Sponsored by The Central Bank of Egypt

22/07/2019

Under the auspices of the "Nile Preneurs", The Central Bank’s initiative, The United Bank today opens its business development centers, in The United Bank’s branch in Mansoura - Dakahlia governorate in order to support the small and medium enterprises sectors and entrepreneurship.
The Center was opened by: Lobna Helal - Deputy Governor of The Central Bank of Egypt and Ashraf El Kady - Chairman of The United Bank, in the presence of Nermeen El-Tahery - Undersecretary of The Central Bank of Egypt and Eng. Mokhtar Al-Kholi, Secretary General of Dakahlia Governorate - Dr. Mahmoud El Meligy - Vice President of Mansoura University, Farag Abdel Hamid - Deputy Managing Director and Board Member, Nevine Kashmiry - Deputy Managing Director business sectors - with the participation of a group of leaders of The Central Bank of Egypt and the team of The United Bank.
Lobna Helal said that: The initiative of "Nile Preneurs" launched by The Central Bank of Egypt early this year, is a complementary initiative and supportive of the initiative of the President of the Republic to finance small, medium and micro enterprises which was launched by The Central Bank of Egypt to urge banks operating in Egypt to provide 200 billion pounds to finance these projects by the end of 2019.
She said that the initiative of "Nile Preneurs" is to provide knowledge, training and motivation for entrepreneurs to implement their projects and raise their competitiveness in the market.
She added that The Central Bank of Egypt aims to open 30 business development services centers within the initiative of "Nile Preneurs" with the participation of 11 banks and small and medium enterprises development agency in 15 provinces in the Delta and Upper Egypt before the end of this year.
Role of "Nile Preneurs" Centers
These centers will provide a range of non-financial services to improve the work environment of small enterprises and entrepreneurs and help them overcome the challenges they face such as: preparation of feasibility studies, awareness of the types of companies and the procedures for establishing them, the type of financing appropriate for the company whether it was bank financing or non-banking. It also acts as a link between companies, entrepreneurs, supply chains and the local market.
Standard operating manual and training
To ensure that the business development services centers are fully targeted, a unified operational manual has been prepared for that center. The staff was trained in five specialized training programs. This includes obtaining a Business Development Specialist Certificate and two Behavioral Skills Programs in cooperation with the Egyptian Institute of Banking, the program of showing and improving your project in cooperation with the International Labor Organization and the non-bank financial services program in cooperation with the Financial Services Institute of the Financial Regulatory Authority.
Nermeen El-Tahery - deputy governor of The Central Bank of Egypt, explains that the business incubators of "Nile Preneurs" are a set of programs specifically designed to support, develop and make successful start-ups for companies. By providing them with the necessary support resources and technical services, as well as the application of best international practices and scientific foundations to support small enterprises, entrepreneurs and innovative entrepreneurs, whether in the establishment of the project or operation, taking into account the documentation of all steps of the initiative to be available to all institutions and educational institutions, academia and the private sector.
3 Entrepreneurship projects adopted by the United Bank
Ashraf El Kady, Chairman of The United Bank, revealed that the bank is adopting 3 projects for Mansoura University students. In three important areas: renewable energy - artificial intelligence - community development and integration of people with special needs.
The team will provide technical support to these projects to implement innovations and transform them from mere paper ideas to existing projects and companies.
4 Criteria for selecting projects
The project's ideas were selected based on 4 criteria:
• Modernity of the idea
• The ability of the idea or project to serve a wide range of individuals in particular and society in general.
• The cohesion of the team.
• The possibility of marketing the idea or product.
Ashraf El Kady said that the portfolio of small, medium and micro enterprises represents about 22% of the total financing portfolio of The United Bank. The bank is also in the process of expanding the field of entrepreneurship especially in Upper Egypt and the investment zones. Where will be the establishment of the second "Nile Preneurs" branch at the bank's branch in Minya in the near future.
For the selection of the governorates of Dakahlia (Mansoura) and Minya governorate to establish a series of centers, "Nile Preneurs": El Kady explained that these provinces have a high investment capacity and a wide repertoire of economic activities and investments in several areas, including: agricultural - industrial - real estate and technology. As well as their presence within the investment map of the Egyptian state, both in the Delta or the Golden Triangle in accordance with the vision of the Government 2030. These provinces also enjoy Human capacities and competencies and creative ideas huge.
He added that the province of Dakahlia (Mansoura) is the second largest province of the Republic, in terms of the presence of United Bank's branches. This is in addition to maintaining large demand for small, medium and micro enterprises. The percentage of the number of customers in the portfolio of the total number of customers of the United Bank's portfolio of small, medium and small enterprises is about 25%.