The last mile

Good afternoon, wonderful people, and happy Hump Day. Three weeks ago we set out to understand the wave of homegrown consumer brands that has reshaped Egyptian retail since 2022 in our Made in Egypt series. Today’s final instalment covers what decides whether any of them scale: logistics. CoD, slow settlement, failed doorstep handovers, and missing returns infrastructure add up to a working-capital and unit-economics problem that even the best of products cannot fix. A handful of last-mile operators are now building the infrastructure the sector has been running without. We dive into it.

Also on the docket today: In Worth It?, we tested three local activewear brands against the lululemon-Vuori-Alo suitcase run. One changed our minds, while the other two came with caveats. Elsewhere, we found ourselves craving some comfort food and decided to reacquaint ourselves with Egyptian shawarma from Cai. That and more.

First up, the news…

Power Trip’s final issue turns to the people paying the bill. We look at the cost of a backup generator or going solar, how your electricity bill is really calculated and whether the price is right, whether an EV pays off against a petrol car today, and why green energy keeps skipping the consumer.

Coming to your inbox tomorrow, 4 November.