Related Articles
Doaa Moneim – Ahram Online
The Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in collaboration with Facebook and Rise Up, announced, on Thursday, launching the ‘SMEs Business Bot’, a platform which supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Rise Up will manage the initiative with its considerable expertise of the system and requirements of SMEs. Rise Up said it is “committed to providing the bot with the educational content of start-ups and ambitious entrepreneurs, guided by its seven main pillars”.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning is expected to play a vital role by feeding the platform with various available initiatives, including financing and education for SMEs in Egypt.
The project aim is to make available information and resources which support start-ups on various fronts. The platform will include providing financial support or business support schemes to cope with the COVID-19 crisis, as well as providing them with the directions for capacity-building.
“The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has continuously sought to provide mechanisms to support the culture of entrepreneurship, aiming to create business incubators through the Project Rowad 2030, which was launched by the ministry to promote a culture of self-employment, foster the thinking of young people, extract creative ideas from them, and strengthen their belief in their ability to develop ideas and projects that will contribute to the economic development of the state and even to the creation of employment”, said Hala al-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development.
“Small enterprises are currently in the survival phase. Small enterprises that operate digitally are flexible, and we are committed to providing tools and resources that will enable SMEs to drive economic growth, create jobs and strengthen communities throughout the Arab Republic of Egypt, as part of our local initiative”, said Ramzi Shahadi, the CEO of the MENA region at Facebook.
The platform is considered to be the first of its kind in the MENA region.
Meanwhile, Abdel-Hamid Sharara, the founder of Rise Up, noted that “the business bot will serve as a reliable source of information and guidance to assist start-ups at each stage, linking them to the most appropriate resources needed for progress and growth”.
The bot can be accessed by clicking on the following link: https://m.me/MPEDEGYPT
