By Mary Nady
In continuation of her meetings with the affiliated entities, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Investment Bank (NIB), met with Mr. Osama Saleh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ayady for Investment and Development Company and former Minister of Investment.
Ayady Company is one of the companies owned by the NIB. The meeting was attended by Mr. Ashraf Negm, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank.
During the meeting, Al-Mashat emphasized the role played by Ayady for Investment and Development in enhancing the partnership between the public and private sectors, and pumping investments into a number of priority sectors in a way that maximizes the return on state-owned assets and stimulates comprehensive and sustainable development efforts, noting that empowering the private sector and increasing its participation in the Egyptian economy is a major objective of the current government’s work program, which is working to improve the business environment and adopt policies and programs aimed to attract domestic and foreign investments.
H.E. also explained that the Ministry works on stimulating the private sector through a number of programs, projects and policies, as well as working on the governance of investment spending in order to achieve the government ’s priorities to allow more space for the private sector to lead development efforts.
Al-Mashat pointed out that the Ministry launched the Hub for Advisory, Finance and Investments for Enterprises; a comprehensive platform offering various financial and non financial services, technical support, and consultations provided by international partners to private sector companies, whether large, small, medium, or emerging companies.
During the meeting, Mr. Osama Saleh, Ayady for Investment and Development Chairman, reviewed the company’s investment portfolio, which is 75% owned by the NIB.
He explained that since its founding in 2015, the company has succeeded in pumping key investments in many sectors and establishing a group of companies in which the private sector has a majority stake in the non-bank finance sectors and others, In addition to the success of these companies in attracting foreign investments and contributions from international financial institutions.
He stressed that Ayady aims to enhance the value of the investment portfolio and increase contributions with the private sector, pushing towards more domestic foreign investments, enhancing development efforts in priority sectors that provide job opportunities, and achieving economic development within Egypt’s Vision 2030.
He added that the authorized capital of Ayady for Investment and Development is EGP 3 billion, while the paid-up capital is EGP 770 million.
The company’s investments contributed to the creation of 604,000 job opportunities, in addition to providing financing opportunities for about 440,000 individuals, including 246,500 men and 194,000 women, which reinforces the company’s efforts in the field of financial inclusion.
Ayady for Investment and Development invests in a number of sectors such as the non-banking financial sector, the electronic payments sector, the media sector, the health services sector and the development sector.
It achieved a return on capital paid more than 3.2 times, by investing in 10 companies, the most important of which include: ElGameya، One Finance, Tamweely for Micro-Finance, Enmaa Finance Company, Delta Misr For Payments Company (Sahl), Ergo Media Ventures, Film Clinic, Future Healthcare, and Ayady for Urban Development Company.