Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and happy Thursday. Congratulations on making it to the weekend. It’s been a little over a year since the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) opened to the world, and today, we take a look at what the GEM delivered in year one, what it did for tourism, and what comes next.
On the screen, we review Prime Video’s The Greatest, which chronicles boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s life and career — highs, lows, and everything in between. And it’s a busy weekend in sports too, headlined by Egypt vs. Malawi in an AFCON qualifier tomorrow at Cairo International Stadium, the first outing for the Pharaohs’ head coach Ali Maher. That and more.
But first things first, the news…
Become a morning regular
What’s moving Egypt’s economy, in your inbox every weekday. Free, in English or Arabic.
Here are the stories driving the day, both at home and abroad.EGX-listed Rameda’s net income rose 38% y-o-y to EGP 131 mn in 3Q 2026, while its revenue edged up 1.3% to EGP 1.15 bn, according to the pharma company’s latest earnings release. Net margin widened 3.0 pp to 11.4%, helped by 12% lower finance costs, a lower effective tax rate, and a EGP 6.7 mn FX gain, which together more than absorbed a EGP 16 mn share-based payment expense, compared to nil in 3Q 2025.
The drivers: Private sales grew 21% y-o-y to EGP 901 mn on a 16% rise in volumes to 11.8 mn units, with no price increases in 2026. Rameda says that reflects stronger underlying demand, not pricing.
985k tons — that’s how much wheat Egypt imported in October, nearly triple September’s total but 47% below a year earlier, according to an S&P Global report, citing LATT Trading and Shipping data. Russia regained its spot as Egypt’s top supplier, delivering 403k tons, or 41% of the month’s intake.
^^ We’ll have more on these stories next week in EnterpriseAM.
☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect slightly warmer weather conditions in the capital tomorrow, with the weekend kicking off at a high of 28°C before cooling down to a low of 17°C, according to our favorite weather app.
MAKING HEADLINES ABROAD-
Nvidia shares fellnearly 8% in premarket tradingtoday amidst CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang’s ongoing scandal, extending a selloff that has erased around USD 600 bn in market value this week. The stock now trades at 12.2 times expected earnings, its lowest valuation multiple since 2012. Siemens CEO Roland Busch said the company would continue working with Nvidia regardless of the outcome, adding that existing projects could proceed independently of Huang’s position. The tech giant’s board is weighing whether to oust Huang. Huang’s potential departure would leave the USD 4 tn chipmaker without a clear successor.
On the Russia-Ukraine front, US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following two days of US-brokered negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi that ended with plans for another major prisoner exchange but no breakthrough on a wider peace agreement. Discussions remain deadlocked over Russia’s demand for Ukraine to surrender the entire eastern Donbas region, which Kyiv has rejected, prompting US mediators to shift focus toward postwar security guarantees and reconstruction.
MEANWHILE- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) agreed to provide Turkey with a record USD 1.6 bn in financing to support climate policy reforms and attract investment in emissions cuts and climate resilience. Turkey estimates it needs an additional USD 68 bn in climate investment by 2030, around half of which is expected to come from private sources. Meanwhile, the UK appointed Madeleine Alessandri as its first special representative for climate security, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham warning that climate change poses an immediate national security threat.
CLOSER TO HOME- An Israeli airstrike hit the surgical wing of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza earlier today, killing at least six people, including a surgeon, and wounding at least 20 others, according to Palestinian health and civil defense officials. The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior Hamas commander and other militants allegedly operating inside the hospital complex, which it accused of being used as a command center and weapons store. The strike caused extensive damage to one of Gaza’s few remaining functioning hospitals, with debris scattered across wards and medical equipment.
Chances are the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) has been showing up on your social media feeds a little more often than usual lately — it’s because it recently turned one, and it’s doing plenty to celebrate. GEM marked its first anniversary on 1 November, and its CEO had a headline number to mark it: well more than 5 mn visitors in 2026, Ahmed Ghoneim said, adding that the museum has hosted some 60 official visits from heads of state. The state’s economic and social development plan for the 2025/2026 fiscal year put the number of visitors at 6.5 mn since opening, topping the list of the world’s most visited museums.
Before it opened, former Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziritold usto expect 4-5 mn visitors a year. So, what did the GEM deliver in year one, what did it do for tourism, and what comes next?
