• EBRD financing package of US$50 million to Banque du Caire for on on-lending to MSMEs, and women-led private businesses
• Focus on companies operating outside of the capital city
• Package to include business advice and capacity building opportunities for women-led SMEs.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a financing package of US$50 million to Banque du Caire (BdC), one of Egypt’s largest banks, to scale-up support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Egypt, of which US$10 million is earmarked for women entrepreneurs.

This credit line to BdC will help increase access to finance for MSMEs in Egypt and expand its outreach to new clients across Egypt.

Under EBRD’s Women in Business Programme (WIB), BdC will allocate up to US$10 million to women-owned or led enterprises, which aims to alleviate the financing gap for women-led MSMEs and boost their competitiveness.

The WIB loan will be complemented by an EBRD-funded technical cooperation (TC) package to provide beneficiaries with advisory services and capacity building. The TC will also support BDC in testing and rolling-out new WIB products to better meet the needs of women-led MSMEs, improving access to finance.

The agreement was signed at EBRD’s headquarters in London in the presence of Jürgen Rigterink, EBRD First Vice President and Tarek Fayed, BdC’s Chairman and CEO.

EBRD First Vice President Jürgen Rigterink said: “The EBRD is delighted to sign this facility with BdC, reinforcing our strong and strategic partnership. We are very pleased to further support MSMEs, a key segment of the Egyptian economy, as well as foster inclusion by encouraging lending to women-led businesses.”

Tarek Fayed, Banque du Caire’s Chairman and CEO said: “We take pride in our strategic partnership with EBRD. BdC is committed to supporting entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs empowering them at all levels. The EBRD financing will support projects in regions outside of the capital city, capitalising on BdC’s geographical presence, especially in Upper Egypt, which accounts for about 55% of BdC’s microfinance customer base, of which women and youth also comprise 35% and 40% respectively of our microfinance customer base”.

Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of the Bank’s operations there in 2012, the EBRD has invested over €11 billion in 174 projects in the country. The EBRD’s areas of investment include the financial sector, agribusiness, manufacturing and services, as well as infrastructure projects such as power, municipal water and wastewater services, and contributions to the upgrade of transport services‎.