Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed said on Tuesday that EGP 8.5 billion has been allocated for the establishment of new industrial complexes to serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which she said had been affected by the coronavirus crisis.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Al-Saeed stated that the crisis has imposed significant challenges on emerging enterprises and businessmen, including a decline in the labour supply due to social distancing and work-from-home measures.

She added that the SME sector contains 1.7 million businesses, accounting for 44.6 percent of the total establishments in the formal private sector, and employs 5.8 million workers, or 43.1 percent of total workers in the private sector.

The minister also announced that the Rowad (“Pioneers”) 2030 project, which was established under the planning ministry’s umbrella, has signed a cooperation protocol with Cambridge University to provide 40 MA fellowships for studying entrepreneurship.

Another cooperation protocol has been inked with the American University in Cairo which includes 100 fellowships in entrepreneurship skills.

Rowad 2030 projects have established 13 industrial complexes across Egypt that will serve SMEs, she said.