - stimulating innovation and creativity.

It is worth noting that the General Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce and The United Bank signed a cooperation protocol on October 2020 to provide a package of banking solutions and specialized financing mechanisms to the 5.5 million chamber’s members in various parts of the Republic, in addition to providing a package of distinguished digital services to Chamber members, whether companies or individuals, represented in: Direct and indirect electronic payment mechanisms through electronic payment methods or through the national "Meeza" card. As well as a group of electronic banking services that work 24 hours, 7 days a week, such as: Internet banking, mobile banking, as well as digital wallets, in addition to a package of technical banking consultations for companies from the union members, especially start-ups and entrepreneurs, to ensure continuous improvement of their financial performance.