Nawy Shares, CI Capital move fractional property under the FRA

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Traders move tankers to Port Said and Sidi Kerir as Saudi partially restarts East-West oil pipeline

Good morning, friends. We are heading to the weekend and two main stories have our attention — one about a new partnership in the fractional real estate market, and another about broad multilateral support for the country’s infrastructure guarantee facility.

Up first, Nawy Shares and CI Capital are teaming up to launch real estate investment funds under Financial Regulatory Authority oversight, moving Nawy’s EGP 10 bn fractional platform off civil-law contracts and into investment certificates. First subscriptions are targeted for early next year.

Good news from our backers: Ten development finance institutions — including AfDB, EIB, EBRD, and AIIB — have signed onto Egypt’s USD 520 mn Infrastructure Financing Guarantee Facility. The idea is to replace blanket sovereign guarantees with project-specific ones for private infrastructure. The sign-on is a good indicator ahead of the upcoming board vote at the World Bank and the IMF final review before the end of the year.

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We’re honored to have Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman join us as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum — the AI edition.

Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman is a private equity and investment banking executive with over 30 years of experience across Egypt and the GCC, with a track record spanning deal origination, IPO and M&A execution, and building direct-investment platforms from the ground up. He currently serves as Managing Director and CEO of Post For Investment (PFI), where he oversees a c. EGP 17 bn (USD 340 mn) direct-investment portfolio and structured the firm’s first landmark exit in 2024. Previously, as Group Deputy CEO and CIO of Beltone Financial, he launched three new lending verticals, building an aggregate portfolio of EGP 2 bn within three years.

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Pipeline back, tankers chase

Traders are moving tankers to Port Said for ship-to-ship transfers and to Sidi Kerir for Saudi oil loadings, Reuters reports, citing traders familiar with the matter. This comes as Saudi Arabia partially restarted its East-West pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu after a drone attack took it offline last week.

REMEMBER- Since the US-Iran war disrupted flows in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia had been routing around 4 mn bbl / day — roughly 4% of global supply — through this pipeline to Yanbu. Some of that crude then moved north through the Red Sea to Ain Sokhna, crossed via the Sumed pipeline, and loaded at Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean. Saudi crude through Sidi Kerir more than doubled to about 2.3 mn bbl / d in August. When the East-West pipeline was knocked offline, that whole chain stopped.

Why it matters: The restart is real, but partial. The line is pumping at a low rate for now — three of its 11 pumping stations were damaged in the attack. Aramco targets nearly 4 mn bbl / d throughput, with 40% of capacity expected within days, though a full restart will take six to eight weeks.

BP sale soon?

BP’s EVP of Production and Operations Gordon Birrell is reportedly visiting Egypt today, signaling that the company may soon select the winning bidder for its local gas assets, Arabic-language energy website Attaqa reports, citing unnamed sources.

IN CONTEXT- BP was reportedly exploring the sale of select natural gas assets in Egypt last May as part of a restructuring effort aimed at trimming debt and prioritizing higher-margin projects. The assets on the block — so far including BP’s offshore West Nile Delta fields — have drawn interest from UAE’s Dragon Oil, US private equity firm Carlyle Group, Mediterranean-focused Energean, and London-based Artemis Energy.

Salting away a stake

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is buying into Hassan Allam Utilities’ (HAU) desalination business, approving an equity investment of up to USD 32.1 mn for a minority stake in RWD Investments, according to a project disclosure. The Netherlands-based investment vehicle runs 79 desalination plants along Egypt’s coast through its subsidiaries.

The money splits two ways: a committed chunk for new B2B plants and upgrades, and an uncommitted tranche tied to three big PPP water projects still in the pipeline. The disclosure puts the total project cost at USD 92.9 mn and does not name the PPPs.

Why it matters: Equity is scarce for Egyptian water projects. The EBRD says local equity markets cannot fill the gap, adding that its role as a long-term equity investor will help absorb both financial and non-financial risks — the kind of backing that gives HAU the confidence to take on larger PPP projects.

REMEMBER- The bank’s ties to the group’s water business date to a USD 20 mn loan to Hassan Allam Holding in 2019 to finance its acquisition of specialized water desalination and treatment engineering firms. In January 2026, it lent EGP 350 mn to Ridgewood for Water Desalination, RWD’s main operating company. Meanwhile, we just learned earlier this week that the Finance Ministry is lining up over USD 3 bn worth of PPP projects spanning desalination, wastewater treatment, and electricity, including four desalination plants in Suez, Port Said, Alamein, and Ain Sokhna.

