Good morning, wonderful people, and thank you for your patience this week while we took a few days off to tool-up for 2026.

We take a limited number of publication holidays every year. It’s a chance to work ahead, think big thoughts, and get organized — particularly when we’re planning something new. Breaks like these don’t just allow us to keep our journalism sharp by engaging in a bit of Maoist self-criticism, but to cook up new things.

Uh, Enterprise? Beyond self-flagellation, what do you guys do on these breaks? Past publication breaks are where we built the things that became:

  • Our annual events series, including our flagship EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum
  • Our audio products, including Morning Drive and Making It
  • Our launches in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the MENA-India corridor
  • The relaunch of EnterpriseAM Weekend in Egypt
  • …and plenty more

We’ll have lots more for you in the months to come — stay tuned. 🙂

WE’RE BACK IN BUSINESS THIS MORNING with an issue packed with stories that speak to optimism about the shape of things to come in 2026. The rundown:

EXCLUSIVE- Banque du Caire is readying what will be not just the most-anticipated IPO of 2026, but the most important in Egypt since long before covid. We have the inside track on the transaction, which has captured the interest of investors in major financial centers — and that could help us close the latest reviews of our USD 8 bn IMF program.

While the IMF won’t count it as “privatization,” staff there should still welcome the sale of land at Ras Banas, which we can exclusively report is back on the auction block a bit more than a year after officials were said to be shopping it to Saudi Arabia. We expect land parcels there to be sold piecemeal (the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, the logic goes) and to pique the interest of investors from Qatar and UAE.

MEANWHILE- AfDB has stepped in to de-risk a key component of the Finance Ministry’s 2026 debt blitz and Afreximbank’s award of a USD 250 mn contract for its new Cairo HQ and trade proves the institution sees Egypt being the financial center of trade in Africa for decades to come.

^^ We have all of this and more in this morning’s news well, below.

From the Dep’t of Self Congratulations

Kudos to koshary, which made the UnescoList of Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2025. Although we have an unofficial ban on koshary at Enterprise HQ (the pungent odor of its fried onions isn’t exactly conducive to a harmonious work environment), we still love a good plate of koshary outside the office.

What exactly is this list — and why is koshary on it? It’s a list that gets compiled annually by the UN’s cultural agency to promote visibility, awareness, and dialogue about the diversity of living heritage worldwide. Koshary made the 2025 installment not just because it’s our national comfort food, but because it’s a dish that represents equality amongst Egyptians. Its simple ingredients — rice, lentils, macaroni, vermicelli, fried onions, chickpeas, and tomato sauce — make it an easy, affordable, and tasty meal that is available everywhere and can be eaten by anyone.

In addition to koshary, the 2025 list includes things like ayeneh-kari (intricate mirrorwork from Iran), yodeling (from Switzerland), and traditional saree weaving (from Bangladesh).

Morning must read-

The road to export paradise runs through office buildings, not factories. That’s the argument our friend Helmy Ghazi makes in fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times publication. Rolling out the welcome mat for businesses that export services, not manufactured goods, is the surest path to FX stability, he argues. With Egypt now a more cost-effective destination for what insiders call “global competency centers” (“call centers” is passé), global majors are catching on. More than 240 global companies now run digital and shared-services centers here — up from around 90 in 2022. Exports of IT services have already hit USD 6 bn annually, with the Madbouly government targeting USD 9 bn by 2030.

Who’s in? PepsiCo, Schneider Electric, Unilever, ADCB, HSBC, and Mashreq are among the bold-faced names with operations on the ground.

Helmy’s core argument: Services require minimal capital, import almost nothing, and earn hard currency — making them “quasi-equity for the national balance sheet.”

The one downside risk: It’s anyone’s guess how generative AI will hit demand for what used to be called “business process outsourcing.” But if we’re going to make it stick, attracting providers of the higher-value services delivered through global competency centers will be key. And this much is clear: For the foreseeable future, a human’s going to be in the loop, even with “agentic AI” on track to be the buzzword of early 2026.

Highly recommended: Egyptian ingenuity will be reborn through services.

FinMin gives BPO and staffing companies a break

Speaking of services: Staffing and business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies in Egypt are getting a break from the tax man. Instead of charging VAT on the total invoice amount (which includes workers’ salaries), eligible firms will charge and remit VAT only on their specific service fee or commission, according to a decision signed off by Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk earlier this week.

IN CONTEXT- The Finance Ministry is on a drive to boost Egypt’s service economy, having recently clarified that service exports were subject to VAT at a “zero rate” provided an Egyptian firm is delivering a service to a non-resident client abroad.

More of this, please

The biotech labor market is getting a shot in the arm as AUC and Minapharm are giving life to Africa’s first biotech academy. The university is set to oversee curriculum design and accreditation and Minapharm will provide technical expertise, mentorship, and access to its R&D facilities, AUC said in a statement (pdf).

Data point

USD 1.3 bn — the total value of investments booked at the Qantara West Industrial Zone despite it only breaking ground on its first project in July 2024. The increasingly important project in the country’s industrialization strategy now has 48 operational or in-the-works projects, expected to employ nearly 70k people.

Enter Jasan Group — the zone’s newest addition and the latest in a long line of Chinese textile and garment companies calling Qantara West home. The company will invest USD 100 mn in a 100% self-financed factory that will — no spoilers here — export 90% of production, the SCZone said in a statement.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

Will Gulf sovereigns continue backing Paramount Skydance’s hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery? The question hangs in the air this morning amid widespread reports that WBD plans to reject Paramount’s bid in favour of Netflix. The news sent Affinity partners, the key conduit for GCC backing of Paramount’s hostile bid, running to the exit.

Affinity, the private equity outfit led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, said overnight it would “no longer pursue the opportunity.” Kushner helped Paramount line up some USD 24 bn in funding for the bid from Saudi’s PIF, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding.

PLUS- It’s a rough morning for the auto industry: Volkswagen is shutting a plant in Germany, its home market, for the first time in its 88-year history. That’s bad news for any country (including Egypt) hoping that VW would choose it as the site for a new assembly plant — German unions would go bonkers if it invested significant sums abroad after shutting a plant at home. Ford, meanwhile, is taking a USD 19 bn writedown as it walks-back plans to go all-in on EVs.

Keep an eye on oil this morning: Crude futures dipped overnight after the Trump administration said it would impose a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” going into and and out of Venezuela.

AND- The Trump administration is in damage-control mode after the White House chief of staff gave a stunningly candid interview to Vanity Fair in which she said she was “aghast” at the destruction of USAID, called Elon an “odd duck” and ketamine user, and talked smack about JD Vance’s love of conspiracy theories. Read: Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff on Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)

PSA-

WEATHER- Cairo is in for a windy day, with the Egyptian Meteorological Authority forecasting stiff, intermittent winds sweeping the entire country today. You can expect a high of 20°C in Cairo today and an overnight low of 11°C, according to our favorite weather app. Alexandria can expect much the same, with a high of 21°C and a low of 12°C.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’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: It doesn’t matter how many solar and wind parks you build if the grid can’t handle the load.

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