Egyptian Banks got Egypt Vision’s back for a bright 2030

Interview with one of Banque Misr’s Administration Managers Mr. Mohamed Ramadan
Interviewed By: Eman Ramadan & Mai Hesham

Written By: Eman Ramadan & Marina Mamdouh

Under the direction of the Central Bank of egypt, Banque Misr exerts a great effort to bring the national product back to the game in Egypt.

Egypt is proceeding on a road map basis called Egypt’s strategy or Egypt’s vision 2030, aiming to achieve the UN sustainable development goals. One of these goals is SDG no. 8, a significant goal calling for decent work and economic growth. Banque Misr, being one of the earliest banks in Egypt, has observable contributions supporting Egypt’s vision 2030.

Two of our Meraki team members have made an interview with Mr. Mohamed Ramadan, one of Banque Misr’s administration managers, and the one responsible for startups’ funds. He was asked about the bank’s efforts in funding those projects so that we can know more about the contributions of the bank to achieve the goals of Egypt’s vision for 2030, decent work for all individuals of Egypt’s employment force.

Here is the interview in details:

How does the bank contribute to Egypt’s vision 2030, concerning decent work and economic growth?

Egypt’s vision mainly tends to improve the standards of living for an individual by 2030. The central bank is the principal body responsible for the cash that helps in making this happen. It is the one that sets the rules and draws outlines for the initiatives then distributes the tasks to the other banks including Banque Misr.

Banque Misr has a great role in carrying out the central bank plans and tasks. One of the central banks' initiatives that were carried out and supervised by Banque Misr was the one that specified about 100 milliards EGP for 5% of the small startups. This initiative was a great breakthrough because it did not fund the startups with an amount of cash but rather provided the small enterprises with the required goods and equipment.

As you know Egypt went through the two revolutions of 2011 or 2013 respectively, which negatively and highly impacted its economy, and therefore the central bank is seeking since then to bring the Egyptian or national products back to the market.

what are the changes in the central bank initiatives from 2017 till 2021? How are they developed?

In fact, the central bank initiative was launched in 2016 and its main goal as I told you was to help Egyptian startups to work and grow. Contributing to the initiative, Banque Misr divided the projects into 3 categories very small, small, and medium startups. Each category has its limits in financial support. The larger the business gets and the older in the market it becomes, the greater is the financial support provided.

Taking segments of people, as women, countryside, and citizens under the poverty line, into consideration while determining the financial support limit, the bank started to support very small startups, the small and then the medium one.

By 2017, we started to ease conditions and measures required for participating in the initiatives. For instance, now you can apply for a digital loan to fund your online business using a mobile app.

What are the conditions for applying in initiatives?

There are general conditions:

The minimum age of the applicant for funding a small project should be 21 and should not exceed 65.
Must be of a good reputation and full capacity.
Have a good credit history with banks.

There are certain procedures for each enterprise, sector, and category. There are loans that require a (guarantor), and other loans that do not require a guarantor, such as existing companies whose loan value is determined by the company's financial list.

Many projects have emerged during the Corona pandemic; did that help increase interaction with initiatives?

After the emergence of the Corona pandemic, the Central Bank made another initiative, postponing corporate and individual loan premiums for 6 months, which had a positive impact on companies and individuals. The micro-enterprise sector was the most affected by the Corona pandemic; as a result, the Central Bank took the initiative to postpone the installments. During the pandemic, new projects emerged, and banks began to finance them under certain conditions.

What is your assessment of the central bank initiative implemented through banks, and what do young people lack from your perspective besides the bank's material support for their small businesses to succeed?

As directed by the Central Bank's political leadership, the Central Bank has instructed banks to facilitate conditions and procedures for small-scale enterprise loans. Among bank facilities, a digital loan has been established, allowing the customer to enter documents through the Internet and approve the terms. Accordingly, the loan is disbursed within 5 days.

In my view, I recommend that young people become self-employed by adopting the idea of a project and developing it using the financing facilities currently available for small enterprises.

What do you recommend to young people to encourage them to present in Central Bank initiatives supported by Banque Misr?

They have to have an idea for a project, the determination, and seriousness to execute and develop it and they will find support from banks on concessional terms. The bank's primary objective of microfinance is for the bank to receive its premiums on the due date.

If you are interested in learning more about Central Bank initiatives supported by Banque Misr then click on the links below:

https://www.banquemisr.com/ar/smes/Pages/Supporting-entrepreneurs.aspx

https://www.banquemisr.com/ar/smes/pages/small-enterprises-.aspx

https://www.banquemisr.com/ar/aboutus/press/Pages/CBE-Initiative.aspx