Lease-to-own awardees are in

The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) awarded plots to winning bidders in the country’s first lease-to-own industrial land round, allocating more than 300k sqm of serviced plots across eight industrial zones, according to an Industry Ministry statement. The allocations cover New Borg El Arab, Wadi El Natroun, Katameya, Tenth of Ramadan, New Sixth of October, Sadat, New Tiba, and New Akhmim. The tender offered 540 plots spanning more than 5.7 mn sqm across 20 industrial zones in 15 governorates. The statement does not say how many plots were awarded, how many bids the IDA received, or whether more rounds are planned.

What comes next for the awardees: Investors have 24 months from land handover to start production, with four fixed milestones: a building permit within six months, foundations within 12, all building-permit construction within 18, and an operating license and industrial registration by month 24. Missing any milestone triggers cancellation and land repossession, the authority said.

REMEMBER- The lease-to-own system launched last month to reduce the upfront capital manufacturers must commit to land before production begins. Investors can lease plots for 7-21 years at an annual rent starting at 5% of the land value and apply to buy after one year of operations, with rent paid deducted from the purchase price.

Building the paper trail

The Federation of Egyptian Industries’ real estate chamber is meeting with the central bank and Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to talk property market rules and financing, Al Borsa reports, citing chamber head Tarek Shoukry. The agenda covers mortgage finance, more diverse funding channels for developers, and clearer rules on how developers, contractors, banks, buyers, and the state relate to each other. Shoukry said rising project costs are pushing developers to look beyond traditional bank loans, adding that the market needs clearer lines on who does what. No date or concrete proposals are out yet.

IN CONTEXT- The talks come as regulators are already closing a known gap. Former FRA chairman Sherif Samy told EnterpriseAM in June that long-term developer installments stay off I-Score because developers aren’t regulated lenders, calling for the Housing Ministry, FRA, and central bank to agree on a framework to bring them into the national credit system. That link is already starting to tighten when developers transfer receivables to mortgage finance companies, which must report buyers’ outstanding obligations to I-Score. The wider sector is also facing a new regulatory push around developer classification, escrow accounts, and standardized contracts.

Happening today

#1- The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets this evening, and the base case points to a fifth straight hold at 19.00%. The consensus that carried the last four meetings has cracked, though: HC Securities’ Heba Monir has broken ranks with a 100-bp hike call, arguing 4Q pressures will force the committee’s hand while most of the market still sees the MPC pausing the monetary easing cycle it started in February.

The case for a hold rests on August’s surprise: Urban inflation slowed to 14.5% in August, undershooting both the 15.5% analyst consensus and the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) own guidance for a 3Q pickup. With the corridor ceiling at 20% against that reading, the bank is sitting on a positive real yield of about 5.5%, room most analysts think it has no reason to spend. Core inflation edged up to 14.9% from 14.7%.

A hold, despite the core: “The divergence of the two paths [headline easing while core climbs] suggests part of the apparent calm comes from items with volatile prices, while the deeper pressure inside the price structure is still widening,” economist Hany Aboul Fotouh tells us. He still expects the CBE to hold, calling it the most likely outcome as it “balances high headline inflation against a rising core.”

The CBE has been tightening without touching the corridor. In Tuesday’s fixed-rate deposit auction, it absorbed EGP 536.95 bn from banks in seven-day deposits at 19.5%, taking in more than the EGP 499.84 bn that matured since last week (a net withdrawal of about EGP 37 bn) and deepening a liquidity tightening that some analysts read as a stand-in for a hike. The prior week’s operation pulled in around EGP 500 bn, so the absorption is climbing week on week, reaching a total of EGP 1.52 tn in September.

The carry trade is turning back Egypt’s way as the committee sits down. Foreign and Arab investors were net buyers of roughly USD 244 mn in secondary-market government debt yesterday, reversing the previous week’s USD 513 mn net sell, according to EGX data. Meanwhile, the USD slipped back below EGP 52 (buy 51.37 and 51.47 sell) after touching that level last week for the first time in three months.

