Empowering Upper Egypt: Supporting Entrepreneurs and Creating Jobs

Upper Egypt, home to 38% of the Egyptian population, has significant opportunities for economic development and job creation. The region is well-positioned for growth due to its abundant resources and promising business sectors. However, several challenges have hindered sustainable economic development and limited inclusive job creation for its residents. These include a weak business enabling-environment, low access to quality infrastructure and services, and limited empowerment of local administrations.

Recognizing the need for an innovative and comprehensive approach to local development, the government of Egypt has made Upper Egypt a pilot by empowering local governorates, enhancing their accountability, and involving citizens and businesses in the decision-making process.

To support these objectives, the government launched the Upper Egypt Local Development Program (UELDP) in 2017, with US$ 500 million in support from the World Bank. This program focuses on improving citizens' quality of life and helping them achieve sustainable incomes. Initially targeting the governorates of Sohag and Qena, the program expanded in 2020 to include Assiut and Minya.

The UELDP aligns with the national Hayah Karima initiative, which aims to improve living conditions for vulnerable communities. Both programs work together to target the poorest regions, ensuring a coordinated approach to local development, economic inclusion and sustainable growth.The UELDP promotes local economic development by enabling local businesses to grow and strengthening the capacity of local government to deliver high-quality infrastructure and services. It promotes inclusion by tailoring interventions to the needs of the local community through continued consultations to hear citizen and business feedback on priorities and challenges. The program also helps local governorates to better identify needs, expand access to critical infrastructure and services, and improve the sustainability of infrastructure projects, which have benefited more than 8 million citizens.

One of the program's key initiatives is to help local businesses access new markets by addressing barriers to growth, upgrading their production techniques, and raising their operational and marketing capacity through adopting a cluster development approach. To date, 6,397 businesses and workers have benefited from these initiatives, including 1,568 women, and 2,032 jobs have been created.

Thirty-five-year-old Naeema Mohamed Abed is one of the many entrepreneurs who have benefitted from this approach. Naeema’s handicraft business aims to revive Ferka — a traditional ancient Egyptian hand-woven textile — in modern markets and create job opportunities for the women in her community. Support through the program, including training on marketing and design, helped improve the outputs of Naeema’s handicraft business, which led to an increase in sales and thus, an increase in the wages and number of workers.

"My project was once a dream. I now wish to expand it to other places and hire more workers," said Naeema. "I wish that people, whether in Egypt or abroad, know about my country's heritage, Ferka, and handicrafts."

Omar Ahmed Soliman, who is also 35 years old, is an entrepreneur who successfully expanded his textile business with the support of the program. "The program helped in training and increasing the number of workers," Omar said. The program introduced him to new machinery and techniques. Additionally, he took the initiative to purchase books that guided him in further improving his products. Omar made sure to preserve the Egyptian identity in his newly enhanced textile products.

Efficient government-to-business services, such as shop licenses and construction permits, are crucial for helping entrepreneurs start their businesses without being discouraged by complexity or lengthy processes. The UELDP helps improve these services by upgrading and increasing the efficiency of district service centers and reducing the duration of issuing shop licenses and construction permits.

Kamal Abou El Yazid Salman, a 62-year-old potter, inherited the craft from his father and grandfather, who specialized in making cooking pots. Over the years, Kamal expanded his product range to include tea and coffee pots. With the support of the program, he modernized his workshop and increased his sales by entering new markets and participating in exhibitions.

Kamal has ambitious plans for further expansion. “I want to show my products outside of Cairo, for example in European countries and Arab Gulf countries, and I want to do so by joining exhibitions so that people know about my products,” he said.

The UELDP has made a positive impact on the residents and economy of the region. More than 50,000 businesses have benefited from the program's interventions, and over 80% of people and businesses in Qena and Sohag have expressed satisfaction with the quality of the program’s interventions. The program has also provided nationwide guidance on integrated private sector development, including the development of cluster competitiveness initiatives which work to enhance the productivity and performance of a specific group of businesses in a targeted area. These practices, piloted in Upper Egypt, are now being gradually replicated across other regions in Egypt.