Hisham Amna, the Minister of Local Development, has said that the national project for community, human and local development "Mashrou'ak" (Your Project) is one of the ministry's most important programs to achieve community development in all governorates, districts and villages to provide jobs for citizens in the field of SMEs. This comes in implementation of the directives of the political leadership to expand support for SMEs, providing real job opportunities for the youth and increasing GDP. This would eventually enhance the productive sector and increase the supply of some products to meet the needs of the local market and reduce imports in light of the global economic crisis. In April, Mashrou'ak offered loans worth EGP 200m to 700,000 projects. These projects provided about 9,300 jobs nationwide. He explained that the total projects implemented by Mashrou'ak since its inception until now amounted to more than 204,000, with loans exceeding EGP 26.2bn. He pointed out that these projects have generated about 1.6 million job opportunities. Amna confirmed that this financing program creates innovative guiding ideas for some small projects that do not need large capital and that can help young people start their own projects. The Minister of Local Development indicated that Mashrou'ak has also succeeded in achieving its basic objectives in providing many job opportunities, especially for young people and women who are breadwinners, in villages, neighborhoods, cities and districts in all governorates. This helps eradicate poverty and create new jobs for people residing in these governorates to empower them in the labor market and promote the culture of self-employment by granting the necessary funding to establish various projects. Amna directed those in charge of "Mashrou'ak" to intensify awareness campaigns about the project, especially in the villages, so that young people and women can benefit from the advantages it offers them. He pointed out that the program has made many achievements since its inception, as many introductory seminars and special promotional programs were held in all governorates of the Republic, in addition to marketing the products of Mashrou'ak's clients at the governorate level, in coordination with the Egyptian Hands platform affiliated with the Ministry, and participating in the official major exhibitions of the state. The Minister of Local Development stated that the Minya governorate took the lead in terms of the number of projects implemented through Mashrou'ak, as it implemented 22,900 projects with a total of EGP 2.8bn in loans that provided more than 158,000 job opportunities, followed by the Sohag governorate with 21,600 projects with loans of about EGP 2.8bn that provided 152,600 job opportunities. Then, Beheira governorate came with about 18,700 implemented projects with loans of EGP 1.7bn, which provided 102,800 job opportunities, then Dakahleya governorate, with 16,600 projects, with loans of EGP 2bn, which generated 106,900 job opportunities. Amna also pointed out that those responsible for the Local Development Center in Saqqara were assigned to focus in the training plan for the current year to organize training courses for workers in Mashrou'ak. He explained that all employees of Mashrou'ak's departments are trained on the basics of bank financing for small and micro projects and the relative advantages of financing in each of the six banks that "Mashrou'ak" deals with, as well as the basic concepts of SMEs. He added that the next phase of Mashrou'ak will focus on quality of projects and service provided with the aim of reaching support for projects of high technological value to produce value-added products that serve different segments of society and provide technical, financial and marketing support with the aim of supporting the projects' ability to continue.