#2- It’s the last day of EFG Hermes’ 12th Annual London Investor Conference, which is being held at Emirates Stadium under the theme “At the Home of Champions: MENA’s Market Leaders Meet Global Capital.” The gathering brought together more than 830 participants from around the world, including over 420 investors from 181 global institutions, alongside 125 presenting companies from seven MENA countries.

PSA-

WEATHER- Heat is ticking up in Cairo today, with a high of 33°C and a low of 23°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s nicer in Alexandria, with a high of 29°C and a low of 22°C.

And over the weekend, expect slightly cooler conditions in the capital (a high of 32°C) and for our friends on the Mediterranean (a high of 28°C). We might see light showers in the north.

The big story abroad

The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war by two months to 10 January, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for his first stateside visit in 11 years for a three-day summit. Initially set to expire in November, the one-year truce, which will give the two sides more time to negotiate, involves maintaining a suspension of select US tariffs in exchange for Beijing’s continued supply of rare earth minerals.

Regional war severs travel routes: Oman and Azerbaijan suspended all Iranian airline flights into their countries after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that all Iranian airlines would be shut down worldwide starting Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iraq has banned Iranian flights to its capital Baghdad after Washington imposed sanctions on services provided to Iran’s aviation sector.

More disquiet over AI safety: An AI agent developed by OpenAI breached an Australian government-run health ‌data portal in June, increasing concerns over the technology’s safety and the possibility of going rogue. While the startup acknowledged that its models took unintended actions affecting multiple government websites and online services, it found no evidence of patient records being accessed.

Another disappointment for OpenAI: The 2024 move to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones “dramatically underperformed,” with OpenAI expressing disappointment over the surprisingly low user engagement with the AI features, legal filings by the startup show. The development follows a tense trade standoff since the iPhone maker accused OpenAI of large-scale trade secret theft.

Nawy Shares, CI Capital partner to bring fractional property investing under FRA oversight

Nawy Shares and CI Capital Asset Management (Ciam) signed an agreement to set up and manage real estate investment funds, according to a joint statement. First subscriptions are targeted for early next year, pending regulatory approvals. The tie-up pairs Ciam, which describes itself as the country’s largest asset manager, with Nawy Shares, which calls itself the biggest player in a fractional real estate market.

The product: The proposed funds would invest in projects under development and completed income-generating assets, with the option to structure individual issuances around specific projects, the statement says. Exact structure and size are still under review. Ciam had EGP 183.6 bn in assets under management (AUM) at the end of June 2026, about 30% of the market, according to the statement.

The backstory: Nawy, which has grown up almost entirely outside the securities perimeter, is moving a business it has run since 2023 on civil-law sale contracts into a regulated structure overseen by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). It has around EGP 10 bn in AUM and over 7k active investors, Ayman Magdy, managing director of Nawy Shares, tells EnterpriseAM.

Neither side has said how management will be split, or why Nawy Shares — which has its own asset management license — needs a partner.

The model outgrew its paperwork

The Ciam funds sit alongside a structure Nawy set up separately with the regulator for its own platform. “We have worked with the FRA to adapt the Nawy Shares business model into real estate fund regulations,” Magdy says. A multi-tranche fund company owns the underlying properties; a separately licensed manager runs them. “The multi-tranche setup allows us to release properties unit-by-unit on a tranche basis,” he says. “That entity holds the receiving, promotion, and subscription licenses. The fintech license is the one still in process.”

The unit-by-unit approach was a deliberate choice. A pooled portfolio mixes strong and weak units across locations and developers. Retail investors want to see the specific project, developer, and payment terms they are buying into, Magdy says. Nawy Shares bought units from developers and sold co-ownership positions on preliminary sale contracts. That instrument was designed for two people splitting a plot, not for 40 strangers holding slices of an off-plan apartment through an app. “We divide a property into 20 to 40 shares,” he explains. “Investors can start with down payments of EGP 20k to 25k.” Nawy Shares, which describes itself as the first and largest platform in the space, is one of several that grew up this way, alongside Partment, Farida, and Madinet Masr’s Safe.

Demand is not the constraint. Nawy Shares releases 10 to 20 units every Tuesday, and they often sell out within one to two hours, Magdy says.

Nawy Shares exits a unit in one of two ways, Magdy tells us. The first is at delivery, typically with four to five years of installments still outstanding, when the unit is offered at market price. The second is once the unit reaches a pre-agreed 80% RO, he says. At that point, the company holds a contractual right to sell without individual investors’ approval; coordinating 20 to 40 co-owners on an exit decision is difficult, he adds.

