Egypt Inaugurates 1st Multi-Stakeholder Platform for Private Sector 

The Ministry of International Cooperation (MIC) held the first multi-stakeholder platform for the private sector titled “Digitalization as an Enabler for the Private Sector” on Tuesday, April 26, with the aim of strengthening partnerships between the multilateral and bilateral development partners and Egypt’s private sector.

The first platform session is part of a series of interactive meetings that the Ministry aims to organize within the framework of joint cooperation to create interaction and complementarity between government efforts and the role played by the private sector, the business community, civil society, and relevant entities, to achieve Egypt’s 2030 Vision.

The session included the participation of e-Finance and I-Score and over 70 multilateral and bilateral development partners that attended virtually and on-ground at the Ministry’s headquarters. The attendees include UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt, Elena Panova; the World Bank’s Country Director for Egypt, Yemen, and Djibouti, Marina Wes; the International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) Country Manager for Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, Walid Labadi; Country Manager at African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Malinne Blomberg; among many other development partners.

During the first session of the multi-stakeholder platform for the private sector, e-Finance, and I-Score, two leading Egyptian companies offered transformative digital solutions in the fields of agriculture, agricultural marketing, electronic markets, and financial services. They also discussed the role they play within the country’s digital transformation strategy.

Al-Mashat welcomed the participating companies from the private sector as well as development partners and explained that holding multi-stakeholder platforms is one of the principles of Economic Diplomacy launched early 2020 by the Ministry.

These interactive meetings are organized across various sectors to bring together state ministries and multilateral and bilateral development partners, with the objective to create transparent dialogue and communication between relevant parties in a way that strengthens international partnerships to achieve sustainable development.

The top priority of the current year revolves around private sector engagement and strengthening partnerships with multilateral and bilateral development partners, as stated by H.E. Al-Mashat. The country is witnessing an unprecedented boom through increased investments in digital transformation, due to the private sector engagement in advancing the country’s development agenda in digitization and technological solutions in the financial sector.

The Minister added that Egypt has achieved progress in the digital field and is seeking to strengthen its position as a regional center for entrepreneurship and innovation. Al-Mashat pointed out that the Ministry seeks to advance the country's development strategy by supporting international partnerships in the field of innovation, digitization and entrepreneurship.

She explained that the multi-stakeholder platform on digitalization aims to place guidelines for cooperation between development partners and the private sector that can be translated into tangible opportunities for joint cooperation.

e-finance Discusses its Experience with eAswaaq Misr and AGRIMISR

During the multi-stakeholder platform, e-Finance presented its role in providing financial technology solutions to build customized and scalable solutions that support electronic payments for the private sector.

e-Finance showcased the success story of its subsidiary company eAswaaq, launched in July 2019, developing through the rise of the e-commerce market in Egypt that has expanded due to the increased internet usage in Egypt to 57% and an increase in mobile payment transactions to 4.8 million transactions per months, as well as a significant increase in ATMs by 83% between 2014 and 2019.

eAswaaq Misr provides many products, including the digitization of the agricultural value chains, the empowerment of the people who work in handicrafts, the advancement of the financial inclusion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and the development of a virtual shopping center for B2B businesses.

The agricultural platform AGRIMISR, the first comprehensive agricultural e-commerce platform in Egypt, has an integrated approach to expand agricultural exports abroad, support economic growth by linking relevant parties in the agricultural sector, facilitate the supply system, and increase commercial transactions for agriculture. To date, AGRIMISR provided its services to over 123 exhibiting companies, with 539 registered companies with 1,500 products displayed on the platform. It also provides financial services to beneficiaries from banks and financial institutions.

In his comment, Mr. Ibrahim Sarhan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of I-Finance for Financial and Digital Investments, affirmed that the company is proud of its partnership with the government in the implementation of a number of pioneering national projects, based on its long history, pioneering infrastructure and specialized technical cadres, that enable it to offer technical solutions commensurate with the requirements of the current era, with the aim of supporting the system of digital transformation and financial inclusion, in light of the support of the political leadership of this system, which will positively affect the strengthening of the role of the private sector in the existing projects.

“The world around us is taking major steps in integrating technology in the day-to-day life for both inpiduals and companies. This is what e-finance, and its subsidiaries, are doing by providing digital services required by companies in this new and digital-led work environment,” said Sarhan.

422 Thousand SMEs in I-Score’s Database

Officials from I-Score presented the company's strategy to provide various products to the local market. Their presentation included new products that the company seeks to introduce such as a credit rating system for the agricultural sector, and a risk assessment program. The company is currently working on developing a new model that allows for more financing for the agricultural sector while controlling risks. Kafafy elaborated that the I-Score database includes 930 thousand credit facilities for the agriculture sector, making up for EGP 35 billion.

Mr. Mohamed Kafafy, Chairman of I-Score, said that the company was established in 2005 with the contribution of a number of banks in the banking sector and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), to provide credit information services. The company is currently working on constantly updating its strategy to keep pace with developments, under the auspices of the Central Bank of Egypt and the National Council for Payments. Seeking more cooperation, Kafafy also explained that the company signed 6 protocols with government entities and ministries to support the state’s comprehensive digital transformation.

Kafafy also expressed his pride as the company’s database includes about 20 million clients, including 422,000 SMEs. The size of the facilities and guarantees within the database is about EGP 2 trillion; of which EGP 900 billion are retail banking facilities and EGP 350 billion are facilities for the clients of SMEs.

The United Nations Launches Joint Technology & Innovation Working Group

Representatives of international institutions applauded the national efforts in the field of digital transformation and in the development of technological infrastructure. In this regard, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt, Elena Panova said that the multi-stakeholder platform reflects the true concepts of Economic Diplomacy, by creating an environment that fosters development cooperation and by working to achieve complementarity between relevant entities.

Panova added that digitization and innovation are at the top of the UN Egypt’s office agenda and that a working group has been launched to strengthen strategic cooperation between the Government of Egypt and the private sector. She suggested that discussions in this area need to be continued via the launch of specialized working groups with development partners, headed by the UN in Egypt to continue conversations under the auspices of the Ministry of International Cooperation regarding how to use digitalization to support development efforts and empower the private sector.

International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) Country Manager for Egypt, Libya and Yemen, Walid Labadi also applauded the efforts made by e-finance and I-Score. He explained that digitization represents a large aspect of IFC's interest in Egypt.

Country Manager at African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Malinne Blomberg said that AfDB is open to opportunities in the field of digitalization, innovation, and SMEs to stimulate development efforts and to use the private sector’s expertise in enhancing cooperation with the African continent.

During the past year, the Ministry of International Cooperation held several multi-stakeholder platforms across various sectors, including transportation, agriculture, and the public business sector. In 2020, the Ministry secured development financing agreements worth $ 9.8 billion covering many state sectors and the private sector.