The Problem
Egyptian exporters face challenges when it comes to selling their products abroad, due in part to a lack of sufficient export development infrastructure and BDS services which can help them overcome these obstacles. In addition to the insufficiently developed infrastructure, the SMEs themselves often lack awareness of the market and the potential export services that are available to them. Consequently, Acumen worked in collaboration with a Swiss trade support entity and the Egyptian authority tasked with export development in a project aimed at strengthening the overall institutional trade and investment infrastructure to ensure better support to the Egyptian business community, with the ultimate objective of increasing local SME competitiveness and boosting the country’s exports.
The Approach
The consulting team mapped the current export support landscape including the major Egyptian trade support institutions (TSIs) and assessed their service gaps from an enterprise perspective. This was done through extensive interviews with the various stakeholders as well as focus groups for the private sector enterprises seeking export support.