NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

In the last 14 months Egypt has embarked on a programme of economic reform in order to put its economy back on track after the buffeting it took during a 3 year period which witnessed unprecedented political turmoil. The government has identified the development of the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise(MSME) sector as a way in which it can reduce unemployment, create wealth and facilitate greater financial inclusion in the country which will help accelerate economic growth.

The access to finance for these MSMEs is pivotal to their development and in order to aid this a Microfinance law was issued in November 2015 to provide a regulated framework where Microfinance Institutions (MFI) would be formulated to service this market that was vastly under served by the banking industry in the country.

Since the issue of the law, nearly 650 organisations have applied for a microfinance license. Whilst the majority of these are NGO and charitable institutions there is a growing number of lenders who look at this market as a profitable sector in which the potential for growth is phenomenal.

However there still remain significant challenges such as navigating through the new regulations, adapting to new reporting requirements, access to funding for MFIs and establishing convenient payment solutions to reach the unbanked that need to be overcome before Egypt can achieve its objective of a comprehensive financing framework for the MSME sector. In light of these factors IQPC is organising the 2nd Microfinance Egypt Summit to be held in Cairo from 21-24 March.