Good afternoon, friends, and a very happy Sunday. We have a reasonably brisk start to the week here in Omm El Donia as we wrap up the last few days of the month — and the quarter.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Meet the Gulf firms helping to redevelop the former NDP HQ: A consortium of Saudi Egyptian Developers (SED) and the UAE’s Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) Group is set to join the company established to redevelop the former National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters in central Cairo, Asharq Business reports, citing three sources it says are in the know.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

There is no unifying theme or story in the international press this afternoon, but one story getting traction is Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region are on their way to Armenia:The area that is located in Azerbaijan has been one of dispute since the Soviet era and more recently it has seen the population face a defeat at the hands of the Azerbaijanis, leading 120k Armenians in the region to leave out of fear of ethnic cleansing. (Reuters | CNBC)

ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME- Why are private equity firms taking their hands out of the mega buyout bucket and looking at private credit? The Financial Times dives into how the global monetary tightening cycle has accelerated that shift, and how economists view the outlook.

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

  • The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) kept interest rates unchangedon Thursday.
  • We’re looking for more funding from the UAE to fund wheat imports: Egypt is in talks with an unnamed Emirati bank to finance wheat purchases from Kazakhstan.
  • We sat down with Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk to talk about the Asian International Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), its role in promoting investment, and the importance of engaging with the private sector.

enterprise

*** It’s Inside Industry day — your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Over the past five years — since Sico Technology brought the first locally-made smartphone to the market — Egypt’s local smartphone production landscape has seen an uptick in activity. Today, we get a lay of the land of what’s been happening in the past several years.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a high of 36°C during the daytime and a drop to 26°C in the evening, our favorite weather app tells us.

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