Women-led businesses capture 70% of Egypt banks’ MSME funding

Egyptian central bank’s assistant sub-governor says around 70 percent of the banks’ financing for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are dedicated for women-owned businesses.

This emphasises the growing economic empowerment for Egyptian women, central bank’s assistant sub-governor Nermine El-Tahri told a conference in Cairo on Tuesday.

The women’s banking market has tremendous economic potential in Egypt, Women have contributed up to 50 percent to the 1.2 million micro enterprises across Egypt supported by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) from 2009 to 2015, according to a CAPMAS study titled ‘The Reality of Small and Medium Enterprises’ released in September 2016.