The Alexandria Business Association (ABA) began its activities in 1983 as the Economic Committee for Businessmen under the auspices of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. Its objectives were to provide support to the private sector, promote the interests of the businessmen, consolidate business and social ties amongst them, and represent the sector to the  government. This concept soon developed to include community service work, as members became involved in building and improving hospitals, schools, and institutions for the elderly.

These new activities necessitated the formation of a new entity, the Alexandria Businessmen’s Association, which was registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs in March 1988 as a private non-profit organization. Two years later the name of the association changed to Alexandria Business Association, for gender reasons. Today the Association has a membership of more than 350 individuals representing the leading businesspersons in Alexandria. An elected board of 15 prominent business persons directs the ABA.

Communications between ABA and the Director of USAID in Egypt resulted in a seven year cooperative agreement being signed in April 1989 and the ABA’s Small and Micro Enterprise Project was born. USAID would provide financial and technical services to the ABA, which would implement a program to offer financing to the existing small and micro businesses in Alexandria, which are not able to access credit from the formal banking system.

The ABA/SME Project was launched in January 1990. After only two years of operation the ABA/SME credit service generated enough income to cover all operating costs. In 1994, the ABA’s operating cost ratio ranked among the best in the world. In May 1997 the project started its operations in the Governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh. In 2002 the project expanded in other Governorates Behira, Menoufia and Matrouh. In June 1998, the UNDP signed a contract with ABA to act as the International Technical Service Provider for its Micro Start Program in Bahrain and in 1999 a similar contract was signed for Yemen. In 2005 Anew contract was signed to give consultancy services for Saudi Arabia .