What changes with the fund is what investors actually own. Investment certificates (ICs) registered with Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry (MCDR) replace the preliminary contracts. An independent valuer registered with the Central Bank of Egypt or the FRA reassesses net asset values every six months, Magdy says. Each unit tranche will also publish a semi-annual disclosure report with its own balance sheet and P&L. The work with the regulator also extended maximum fund life from five years to as long as 20, matching the 12- to 15-year payment plans that dominate Egypt’s off-plan market, he says. Installments are processed as capital calls approved by the FRA, Magdy says. Investors clear digital KYC and anti-money-laundering checks but are not credit-checked, as of yet.

What’s left

“The fund is live and operating under full FRA supervision,” Magdy says. “The one outstanding license is the fintech license, which will let us provide a more streamlined experience for investors with digital KYC, e-signatures, and more.” He tied the full rollout to a planned classification of real estate developers by financial strength, delivery record, and execution delays. That classification is under discussion in Parliament and with the Developers’ Union. The secondary market, which would let investors trade or redeem their positions under FRA rules, has not launched.

SOUND SMART- That list of features is most of what tokenization promises. Magdy argues the fund already delivers it. “Our real estate fund model achieves these exact objectives: traceable ownership, transparent pricing, MCDR registry recording, and a secondary market once it goes live,” he says. “Tokenization streamlines the process further, but our off-plan fund framework already fulfills all of these underlying requirements.”

ICYMI- Nawy acquired UAE fractional platform SmartCrowd in July 2025. It also secured in-principle approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for a tokenization platform earlier this year. At home, our only live tokenization experiment is Granite and Tarmiiz’s FRA sandbox, which covers a money market fund, not real estate. In Egypt, the unlock so far has been a fund-rules question before a blockchain one.

Egypt’s infrastructure guarantee facility draws 10 development partners ahead of a December World Bank board vote

Ten development finance institutions have signed onto Egypt’s USD 520 mn Infrastructure Financing Guarantee Facility (IFGF), the Planning Ministry said in a statement, marking the broadest multilateral backing for the vehicle since it was first proposed in July. The African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, British International Investment, Agence Française de Développement, International Finance Corporation, Germany’s KfW, and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs all signaled participation, alongside the World Bank Group.

What they are joining: The IFGF replaces blanket sovereign guarantees with project-specific guarantees for private infrastructure, according to the World Bank’s updated Project Information Document (pdf). It will be a commercially managed SPV targeting an AAA local-scale rating and low investment-grade internationally. It will issue payment, termination, and debt-service guarantees across renewable energy, transmission, water desalination, wastewater treatment, battery storage, logistics, and housing.

Funding will consist of USD 150 mn from the EBRD, USD 370 mn in unguaranteed commercial financing, and a USD 380k government contribution. The state will hold a 20-25% minority equity stake alongside other development finance institutions in a first phase, with private investors joining later. The World Bank board votes on 21 December, and the project runs to a March 2032 close.

Why it matters: The facility is part of a broader shift away from blanket sovereign guarantees that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has been pushing. The Finance Ministry cut its guarantee ceiling to EGP 560 bn for FY 2026/27 from EGP 740 bn and moved EGP 452 bn to EGPC alone to unblock an IMF review. The IFGF is the most concrete mechanism yet for replacing open-ended state backing with project-specific risk-sharing.

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CIRA Education’s net enrollment rises to 84k students, surpassing target

Our friends at CIRA Education exceeded its net enrollment target for the 2026/27 academic year, rising to 84k students from 73.4k in 2025/26 across its K-12 schools and universities, it said in a press release (pdf). That surpasses its 80k student target and pushes it closer to its 100k mark by 2030.

A good year for CIRA: Roughly 17k new students joined CIRA’s network this year, drawn from more than 46k applications and interviews. Badr University in Assiut celebrated its first graduating class of 350 students. On the vocational side, CIRA expanded its technical schools from one to three, adding two agricultural technology schools in Ismailia and Sharqia. The company also launched postgraduate programs with an initial intake of 401 students.

