Good morning, wonderful people. Earnings season once again dominates the business headlines. Corporate results are standing up reasonably well to inflationary pressure, rising financing costs, and the nationwide shortage of FX. As you’d expect, manufacturers and folks with significant exposure to imports (whether finished goods or production inputs) are having a tougher time of it. Would that we could all be in the food / beverage / restaurant industries, which continue to boom…

We also have news this morning on Actis’ bid for the Gabal El Zeit wind farm and welcome a new mission director to USAID Egypt (details on the latter in this morning’s Moves section, below).

PSA #1- We will not be in your inboxes tomorrow. We take occasional publication holidays throughout the year during quiet seasons when we need a bit of time to tool up, do some training, or gear-up to do something new. We’re doing all three tomorrow, and that means EnterpriseAM, Enterprise Climate, Enterprise Logistics and EnterprisePM will all be off. We’ll be back to our normal publication schedule on Friday with Enterprise Weekend.

PSA #2- Have questions about settling your outstanding military service? The Foreign Ministry yesterday urged Egyptian men to settle outstanding military service in FX and provided a WhatsApp number (+20 12 7563 8989) and email (info@tagneedinit.gov.eg) for enquiries. More details here.

Remember: As part of its bid to attract FX into the country, the government this week began inviting Egyptians living abroad to pay USD 5k / EUR 5k to settle outstanding military service. Applicants will need to deposit the money into a Banque Misr account at the bank’s Abu Dhabi branch. The deadline for applications is 13 September.

HAPPENING TODAY-

New industrial land plots available: Investors will be able to submit orders to purchase industrial land from Wednesday, 16 August, through Wednesday, 27 September, under a new phase of the Industrial Development Authority’s (IDA) investment map, according to the authority's website. Some 1.7 mn sqm of land across 14 governorates will be offered to industrial investors through the IDA’s website.

CORRECTION- A previous version of this story suggested that the IDA would offer industrial land plots in an auction. The story was updated on 16 August, 2023 to reflect that the land will be sold directly online. 

Export subsidy payouts begin: The Finance Ministry will pay out a third batch of export subsidies under the sixth of the program today and tomorrow. The ministry has so far paid out EGP 8 bn to over 800 companies during the current phase.

On the National Dialogue’s agenda today: Today's closed-door meeting will review recommendations on the role of the state in developing industrial zones and improving the country's tourism infrastructure.

Almost 70% of the National Dialogue’s work is done: Thirteen out of the 19 committees of the dialogue are scheduled for meetings today to wrap up their recommendations for political, economic, and social policies that will be presented to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, said Diaa Raswhan, the dialogue’s general coordinator.

How many will be implemented? The president said last month that he will implement all the recommendations provided he is able to do so under the constitution. Some will be sent to the government and the House of Representatives for approval.

NEXT WEEK-

It’s the final of the Women’s World Cup: Spain became the first team to make it through to Sunday’s final in Sydney with a 2-1 victory over Sweden. Hosts Australia will play England today at 2pm CLT in the other semi-final.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The Trump show goes on: The spotlight on Trump’s legal quagmire continues to dominate attention this morning after the former US president and 18 associates were hit with RICO charges by a Georgia grand jury alleging a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. (Associated Press | Reuters | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | Washington Post | New York Times)

FYI- The world’s first-ever green methanol-powered container ship berthed in East Port Said Port on Monday, according to the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The vessel’s maiden journey began with Asia and passed the Suez Canal on its way to Europe. The ship is being fuelled by our friends at OCI Global and will bunker this weekend.

MORNING MISCELLANY-

San Francisco is officially rolling out robotaxis, and it's not quite going to plan — in ways you might expect, and others you might not.

Music to make you think: Scientists have used neural activity to recreate Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall. It’s not exactly the best cover we’ve heard, but it’s certainly better than Korn.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

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.

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

MISSED OUR PREVIOUS FORUMS? The EnterprisePodcast has you covered : The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum and Enterprise Climate Forum.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- It’s the very first panel of the Enterprise Climate Forum: Egypt brought home major victories from COP27, signing framework agreements for about USD 85 bn worth of green hydrogen projects, and announcing more than USD 10 bn in funding for the Nexus for Food, Water and Energy (NWFE) program. While we have a long way to go before much of the wins from COP27 will be tangible to the private sector, the opportunities in green hydrogen and NWFE are “now.” Our panelists helped explain how these two can be made actionable. We were joined by Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, Khalid Hamza, Director and head of Egypt at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Khaled Naguib, CEO of Hydrogen Egypt.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: What could a real estate asset bourse do to prop up Egypt’s real estate industry?

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