USAID Egypt announced its intention to fund two main programs within the economic growth practice which are supporting Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development Program (SEED) as well as in Workforce Improvement and Skills Enhancement Program (WISE). Both programs aim at enhancing business competitiveness and employment generation.

The current call is an exchange of information between USAID and industry's actors for USAID to identify capabilities and acquisition strategy for both programs. The SEED program aims at improving entrepreneurship skills and expanding business opportunities for youth through increased access to financial and effective non-financial services, with a focus on business incubation. The program also includes the integration of MSMEs in 3-5 progressive industry value chains (sectors) that are promising, growing, profitable and labor intensive.

The WISE Program on the other hand aims at expanding employment opportunities for youth through establishing effective linkages between technical schools and the private sector as well as improving labor market efficiency. Apparently development trends and aid investments are more moving towards business accelerators and incubators to provide innovation services, business development skills, employability skills and access to financial resources required for both the growth of MSMEs and the increased generation of employment opportunities.