REMEMBER- The company acquired 25% of Washington-based Falcon Academy and is considering raising its stake. Saxony Egypt University, which was founded through a JV with CIRA and Al Ahly Capital Holding, has also opened its first center in Germany to connect Egyptian students with the German labor market and provide training prospects. These initiatives drove up CIRA’s higher education revenue by 40% y-o-y to EGP 3.10 bn in the first nine months of FY 2025/26, while a larger school network and higher tuition fees contributed to its K-12 revenue growth.

Why it matters: The company is relying on a larger student base to absorb inflation and higher construction costs without pricing out its core middle-class market, CEO Mohamed Kalla previously told us. This approach has allowed CIRA to cap annual tuition increases at 16% over the past six years.

Raya’s new smart connection

Raya Holding for Financial Investments launched Raya Nexus, an AI subsidiary with an issued capital of EGP 250 mn, the investment conglomerate said in a bourse filing (pdf). Wholly owned by Raya and set up under a May board decision, the unit targets banks and fintechs with tools for credit decisioning, collections, customer value management, and engagement. Raya Nexus debuted regionally at Saudi Arabia’s Money20/20 Middle East and plans to expand across the region, starting with Egypt and the GCC, the filing read.

Raya Nexus’ offerings overlap with parent Raya Holding’s portfolio, which includes fintech arm Aman (microfinance, consumer finance, and e-payments) and separately listed Raya CX, a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider.

SOUND SMART- Credit decisioning is how a lender processes a loan: pulling applicant data, assessing risk, approving or declining, and setting pricing. Banks have historically used fixed scorecards built on bureau files and payslips. AI models now price off alternative data, such as transaction flows, telco and e-wallet behavior, and repayment patterns. That’s why lenders pushing into consumer finance, BNPL, and SME lending are the main buyers. Cairo-born Synapse Analytics, which sells AI decisioning tools to lenders, closed a USD 13 mn Partech-led Series A earlier this month.

Higher price tag

Kemet Data Center’s first-phase investment is now USD 270 mn, according to a statement from the Communications Ministry — up from the USD 150 mn figure we heard in March 2025. The project was originally planned as a four-phase buildout reaching 80 MW total, with the first 20 MW phase previously expected to come online this year. Intro Holding plans to build the Sokhna facility as the Suez Canal Economic Zone’s first Tier III-rated data center and says it has completed part of the engineering design work and signed contracts with several suppliers for equipment. The statement did not disclose an updated construction start or opening date.

Securing the supply

The Supply and Internal Trade Ministry is in talks with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop a grain logistics center in Egypt to strengthen food security and streamline commodity transport, according to a ministry statement. The proposed hub aims to modernize grain handling, transport, and storage efficiency. No details were provided on the hub’s location, cost, or capacity.

IN CONTEXT- The National Project of Silos has more than doubled the country’s grain storage since launching in 2015, bringing total capacity to 3.4 mn tons from 1.2 mn tons in 2014. Backed by EUR 90 mn in concessional financing by the EIB, the infrastructure push has helped slash post-harvest losses that have run as high as 15%. Just a few days ago, the ministry was also in talks with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation to secure funding for new grain silos and edible oil storage tanks.

Middle East investors will invest more at home, BlackRock says

The Middle East wants to put more of its capital to work at home — but it’s still mostly investing abroad. The region’s investors completed around 360 private equity and venture capital transactions overseas in 2025 against about 170 at home, according to BlackRock Aladdin’s new Market Evolution: The Middle East report (pdf), which draws on Preqin data through June 2026. That gap has narrowed since 2021, but mainly because overseas transactions fell, not because domestic ones grew.

That’s the gap BlackRock expects to close: The report finds limited evidence of sustained growth in domestic private equity and venture capital transactions by Middle East-based investors since 2021, but BlackRock says the region is shifting from a source of capital for global managers to a destination. Its analysis suggests that, at the margin, the USD 50-100 bn of capital that might previously have left the region could stay home, Ben Powell, chief investment strategist for the Middle East and APAC at the BlackRock Investment Institute, told reporters at a Dubai roundtable. The GCC will remain a significant capital exporter, he said, but more of it is likely to stay in the region.

The war is accelerating that shift: BlackRock sees the GCC deploying USD 2.1 tn in capex through 2030, with a growing share staying home, as we noted earlier this month. More than 80% of that is headed to energy infrastructure, industry, digital assets, and social investment as Gulf states prioritize resilience after the war disrupted shipping routes from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea.

