AMAN Holding, Bokra, and Erada Finance have joined the Scale It Forward program developed by GIZ Egypt and enpact to introduce venture debt financing into Egypt’s growing companies ecosystem. The program will begin by piloting financing of at least the equivalent of €5,000 per company, alongside €5,000 in non-repayable support.
AMAN Holding, Bokra, and Erada Finance signed framework agreements with enpact to join the Scale It Forward program, launched by GIZ Egypt and enpact to test the use of venture debt as an additional option for high-growth Egyptian companies.
The partnerships were announced during a launch ceremony in Cairo, making the three institutions the program’s first financial partners. The announcement does not yet represent a broad commercial financing product launch, but rather the beginning of a pilot program connecting financial institutions with growing companies to design and test venture debt solutions within a limited and structured environment.
What does the program offer?
Scale It Forward focuses on enabling companies seeking growth capital to access financing that, in principle, does not dilute the ownership of founders or existing investors, unlike financing based on selling equity stakes. This comes at a time when Egypt’s startup sector is developing and the need is growing for financing tools that extend beyond the early stages of company formation.
Under the program, GIZ Egypt will provide technical support to participating financial institutions to help them design venture debt products and launch them as part of the pilot. These institutions will also gain access to a selected group of growing companies, while the selected companies will receive tailored support to prepare for obtaining this type of financing.
Financing size and pilot mechanism
Participating financial institutions will identify promising companies from the program’s list, then provide venture debt financing starting at the equivalent of €5,000 per company. This financing will be supplemented by €5,000 in non-repayable financial support provided by the initiative to each company in the pilot.
The announcement did not specify repayment terms, interest rates, or detailed eligibility criteria, nor did it state how many companies would actually benefit from the financing. Therefore, the announced minimum cannot be considered a measure of the size of a new market, but rather an initial amount associated with the pilot program.
Why does this news matter?
The importance of the step lies in attempting to build local capacity to provide venture debt, not only in providing direct financing to a number of companies. If the pilot succeeds, it could help expand the options available to companies seeking growth financing while retaining their ownership, while also giving financial institutions practical experience in assessing this type of borrower and designing suitable products for them.
However, the actual impact will depend on the results of the pilot offering, companies’ ability to meet debt-related obligations, and the willingness of financial institutions to expand the products after the technical support ends. Scale It Forward is being implemented through cooperation between GIZ GmbH in Egypt and enpact, under the auspices of the Invest for Jobs initiative and on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).