The Arab Republic of Egypt
Egypt Emergency Labor Intensive project aims at creating short term employment opportunities for unemployed unskilled and semi skilled workers and provide access to basic infrastructure services. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
Under the Integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance Project in Egypt, IFC provides support for enhancing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulatory framework: building the capacities of regulators and local market intermediaries to provide ESG advisory services to the market, and providing targeted support to IFC’s upstream, pipeline, and portfolio investment clients to strengthen their ESG practices and help them to manage their ESG risks better. The project has two components: one targeting the financial sector and focusing on banks, and the other targeting the real sector with a focus on manufacturing, agribusiness, and health care.
The Corporate Governance Egypt and Levant Program (2016–21) aimed at creating and promoting good corporate governance standards and practices in Egypt and the Levant by increasing awareness of the importance of governance and gender diversity on boards of directors, building the capacity of local market intermediaries, achieving governance improvements in company practices, and assisting regulators in strengthening the corporate governance frameworks and aligning them with international best practices.
In 2021, the program supported the regulator in drafting the first integrated ESG code for Egypt. The regulator is currently reviewing the final draft of the ESG code, which is expected to be enacted and launched soon.
Through its activities and publications, specifically related to the women on boards in Egypt activities, IFC supported the issuance of two decrees—123 and 124 of 2019—and provided justification for the regulator to issue them. For the first time, the decrees made it mandatory for all listed companies to have at least one woman member on their boards (this decision was later altered to increase the number to least two female board members or 25 percent of the board).
IFC annually supports the Egyptian Exchange in organizing the annual events around of Ring the Bell for Gender Equality ceremony and delivers the leading edge Corporate Directors Certification Program in partnership with the Egyptian Institute of Directors. The certification program is designed to provide board members and senior executives with tools and corporate governance best practices pertaining to the functioning of the board of directors, transparency and disclosure, and shareholder rights.
- Ministry of International Cooperation
- Central Bank of Egypt
- Financial Regulatory Authority
- Egyptian Exchange
- Egyptian Institute of Directors
- Egyptian Banking Institute
- Federation of Egyptian Banks
- The Egyptian Corporate Governance Code, Third Release (August 2016)
- Key Performance Indicators for the Environmental, Social, and Sustainability-Related Governance (ESG) Disclosures
- The Financial Regulatory Authority’s Decree 123 of 2019 regarding the representation of women on the boards of Publicly Listed Companies (in Arabic)
- The Financial Regulatory Authority’s Decree 124 of 2019 regarding the representation of women on the boards of Publicly Listed Companies (in Arabic)
- Women on Board in Egypt: How Gender-Diverse Boards Bring Value to Egyptian Companies
The program is implemented in partnership with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO).
- Egyptian Institute of Directors
Dr. Mohamed Moustafa Soliman
Managing Director
https://eiod.org/ - The American University in Cairo
Dr. Ghada Howaidy
Associate Dean Executive Education, School of Business
ghowaidy@aucegypt.edu
https://business.aucegypt.edu/execed