PIF is leading the way: The Middle East’s share of Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund’s direct private equity transactions rose from around 25% in 2020 to just under 70% in 2025. It has also anchored regional vehicles, including Brookfield Middle East Partners, which reached a first close of approximately USD 2 bn in July and targets 50% of its investments in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia dominates fund formation: Of the 590 Middle East-based private capital funds closed since 2015, 359 (61%) were based in the Kingdom, against the UAE’s 143. Regional private equity funds have raised USD 4.5 bn so far this year, already above 2025’s USD 3.5 bn, while real estate fundraising collapsed from USD 4.2 bn in 2021 to USD 100 mn last year. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the remaining markets accounted for a combined 88, according to Preqin. Total regional fundraising stood at USD 4.5 bn in 2025, below its USD 7.7 bn peak in 2021.

But deployment at home has slowed this year: Middle East private capital investment dropped 73% y-o-y to USD 1.7 bn in 1H 2026, its lowest half-year total on record, according to Global Private Capital Association data we covered earlier this month.

The UAE is also investing big at home and abroad: BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings partnered with the UAE’s L’imad Holding and Adnoc in May on a USD 30 bn fund targeting GCC and Central Asian infrastructure.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets were in the green earlier today, with Japan’s Nikkei up 1.7% and South Korea’s Kospi following at 0.9%. The gains followed losses across US equities, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields surged to their highest level since 2007.

EGX30	54,225	-1.3% (YTD: +29.6%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 51.36	Sell 51.50
USD (CIB)	Buy 51.37	Sell 51.47
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	10,681	+0.0% (YTD: +1.8%)
ADX	10,269	+0.4% (YTD: +2.8%)
DFM	6,008	+0.2% (YTD: -0.7%)
S&P 500	7,706	-0.8% (YTD: +12.6%)
FTSE 100	10,705	+0.0% (YTD: +8.8%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,300	-0.4% (YTD: +8.7%)
Brent crude	USD 103.08	+3.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.04	+0.6%
Gold	USD 4,323	+0.1%
BTC	USD 84,395	-2.1% (YTD: -3.7%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,119	+0.0% (YTD: +12.7%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	149.46	+0.1% (YTD: -1.6%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	15.18	+6.8% (YTD: +1.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 1.3% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 9.1 bn (22.2% below the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 29.6% YTD.

In the green: E-finance (+1.5%), Raya Holding (+0.7%), and Alexandria Containers and Goods (+0.5%).

In the red: Heliopolis Housing (-3.7%), Orascom Development (-3.4%), and Rameda (-3.3%).

My Morning Routine: Rehab El Batouty, CMO of Horizon Egypt Developments

Rehab El Batouty, CMO of Horizon Egypt Developments: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Rehab El Batouty (LinkedIn), chief marketing officer (CMO) of Horizon Egypt Developments.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’m a builder at heart. I like taking ideas, people, and businesses and turning them into something bigger and stronger. My career has always centered on understanding people: what motivates them, what they value, and what makes them connect with a brand. Over the years, that grew from pure marketing into a much broader leadership role, building teams, shaping strategy, and driving growth.

I’m ambitious by nature and always looking for the next challenge. Still, leadership doesn’t mean having all the answers. You need the vision to know where you’re going and the ability to bring people along.

I connect the dots between strategy, creativity, people, and business results. In real estate, my role goes well beyond marketing and communications. I shape the brand, study the customer, and make sure the business stays relevant and competitive. I also lead the marketing vision, develop the team, and work with the leadership team to turn business ambitions into clear strategies and customer experiences.

Balancing the big picture with the details matters most. You have to know when to step back and think strategically — and when to dig in and make sure the execution is exceptional.

Real estate is shifting from selling a property to selling a lifestyle. Customers no longer look only at the size, location, or specs. They want to know how a place fits their lives and the kind of community that comes with it. Technology, data, and AI now let us understand customers far more deeply, cater to their needs, and personalize their experience.

The human side of the industry matters now more than ever. The brands that stand out will pair technology and data with a strong emotional connection. People buy into a vision of the life they seek.

My mornings are my quiet time before the day gets busy. I start slowly with my coffee and take a few minutes to get into the right mindset. I don’t jump onto emails the minute I wake up. I’d rather give myself a little space to think and plan.

I read EnterpriseAM over my morning coffee. It gives me a quick sense of what’s happening in business and which conversations are shaping the market. I like starting my day informed without feeling overwhelmed. After that, I switch into work mode and prepare for the day ahead. If I get busy or run late, I read EnterprisePM instead.

