Good morning from the People’s Democratic Republic of Maadi, where we’re finalizing this morning’s edition with no coffee. Note to selves: Grind coffee the night before in anticipation of deadline-time power outages…

THE BIG STORY here at home this morning: We should get some advance warning about when the lights will go out: A detailed schedule for blackouts will be published today on the websites of governorates ( Cairo | Giza | Alexandria), Local Development Assistant Minister Khalid Kassim said in a televised interview last night ( watch, runtime: 3:12).

The government will also try to further reduce its consumption in non-strategic places such as roads(yes, roads — we triple checked), some government offices and sports pitches by 50-75% in a bid to lower electricity demand, he said, clarifying that households are excluded from this figure.

THE STANDARD- A one-time hour-long blackout: Show host Ahmed Moussa said that the new agreed-upon standard for blackouts in residential areas is a one-time hour-long power cut each day, and that anything more than that would be an exception.

FROM THE RUMOR MILL-

The Qataris aren’t the only ones in the race for Vodafone Egypt: The Public Investment Fund ( Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund) is competing with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to acquire Telecom Egypt’s minority stake in Vodafone Egypt, two sources at the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and Finance Ministry told us yesterday.

TE says it hasn’t received formal offers from anyone : Telecom Egypt (TE) has not received a formal offer to acquire its shares in Vodafone Egypt, the company said (pdf) yesterday. The state-owned telecoms company was reacting to a report in Al Borsa claiming that the QIA will finalize an agreement to acquire the shares before the end of September. The website claimed that the two sides had agreed on a valuation, but are still negotiating over the size of the stake on offer. A source at Telecom Egypt reiterated the company’s denial when we reached out for comment.

There could be more interest: The company is continuing to invite offers from other investors, our sources told us. Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ has also expressed interest in buying in.

Remember: Negotiations between QIA and TE were said to have stalled in February due to a disagreement over the size of the stake on offer; the two sides resuming talks in June. While QIA is reportedly looking to acquire the company’s entire 45% stake in Vodafone Egypt, the government is said to be unwilling to cede more than 25% of the company.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Thanaweya Amma results are out: The Education Ministry will release the results of this year’s Thanaweya Amma exams later today, an official source tells Ahram Online. The pass rate for the 2022-23 academic year is 78.8%, Education Minister Reda Hegazy said yesterday. The minister will hold a press conference today to announce more details of the results.

Get yours here: Students can check their results online via here.

ICYMI-

Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, players in the construction industry tell us how the government is turning to the private sector to help reverse years of losses at state-owned factories.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

RIP EGX50: The Egyptian Exchange will terminate the EGX50 index tomorrow.

Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will meet on Thursday to discuss interest rates. All of the analysts we surveyed in our customary poll see the central bank holding rates steady for a third consecutive month. We have more in this morning’s news well, below.

Jeddah to host Ukraine talks: Saudi Arabia will host a second round of talks over the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Jeddah, following talks in Copenhagen last month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Senior officials from as many as 30 countries — including Egypt — are set to attend the talks on 5 and 6 August, in which Russia is not expected to participate. Ukrainian and Western officials are hoping the talks will sway developing nations to offer more support to Ukraine.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

There’s no single story capturing the world’s attention this morning: The Wall Street Journal leads with fears that the Chinese economy may be slipping into deflation, the Financial Times is reporting that the world’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone, is making a major play for AI data centers, while the Associated Press looks at the impact of the summer heatwave on poor Americans who live without ACs.

CIRCLE 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.

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.

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

CORRECTION- There’s still time to apply for the second round of the Smart Green Projects initiative. The deadline for startups to apply has been pushed once more until 1 September, rather than closing today as we reported in yesterday’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed.

In today’s issue: We take a look at a new World Bank report that looks at how low- and middle-income countries tried to address the disruption caused to education by the covid-19 pandemic.

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