A new gov’t investment fund wants to attract FDI from expats

The Emigration Ministry will set up a new company aimed at encouraging Egyptians living abroad to invest in the local economy and bring more hard currency into the country, it said in a statement Friday. The Egyptians Abroad Investment Company will promote investment to major expat investors as well as regular savers, and has signed up eight Egyptian businessmen living abroad to sit on the board, the ministry said.

Sitting on the board are:

• Ashraf Doss, CEO of US-based Fern Pro Global;
• Lord Nasser Fouad (LinkedIn), founder of St George Healthcare Group and NHMCInvestments;
• Wael Hassan (LinkedIn), president at World Environment Expo and former assistant VPs at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan;
• Adel Boulos (LinkedIn), VP at Amira Enterprises and president of the Egyptian CanadianBusiness Network;
• Karim Asaad (LinkedIn), founder and CEO of commodity trading house Brooks &Kempton;
• Tamer Hedayat, senior VP of global services at Netsync;
• Omar Abdullah Shehata, chairman Victoria Agritec Solutions and chairman of the Center for Development and Food Security in Africa;
• Hassan Al Jarrahi, chairman Al Amal Printing Factory, Al Bariz Industries, and the Egyptian Information Forms Company.

It’s early days: It’s still not clear how the company will operate. Board members and several state agencies will now prepare a plan on how to establish the company and how it will operate, according to the statement. A listing on the EGX or an exchange abroad is among the options being considered, it added.

REFRESHER- The government has launched several initiatives in recent months aimed at finding new sources of hard currency in response to the ongoing FX crisis. More attractive citizenship rules for foreigners, new tax incentives and land price discounts for foreign investors, and the car import scheme are all designed to stimulate new FX inflows.