Often the hardest part of starting a business is raising the money to get going. The entrepreneur might have a great idea and clear idea of how to turn it into a successful business. However, if sufficient finance can’t be raised, it is unlikely that the business will get off the ground.
For ages, Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been using traditional tools of financing such as equity and bank loans to finance their capital needs. But, with the changing economic conditions, SMEs are offered other various innovative ways of financing. The sources of finance for the modern world companies have got classification in terms of domestic and foreign, internal and external, etc. In addition to the traditional sources of finance, there are other sources that have become popular and used by most of the companies of today are lease financing, factoring and angel investment. Moreover, Grants have also become one of the major external sources to finance M-SMEs, which are often available from donor agencies, international banks, NGOs, and other Government bodies for specific issues. The seminar was attended by 63 participants from private and banking sectors.
The speakers of the seminar’s sessions were Mr. Amr Hatem, BAS Project Specialist – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Mr. Ahmed Deif, General Manager, Al Tawfik for Leasing; Ms. Ghada Shams, Head of International Factoring -Egypt Factors; Mr. Ayman Khattab, Head of Credit Risk – Central Bank of Egypt; Dr. Fakhry EL-Fiky, Assistant Executive Director – IMF Egypt and Mr. Salah Deif, Ex-Head of Financial Services for Mid Cap – CI Capital