Good morning, wonderful people, and happy Sunday. We’ve got plenty of news for you to kick off one of the shortest work weeks we’ve had in a while.

Today starts the work week, and tomorrow will wrap it up. We’re still waiting on the Manpower Ministry and the EGX to confirm that they’ll follow the public sector and the banks and declare a seven-day holiday — from Tuesday, 27 June through Monday, 3 July — to mark Eid El Adha and the 30 June revolution. We’ll let you know as soon as we know.

THE BIG STORY here at home: The Central Bank of Egypt met most analysts’ expectations when it chose to keep interest rates on hold on Thursday. Also on the macro front, we could be inching closer to our second sovereign green bond issuance.

We also bring you lots of fresh industrial investment news — much of it spurred by Indian firms looking at the potential here. The country’s PM is making a visit to Cairo just as the Suez Canal Economic Zone wraps up its roadshow to major Indian cities.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Expect big news out of the privatization program when we come back from the break.“All the targets [for the state privatization program] have been achieved,” Planning Minister Hala El Said told Amr Adeeb on El Hakaya last night (watch, runtime: 18:32). “There are transactions that have already been done and will be announced after the Eid holiday,” she said.

REMEMBER- The Madbouly government is targeting asset sales of USD 2 bn by the end of June. It has so far raised only USD 153 mn that we know of, through the Pachin acquisition and a sale of 10% in Telecom Egypt.

AND- We’ll soon know which companies will be redeveloping the National Democratic Party HQ: The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) will within two weeks reveal the successful bid for a contract to redevelop the land where the National Democratic Party’s headquarters once stood. The area is set to be transformed into a hotel as part of several landmark projects to develop old buildings and revamp the cultural landscape of central Cairo. Four companies reportedlyresponded to the tender.

The Enterprise Finance Forum is our flagship gathering — the one so many of you have been waiting for. The two-day event takes place this September and will be the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations just after the 30 June holiday.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Please click here.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our location, exciting agenda and speakers in the weeks to come.

MISSED THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? Tune in to the Enterprise Podcast to hear what went down: The Enterprise Podcast is back, and with it comes our new Forum series, where we bring you audio recordings of what was said on stage at our events.

We’re kickstarting the series with the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum, which took place last May at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, and where we explored how we can make Egypt an export powerhouse that is a magnet for FDI.

IN TODAY’S EPISODE- We looked at the immediate need for businesses, and the country as a whole, to develop workable strategies on bolstering exports and FDI by looking at examples from around the world that have worked. We were joined on that panel by Yasmine Khamis, chair of the Orientals Group, and Yassir Zouaoui, partner at McKinsey, who flew in from the UAE to attend. The panel was co-moderated by our friend Helmy Ghazi, deputy CEO of HSBC Egypt.

Expect us to drop an episode every Sunday morning.You can listen to the Enterprise Podcast where ever you get your podcasts including: Apple Podcast | Spotify| Google Podcast | Anghami.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

An attempted coup on the Kremlin called off at the last minute? The foreign press is full of the high drama playing out on Russia’s home front, as the leader of the notorious paramilitary Wagner Group appeared to call for — and then just as abruptly call off — a march on the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to drop mutiny charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin and allow him to leave for neighboring Belarus in a pact brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin said. Prigozhin’s troops were within 200km of Moscow when he ordered them to turn back. Every outlet is closely monitoring developments: Bloomberg | The New York Times| Reuters| FT| Wall Street Journal| Washington Post | AP | The Guardian.

Search for the Titan sub ends in tragedy: The US Coast Guard has said debris from the submersible that went missing last week on a descent to the Titanic wreck is consistent with “a catastrophic implosion of the vehicle” that claimed the lives of all five passengers, Reuters reports. The remnants of the underwater vessel were discovered on the ocean floor by a robotic diving vehicle on Thursday following an extensive four-day search operation. Canadian safety officials have now launched an investigation into the submersible's implosion. Previous passengers of the Titan and submersible experts have said they were concerned about the safety of the experimental vehicle, which was not accredited by any regulator.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Modi in Cairo: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Egypt on Saturday for a two-day visit, a cabinet statementsaid. His arrival makes the first state visit to Egypt by an Indian Prime Minister in 26 years, added the Washington Post. Modi will meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi today and is expected to sign a number of MoUs promoting trade ties between the two countries. The visit follows El Sisi’s trip to India earlier this year, during which the two leaders agreed to strengthen ties on several fronts, including by upping Indian investment here. (Times of India| Associated Press)

Modi x Madbouly: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and cabinet ministers met with Modi yesterday for a roundtable discussion during which Madbouly highlighted Egypt’s interest in India becoming a main wheat supplier to the country, as well as upping cooperation in higher education, tourism, pharma and green energy, a statement said. The two sides agreed to continue working to increase bilateral trade to USD 12 bn in the next five years.

DATA POINT-

Egyptians have brought more than 306 kg of gold into the country since 11 May, when the government relaxed customs rules in a bid to stabilize the gold market, the Finance Ministry said. Under the new rules, Egyptians living abroad are able to bring up to 100-150 grams of gold into the country without paying customs fees.

MARKET WATCH-

Gov’t contracts hedging against volatile oil prices run out this month: Hedging contracts guarding against oil market fluctuations will expire at the end of June, the close of the current fiscal year, CNN Business Arabic reports, quoting a Finance Ministry source. The government agreed to purchase hedging contracts in December after oil prices saw extreme volatility in 2022.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

  • The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
  • Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
  • How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
  • How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
  • How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

Tags: