ENTRUST was selected to coordinate a participatory effort involving key stakeholders and policy makers to develop an action plan to enhance the competitiveness of the small and medium enterprise sector.  The process was guided by ENTRUST’S earlier work in developing a general policy framework to enhance SME competitiveness in the twenty-first century.  Through bringing together groups of experts, SME representatives, pertinent senior government officials and donor representatives, ENTRUST facilitated and informed the development of action plans in the areas of business development services, cluster development, innovation and technology, financial services, export promotion, legal and regulatory reform, foreign direct investment as well as networking and inter-firm linkages.  The action plan was endorsed by two successive Egyptian Prime Ministers who wrote introductory notes for the policy document developed by ENTRUST.

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The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu (SMBSP) contracted ENTRUST to conduct a full scale evaluation of all the International Trade Points in Egypt.  The assessment covered the cost effectiveness of their functions, the adequacy of their physical, financial and human resources, the appropriateness of their operational, service delivery and information systems, in addition to their performance levels and the degree of client satisfaction, which were analyzed and benchmarked against international actors.  The evaluation proposed restructuring measures to improve the performance and the relevance of the services provided.  The recommendations were adopted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and efforts are currently underway to restructure the International Trade Points along the lines suggested by ENTRUST.

ENTRUST fielded a multidisciplinary team to develop and draft a general policy framework for SME Development in Egypt, under the theme "Enhancing the Competitiveness of Egyptian SMEs in the 21st Century".  The policy framework addressed cluster development, innovation and technology, financial services, business development services, export promotion, legal and regulatory reform, foreign direct investment as well as networking and inter-firm linkages.  The framework was endorsed by two successive Prime Ministers of Egypt to provide an overarching frame of reference against which development and policy initiatives are to be designed and monitored.  Work involved secondary research and statistical analysis, the integration of the results of participatory qualitative research and international best practices, as well as managing a consultative process with all stakeholders to refine, finalize and facilitate the adoption of the policy framework.

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ENTRUST fielded a multidisciplinary team to conduct a rapid assessment of the International Trade Point in Alexandria.  The purpose of the assignment was to develop interventions to enhance the capacity of ITPs as well as develop a blueprint to establish new ones in other governorates.  Based on the results of the assessment, H.E. the Minister of Foreign Trade, together with Deloitte & Touche, decided to contract ENTRUST to conduct a full-blown assessment of all the International Trade Points in Egypt.

Developed training objectives, curricula and provided training to MOFT employees on the relationship between SMEs and the macro-environment.  ENTRUST was particularly responsible for the sessions and material on the general policy framework as well as the institutional setup.

Under a subcontract with Rada Research & Public Relations, ENTRUST provided advice regarding the technical issues and the target groups to be addressed by the first public awareness campaign on SME development policies in Egypt.

Contracted by SMEPOL to identify the mandates of key stakeholders in M/SME policy formulation.  Work involved updating an institutional setup study conducted in the early design stages of SMEPOL, analyzing the results of stakeholders mapping and developing a policy analysis matrix to describe the roles, responsibilities and mandates of the different actors