Egypt: Improving the international competitiveness of the textile and clothing sector (GTEX/MENATEX)

Contact

First name

Delphine

Last name

Clement

Email

dclement@intracen.org

Body

Changing lives in the textile and clothing sector

ITC’s Global Textiles and Clothing Programme (GTEX) in Egypt works to create jobs and increase the income of micro small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the textile and clothing industry.

We work directly with 35 enterprises in denim, knitwear, sports and leisurewear to diversify their exports and increase their international competitiveness by linking them to new markets and buyers, as well as financing mechanisms so they can expand their production.

Strengthening the sector and boosting exports will have an enormous impact as the industry employs an estimated one million people in Egypt, largely informally.

We provide training, coaching and mentoring in lean management, material sourcing, product design and development, export marketing and branding, and digital upgrading. We support mentoring between larger ‘champion’ companies and smaller companies and assist several business support organizations (BSOs).

We also work to improve social and environmental industry standards and provide support to improve overall dyeing and finishing processes.

Changing lives in the textile and clothing sector

Turning the COVID-19 economic crisis into opportunities

Egypt’s clothing sector was badly hit by the COVID-19 economic upheaval. To support the Egyptian textile and clothing industry, ITC through GTEX/MENATEX helped companies pivot into digital processes, increase their online presence, and remodel their traditional production lines into personal protective equipment and face masks.

We created a video library of webinars on topics such as market access, environmental management, trade finance, and digitalization that is available to all the project’s stakeholders and national partners.

ITC also provided an impact study on the COVID-19 crisis, giving stakeholders updated information on the pandemic’s impact on the sector, including employment rates, the number of MSMEs affected, the loss of buyers, and new opportunities in unconventional markets and products.

Turning the COVID-19 economic crisis into opportunities

ITC MENATEX trainings have been a game changer

Woman working in a jeans textile company.

ITC

Man cutting fabric pieces to produce clothes in an Egyptian company

ITC

Egyptian employees working in a jeans textile and clothing company

ITC

Employees preparing a batch of finished jeans.

ITC

GTEX/MENATEX brought insightful ideas and know-how through new techniques and learning such as green solutions, improving our resource efficiency while increasing our profits.

Alaa Hamdy

Director of Heathertex

Thanks to the valuable inputs of ITC, we completely revamped our website towards a more user-friendly, updated content and B2B actions, which supported our shift during COVID-19 positively

Ali El Nawawi

Scarabaeus Sacer

ITC MENATEX trainings have been a game changer in resource efficiency, circular production, digitalization and so many other trainings which are necessary to adjust to the markets demands and the current crises which our industry is facing

Boulos Massoud

Viva 1960

Supported by ITC MENATEX we introduced a garment manufacturing diploma programme targeting young women, training 28 rural women in the region, and supporting circularity sponsored machinery

Marie Louis Bishara

President, Apparel Export Council of Egypt

GTEX/MENATEX Egypt