No two days look the same, and that’s one of the things I love most about my job. A typical day mixes strategy, meetings, creative thinking, and a lot of decision-making. I might start by reviewing business and marketing priorities, then move into meetings with my team, the leadership team, or other stakeholders to align on projects.

I like to stay close to the work. I’m part of the big strategic decisions, but I still want to see the creative process, challenge the thinking, and understand what the customer is experiencing.

Unexpected issues always come up, and that’s where experience counts. You learn to stay calm, decide quickly, and keep everyone moving in the same direction. By the end of the day, my greatest satisfaction is knowing we moved something forward. That could be the business or the people around me.

Coffee is the one constant in my day. Beyond that, it’s curiosity. I never stop questioning things. What are we missing? How can we do this better?

I usually write a to-do list at home to pin down what needs my attention. I’m very conscious of time. When your day is full of meetings, it’s easy to get busy without being productive. I rely heavily on my team. Good leadership means empowering people and knowing what you need to own yourself, versus what you should delegate.

When everything feels urgent, I come back to priorities. I ask myself one question: what will actually make a difference? I think a lot about what comes next and the impact I want to have. Professionally, I want to work on things that genuinely excite me. I’ve spent years building brands, businesses, and teams. I’d love the next chapter to take that experience to an even higher level.

I haven’t had much of a work-life balance, to be completely honest. Work has been a huge part of my life for years, and I’ve always given everything to what I do. I love my career, and I’m proud of what I’ve built. But things need to look a little different going forward. I want to be far more intentional about making space for the people I love, for travel, and simply for enjoying life.

Making room for life won’t make me any less ambitious or passionate. If anything, it means finding a healthier way to do both. I can keep doing my best work while allowing myself a life outside it.

Switching off hasn’t always been easy for me, because work has taken up such a big part of my life. When I do, I love simple things like time with family and friends and dinners out. I also enjoy quiet time at home, with no agenda and no need to be productive.

Travel is my favorite way to completely disconnect. Being somewhere new, experiencing a different culture, and walking around without a schedule gives me a different kind of energy. It has been my favorite discovery. I’ve started exploring without always needing a work-related reason. Some of my best ideas come when I’m completely outside my usual environment. I’m also learning to appreciate doing absolutely nothing sometimes, and I’m getting better at it.

A book my daughter Farida gave me has made a real difference in my life lately. It’s How to Work Without Losing Your Mind by Cate Sevilla. I’d also recommend The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, both the book and the podcast.

“Don’t be afraid to take up space” is the best advice I’ve ever been given. It came from someone I really respected professionally, at a time when I was still figuring out leadership and my own confidence.

As women especially, we sometimes feel we have to prove ourselves before we let ourselves speak up or take the lead — that advice stayed with me. I’ve learned you don’t need to wait for permission. You can have a voice, take a seat at the table, and believe you belong there.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

24 September (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s sixth meeting of 2026.

27-29 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Global Conference on Population, Health, and Human Development.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Egypt Mining Forum, St. Regis Hotel New Capital.

OCTOBER

5 October (Monday): The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

10-11 October (Saturday-Sunday): Egypt Women’s Health Summit (EWHS), Cairo Marriott Hotel.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): IEX Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29 October (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s seventh meeting of 2026.

NOVEMBER

6-8 November (Friday-Sunday) : Global Entrepreneurship Festival, JW Marriott Hotel, New Cairo.

8-11 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Cairo ICT Forum.

10 November (Tuesday): Cityscape Egypt Forum, Cairo.

DECEMBER

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Food Africa, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

17 December (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s eighth meeting of 2026.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2H 2026: Operations at Deli Glass Co’s new USD 70 mn glassware factory kick off.

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

4Q 2026: Banque du Caire IPO.

2027

20 January-7 February: Egypt to host the African Games.

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Agri Expo, Cairo International Convention Center.

April 2027: Tenth of Ramadan dry port and logistics hub to begin operations.

29 September - 2 October (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape Egypt Exhibition, Cairo.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2027: Egypt to host EBRD’s annual meetings.

2027: Egypt-EU Summit 2027.

End of 2027: Trial operations at the Dabaa nuclear power plant expected to take place.

September 2028: First unit of the Dabaa nuclear power plant begins operations.

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