Good morning, friends, and welcome to the start of a new work week and hopefully the beginning of the end to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza as a ceasefire comes into effect starting in just over a couple of hours.

BUT FIRST- We’re super happy this morning to welcome Sekem as our newest commercial partner here at EnterpriseAM Egypt.

We’ve known Sekem as journalists — and trusted the company’s brands as consumers — for decades now. Sekem was founded in 1977 by the late Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish, who put principles of sustainable development and community engagement at the heart of his business model at a time when most companies had no clue what those words meant. Dr. Ibrahim was a national champion of desert reclamation and sustainable farming in Egypt.

The company is run today by our friend Helmy Abouleish, whose ethics and desire to serve community and nation alike we have long admired. Helmy recently spoke with us for Going Green, our weekly vertical on the green economy.

Sekem’s portfolio of companies, brands, and educational institutions range from the Isis line of organic products to Atos Pharma and Heliopolis University. Its products are sold at more than 90k points of sale nationwide, including supermarkets and pharmacies.

We like Sekem because, like Enterprise, the company has ambition — and because they share our passion for exports. Some 60% of its products are exported, primarily to Austria, the Netherlands, and France. The company is a regional pioneer in biodynamic agriculture and is on a mission to fight climate change and improve food security through their work with tens of thousands of Egyptian farms. It’s a model that Sekem is taking outside the nation’s borders, too.

Please join us in welcoming Sekem to EnterpriseAM. It’s thanks to them and our other partners that your morning read remains available to you without charge every morning.

PSA-

WEATHER- The sun is taking a break in Cairo today, with an overcast day forecast, along with a high of 20°C and a low of 13°C, according to our favorite weather app.

There’s little sun to be had over in Alexandria too, with a high of 19°C and a low of 12°C.

But make sure to take extra care on the roads today and tomorrow, with heavy fog forecast in the early hours throughout most parts of the country, the Egyptian Meteorological Authority warned. Seafarers are also being warned of high winds and waves reaching up to 3.5m expected in the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, and further down throughout the Red Sea.

** DID YOU KNOW that we now cover Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

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WATCH THIS SPACE-

Private sector real estate players may soon be given land in exchange for dedicating 30% of the plot to social housing, under an in the works initiative by the Housing Ministry’s Social Housing Fund, Tarek Shoukry, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ (FEI) real estate division, told Al Borsa. Under the arrangement set to be finalized by June, developers will hand over the units to the government and will have free reign in the remaining 70% of the plot, he added.

IN THE SENATE-

Airport privatization is on the agenda at the Senate today, with senators reconvening after a two-week break to discuss plans to involve the private sector in the running, upgrading, and building of the nation’s airports. Civil Aviation Minister Sameh El Hefny will address the room and answer senators’ questions.

Remember: The Madbouly government first revealed plans last November to invite private sector players — including foreign companies — to take over the management of airports in the country in order to improve services and increase revenues collected by the state coffers. Momentum has been gaining around the project in the last couple of months, with the government announcing in October that the first phase of the private sector offering would include Cairo International Airport, Sphinx International Airport, El Alamein International Airport, Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, and Hurghada International Airport.

DATA POINT-

#1- Oil and gas companies have drilled 105 wells over the past six months, which Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly attributed in his weekly presser to the government’s efforts at clearing arrears owed to international oil players and introducing fresh incentives to energy players. (watch, runtime: 42:58).

The breakdown: These wells — 95 oil and 10 natural gas — have added 63.7k bpd of oil and 271 mn cfd of natural gas to the country’s daily local energy production, which will help the state save some USD 1.5 bn in oil imports.

#2- Agricultural exports were up 15% y-o-y in 2024, increasing by 1.1 mn tons on the year before to come in at 8.6 mn tons, Agriculture Minister Alaa Farouk said in a statement.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s a busy day in global news, with an approaching ceasefire in Gaza set to begin in just over a couple of hours, the commentariat in a frenzy ahead of Trump being inaugurated as the 47th president tomorrow, and TikTok’s US operations potentially getting thrown a lifeline by the incoming administration all battling for digital ink.

Our corner of the world is for the first time in a while leading with positive news, with a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel set to begin at 8:30am Cairo time after 15 months of a brutal assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands — of which the UN estimates 70% to be women and children. The Egypt, Qatar, and US-brokered agreement from today sets out a six week period that will see an end to the assault, the entry of much needed aid, and the release of 33 Israeli and 2k Palestinian hostages, followed by more released throughout the period, before the more fragile second and third phases seeking to put an end to the war for good begins. (Reuters | New York Times | Wall Street Journal | Bloomberg

But the likes of Netanyahu and other warhawks seem to already be laying the groundwork for a potential return to the war, with the Israeli prime minister saying in a televised statement just hours ahead of the ceasefire that the country’s “campaign is not over” and that he has both Biden and Trump’s backing to restart its assault on Gaza “if the second stage [of the ceasefire] is fruitless. (Guardian)

While over in business news, Trump signaled he may grant TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid a nationwide ban set for today, citing the need for a “political resolution.” The Supreme Court upheld the ban as recently as Friday over national security concerns, giving the ByteDance-owned company the choice of divesting from its parent company or closing down its US operations. (Financial Times | Reuters | Associated Press | Washington Post)

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