Good afternoon, friends. We hope that your week has gotten off to a smooth start as we shift gears back into work-mode.

CLARIFICATION- New patisserie Fôu is open for business from tomorrow — order from the comfort of your couch. The grand opening of Farah El Charkawy’s new online-only patisserie Fôu, which we wrote about in this morning’s AM, is an invitation-only event. Excusez-nous forthe faux pas. But pastry fiends can still get their fix by ordering through Fôu’s website, which goes live tomorrow night. Arbitration lawyer El Charkawy — late of Zulficar and Partners — attended top European culinary schools (including Alain Ducasse in France) to perfect her craft and we can’t wait to taste what she’s creating.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Beltone Financial has inked a share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 100% of Minya-based microfinance provider Cash after completing due diligence on the company, chief communications officer Mamdouh Abdelwahab confirmed to Enterprise. Beltone has acquired the microfinance provider “directly and indirectly” through the company and its subsidiaries, Abdelwahab said, without naming the subsidiaries.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

It’s another afternoon of the international business press being all over the place: Bloomberg ’s top story focuses on the creation of a gaming authority in the UAE, suggesting that gambling may become legalized — we dive in further in For Your Commute, below. Elsewhere, how China’s economic slump will affect commodity producers worldwide is getting top billing in the Wall Street Journal, and Reuters is leading with Turkey and Russia’s presidents meeting in Sochi to discuss natural gas and grain.

HAPPENING NOW-

Day one of the Africa Climate Summit is in session: Climate leaders from across the continent are gathered in the Kenyan capital today for the three-day Africa Climate Summit. An Egyptian delegation headed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly including Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad and Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam are in attendance.

On the agenda: Fouad will join a number of officials in signing the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment, and Climate Change(KDMECC); she will also chair a session on raising adaptation finance. Fouad is scheduled to meet with some of her counterparts and international lenders on the sidelines of the summit, according to an Environment Ministry statement.

Phase nine of the Beit El Watan initiative kicks off: The Housing Ministry is opening the door for Egyptians living abroad to reserve some 2.53k plots of land up for grabs under the ninth phase of the Beit El Watan initiative, Housing Minister Assem El Gazzar said in a statement earlier today. The plots offered are distributed among 14 new cities including New Cairo, Sheikh Zayed, Tenth of Ramadan, and New Aswan. The reservation door closes in three weeks.

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

CHECK OUT OUR AGENDA-

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.

This is our first two-day event,which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.

Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:

  • Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.
  • Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
  • The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
  • What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
  • NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
  • What does 2024 hold in store for fintech: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, which segments will account for the lion’s share of future growth, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
  • What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.

** 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.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

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.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The temperature will begin to climb again to hit 38°C at its peak and then dip to a cooler 25°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

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