Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development and Misr El Kheir Foundation Partner to Launch «Torath» Initiative

Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development has inked a cooperation protocol with Egypt’s renowned NGO, Misr El Kheir Foundation’s affiliated business incubator “Misr El Khair Gesr” to launch “Torath,” initiative, that aims at bridging the gap between craftsmanship and entrepreneurship.

The protocol was signed by Jean-Pierre Trinelle, Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt & Vice Chairman of Crédit Agricole Foundation for Development, Mohamed Abdelrahman, Managing Director of Misr El Kheir, Dr. Mervat Sabereen, Assistant Minister of Solidarity for Social Protection & Security, and Yousry El Fakharany, the prominent journalist.

Credit Agricole Foundation is launching Torath Initiative with the main objective of empowering younger generations to use their fine skills and the heritage of their art to create small business enterprises. Credit Agricole Foundation selection of Misr Al Kheir was the ultimate choice, for their expertise, competency, integrity and more importantly their deeply rooted presence across all Egypt’s governorates which will ensure achieving the best possible results.

“At Credit Agricole Egypt, our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy is to be an actor of a sustainable society and to address some societal and environmental challenges aiming at strengthening cohesion. Through our foundation, our vision has been to create an impact on the society through a scalable and sustainable platform that is capable of changing peoples’ lives.” Jean-Pierre Trinelle, Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt & Vice Chairman of Credit Agricole Foundation for Development explained.

“With the launch of Torath, our goal is to have approximately 50 local craftsmen and artisans to become entrepreneurs and be able to generate income that improves the quality of their lives and have a positive impact on their community” Trinelle added.

Mohamed Abdelrahman, MEK CEO said that “the target behind launching the initiative is to achieve social development and revive these valuable crafts.”

He added that “Gesr El Kheir” started over 10 years ago to act as a bridge between young people, their ideas, and social needs. To date, six rounds have been implemented to incubate 36 startups including 10 companies which received funding and provided more than 400 job opportunities,” further clarifying that “Gesr” functions in four fields as: energy, water, health, and food.

MEK CEO mentioned that 90 crafts complexes are currently being studied, as the foundation plans to start by supporting 3 complexes including Aswan and Palm Projects.

Meanwhile, prominent journalist Yousry El Fakharany called for creating a crafts map in Egypt that marks especially gifted craftsmen, reaffirming that the target is to localize crafts and preserve the heritage of craftsmanship in Egypt.

Fakharany continued that, “we have a treasure of craftsmen, whose technical expertise is threatened to disappear. ‘Tulle’ fabric-making, for instance, has become almost unknown in Egypt. It’s a fine art that involves using thick silvery threads to carve some upper Egyptian symbols on fabric.”

It is worth noting that Credit Agricole foundation and Misr Al Kheir have previous track record and together have developed community schools and built water connections in many villages in Upper Egypt.