Aswan, 16 October 2017 – From 12 to 16 October, the UN Migration agency (IOM) conducted a training session for youth in Aswan, Egypt on Start Your Business (SYB).

Over the course of five days, three facilitators used the SYB training manual to provide participants with tools to respond to contemporary market dynamics in Egypt.

“Start Your Business (SYB) targets potential entrepreneurs who have ideas for small, micro or medium business startups, and helps participants to assess their entrepreneurial skills. Participants were able to draft 27 ambitious workplans for different business ideas; including fisheries, ranches, appliances maintenance centers, handicrafts, leather manufacturing, beauty center, cosmetics trading, kindergarten, ready-made clothes store, restaurant and food packaging,” said Hamdiya Bashir, IOM’s Master Trainer on SYB.

This is part of a national initiative to train 10,000 entrepreneurs in all of Egypt’s governorates under the auspices of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (MSMEDA), in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“I have always had a dream to sell clothes to the children of my small town. The SYB training taught me how I can start my project in view of what I have. I also learned how to make financial, technical and marketing plans. The training was attended by a number of inspiring business men and women from Aswan as well as representatives from MSMEDA and banking institutions who explained to us how we can obtain loans,” said one of the participants.

This initiative contributes to the realization of UN Sustainable Goals 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth and 10 Reduced Inequalities, and supports the achievement of Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Vision 2030, particularly with regards to making the Egyptian economy a “balanced, knowledge-based, competitive, diversified market economy, capable of achieving sustainable inclusive growth.”

For further information, please contact Teuta Grazhdani at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int­­.