Press Releases

Small and medium-sized enterprises are said to be the engine of growth for developing economies, but without the right capital, that engine is bound to stall. To highlight opportunities for small businesses, AmCham's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Committee hosted a May 12 panel discussion on ﾓHow to IPO Your Small or Medium-Sized Business on the NILEX, featuring Mohamed Omran, chairman of the Egyptian Stock Exchange; Aly El Tahri, a co-founder and managing partner at Catalyst Partners; Ahmed Bahaa, chief executive officer of MB Engineering; and Ahmed Marwan, chairman of Sigma Capital. The session was moderated by Hani Sarie El Din, the founder and a managing partner at Sarie-Eldin & Partners. The NILEX, which is the stock marketﾒs small-cap trading index, helps address the difficulties these businesses often have accessing enough capital to sustain and attract foreign and domestic investments and grow their operations. It also aids in encouraging entrepreneurship by providing an exit strategy for venture capital funds. Bahaa spoke about his company, MB Engineering, which successfully went public on the NILEX, while El Tahry and Marwan addressed how investor perceptions of the exchange are gradually changing. Marwan pointed to the MB Engineering IPO as an indication of this, noting that it drew large investments from Upper Egypt and the Delta and is a sign of growing confidence in the NILEX. Still, it faces challenges that have slowed the bourseﾒs momentum. Among the factors listed by Omran are that advisory and financial bodies are not very involved in guiding SMEs during the pre-listing phase. Investors are also not very aware of the many benefits of investing in the NILEX, which include the ability to phase out of an investment while retaining rights of protection. Sarie El Din added that the recent creation of a parliamentary subcommittee could help enhance the legislative framework for SMEs and create a better climate of operation on the NILEX.