ME s ▁around ▁the ▁world ▁vary , ▁and ▁below ▁is ▁a ▁list ▁of ▁the ▁upper ▁limits ▁of ▁S ME s ▁in ▁some ▁countries . ▁ ▁Africa ▁ ▁Egypt ▁ ▁Most ▁of ▁Egypt ' s ▁business es ▁are ▁small - s ized , ▁with ▁ 9 7 ▁percent ▁employ ing ▁fewer ▁than ▁ 1 0 ▁workers , ▁according ▁to ▁census ▁data ▁released ▁by ▁state - run ▁statistics ▁body ▁C AP MA S . ▁ ▁Med ium - s ized ▁enter pr ises ▁with ▁ 1 0 ▁to ▁ 5 0 ▁employees ▁account ▁for ▁around ▁ 2 . 7 ▁percent ▁of ▁total ▁business es . ▁However , ▁big ▁business es ▁with ▁over ▁ 5 0 ▁employees ▁account ▁for ▁ 0 . 4 ▁percent ▁of ▁all ▁enter pr ises ▁nation wide . ▁ ▁The ▁data ▁is ▁part ▁of ▁Egypt ' s ▁ 2 0 1 2 / 1 3 ▁economic ▁census ▁on ▁establish ments ▁r anging ▁from ▁small ▁st alls ▁to ▁big ▁enter pr ises . ▁Econom ic ▁activity ▁outside ▁the ▁establish ments ▁– ▁like ▁street ▁vend ors ▁and ▁far mers , ▁for ▁example ▁– ▁were ▁ex cluded ▁from ▁the ▁census . ▁ ▁The ▁results ▁show ▁that ▁Egypt ▁is ▁greatly ▁lack ing ▁in ▁medium - s ized ▁business es . ▁ ▁Se vent y ▁percent ▁of ▁the ▁country ' s ▁ 2 4 ▁million ▁business es ▁have ▁only ▁one ▁or ▁two ▁employees . ▁But ▁less ▁than ▁ 0 . 1 ▁percent ▁– ▁only ▁ 7 8 4 ▁business es ▁– ▁employ ▁between ▁ 4 5 ▁and