Expanding women- and youth-led SME finance in Egypt

ILX participated in financing, mobilised by EBRD, to National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the largest commercial bank in Egypt. The bank’s main business lines include large corporate banking, SME banking, retail banking, investment banking, treasury and capital market, and international financial services.

Through this facility, ILX supports increased on-lending to Egyptian SMEs, with half of the amount fully dedicated to on-lending to underserved segments, namely private Egyptian women-led and youth-led SMEs, with the other half allocated to SMEs outside of the main urban areas of Great Cairo and Alexandria. The financing enables the bank to deepen its reach in segments which face limited access to credit, supporting entrepreneurship, job creation, and more inclusive growth across Egypt.