Muhsen Mashhour sits in the waiting room of Giza governorate’s Small Enterprise Service Unit, a newly established “one-stop shop” to help would-be entrepreneurs navigate the maze of agencies regulating the establishment of small businesses in Egypt, and the banks that might give them loans.
Two years ago, Mr Mashhour applied for an E£10,000 ($19,758) loan using the salary of a friend with a stable government job as collateral – a standard practice throughout the Arab world – and used it to set up a shop selling kitchen appliances.
