Good afternoon, friends, and happy hump day. We have a legislation-heavy day with which to mark the week’s midpoint, while all eyes are on Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, who’s expected to begin his privatization presser any minute now.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

The House had a busy day: The House of Representatives signed off today on several bills, including a bill that will eliminate tax exemptions — including customs and real estate tax exemptions — that were previously granted to some state entities, according to a House statement. Parliament also gave its final approval in today’s plenary session to seven other bills, including amendments to the Investment Act that will allow projects predating the 2017 bill to benefit from its incentives; a bill to establish an Intellectual Property Authority; and a bill allowing the Suez Canal Economic Zone to hand a 30-year contract to Sky Logistics to design, construct, manage, operate, and maintain a new multi-purpose terminal at the East Port Said Port.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Ukraine’s fight for their NATO membership is continuing to lead the conversation in the international press. After a speech that promised Kyiv to be invited to the alliance with no time frame indicated, Volodymyr Zelensky issued a written statement rebutting the tempo of Ukraine’s admittance to the military alliance, saying that Ukraine’s survival against Russia relies on its membership. Reuters | BBC | CNBC | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

OECD parties debate tax plan targeting multinationals: Representatives from over 130 nations are at the OECD’s Paris headquarters for three days of talks to settle disagreements on a landmark tax plan targeting multinational companies, the Financial Timesreports. The plan seeks to levy taxes on the world’s largest 100 companies — including Tech giants Google, Facebook, and Amazon — in countries where they make sales rather than where they have physical offices. While the plan is backed by the world’s biggest economies, it has been held back by delays and opposition from emerging markets.

The opposition: Some developing countries, including India and Sri Lanka, worry that the arrangement will impinge on revenues, partially because the biggest multinationals make more sales in richer countries. The plan is also opposed by Republicans, meaning that it may not win the two-thirds majority Senate vote it needs to get ratified in the US.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • Actis to acquire Gabal El Zeit wind farms? Emerging-market private equity giant Actis is in line to acquire the state-owned 580-MW Gabal El Zeit wind farm.
  • Inflation has never been higher: Inflation accelerated at its fastest-ever rate in June as the impact of multiple currency devaluations combined with higher seasonal demand to send food prices soaring. The annual urban rate of inflation rose to 35.7% y-o-y during the month, up from 32.7% in May.
  • A less chaotic second EGX debut for Taqa: Taqa Arabia had a decidedly less chaotic second debut on the EGX yesterday, with the company’s shares avoiding the dramatic fluctuations seen on Sunday and only a few transactions reportedly being canceled by the exchange.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS- The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

Day one is our Banking Forum, where we’ll dive deep into topics of interest to commercial and investment bankers, from an outlook on the 12 months to come in M&A, IPO, and debt capital markets to the national, regional, and global trends that are (re)shaping our industry.

Day two is all about Fintech and Non-Banking Financial Services. We’ll take a deep dive into everything from the magic of client acquisition to the prospects of consolidation and the coming of challenger banks.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

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

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial, or fill out this form and we’ll be in touch.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our agenda.

DID YOU MISS THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? Tune in to the Enterprise Podcast and listen for yourself: The Enterprise Podcast is back with another installment of our forum series, where we bring you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum,which took place in May.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami. We’re releasing a new episode every Sunday morning.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- We explored the lessons learned from the industries that have raised our export profile: Food and beverages, fertilizers and chemical products, and textiles and garments. We were joined on that panel by Mohamed Talaat Khalifa, CEO of Concrete, Shams Eweis, corporate affairs manager for North Africa and the Levant at Mars, and Tarek Hosny, head of investments and projects at Fertiglobe.

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.

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.

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 on subject matter knowledge, while also working on constructing and filing Enterprise 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.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury will be on the rise as the thermometer will read a high of 38°C in the daytime and drop down to a cooler 24°C in the evening, as per our favorite weather app.

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