Crowds kept coming
The crowds arrived on day one and haven’t thinned. The museum drew 20k visitors on its first day after the official opening, against about 400 a day during the soft opening, and a week later was averaging 17-20k a day, with attendance passing capacity on the weekend. Legacy, which operates the GEM, says demand has been “at least double or triple” what it expected, CEO Merette Elsayed told us during opening month last year, including visitors from governorates outside Cairo and school trips.
More than artifacts. The GEM has hosted a concert series with Hauser, Brian McKnight, Calum Scott, and Bryan Adams, and on 5 November it held Gala de Danza — the gala’s first MENA outing — GEM’s first dance event, with 153 artists and scores of young Egyptian dancers. As Ghoneim told us ahead of the gala, the GEM proved that “museums are no longer just places to show artifacts.”
It wasn’t just concerts and sweet symphonies, with the GEM playing host to the third edition of the UTH Festival, featuring none other than globally acclaimed TV host Trevor Noah as one of its speakers, on 20 and 21 November. And for its birthday? Eternal Sun, a 35-minute multisensory performance. To say it’s been a great year for the Grand Egyptian Museum wouldn’t be an understatement, but is the world seeing it?
Global interest
The Gulf shows the highest interest in the GEM. Google Trends data shared with EnterpriseAM by Publicist Inc. shows Arab countries topping the list of countries searching for the museum over the past 12 months, led by the GCC: Kuwait first, then Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, followed by Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya.
Tutankhamun’s treasures, led by the golden mask, are the most-searched exhibits worldwide, while the Khufu Ship is the year’s top trending topic, with interest doubling between August and October, the report says. The questions people Google read like trip planning: how long the guided tour lasts, how close the museum is to the Pyramids, how to book in advance, whether there’s anything on Cleopatra, whether a night visit is possible, and what souvenirs to buy. Egyptians ask different questions: what the project is worth economically, how it affects tourism, and how Ramses II’s statue was moved.
Football and Tut go hand-in-hand? The biggest spike came from football, not culture. In the week of Egypt’s World Cup match against Argentina, search interest in the tourism category in Egypt hit its highest level of the year, the report says, with searches for the GEM up 140% and for the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir up 100%. In the month after the tournament, searches for “Cairo flights” reached a record. It’s the Flutie effect. We called it.
GEM’s a gem, but tourism isn’t skyrocketing
The GEM has held its own, but arrivals have slowed down. Egypt welcomed nearly 19 mn tourists in 2025, a record 21% rise that put it second globally for growth. This year the Ministry counted 9 mn in 1H, about 3% up. As of end-October, Egypt had attracted some 16.2 mn tourists in 2026, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy said in a phone-in interview with Amr Adib earlier this week.
Why the slowdown? Mostly the war on Iran. The conflict disrupted flights, raised fuel costs, and led some airlines to cut frequencies. But by 2030, the gov’t is shooting for 30 mn tourists annually. How much of that would be thanks to the GEM? While it can be credited with a rise in arrivals, no official figures isolate the GEM’s share. That said, it “shapes the future of Egyptian tourism,” CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Authority Ahmed Youssef told Forbes earlier this year.
OUR TAKE- Year one was a story of demand at the GEM’s door, not yet of more people coming to Egypt: the GEM drew mns of visits while national arrivals grew in the low single digits. What’s unproven is the harder part: whether visitors stay longer and spend more, and whether Egyptians keep their share as prices rise. Those are the numbers to ask for in year two.
Missed this morning’s edition of EnterpriseAM? Here are the top stories in a nutshell.
Owners trying to sell Cairo property arepricing against developers’ headline prices, which carry years of built-in financing, so buyers who can pay up front have little reason to meet them, JLL Egypt’s Ayman Sami and HC Securities’ Mariam Saadani tell EnterpriseAM. Sale prices rose just 2.8% q-o-q in 6th of October City in and 2.4% in New Cairo in 2Q 2026, according to JLL’s report, which says the market has “entered a saturation phase”;
Banque du Caire’s consolidated net incomefell 20% y-o-y to EGP 4.17 bnin 3Q 2026, by our math, based on the state-owned lender’s first post-IPO earnings release. Net income was also down 13.1% q-o-q in the quarter, though it’s still up 4.7% y-o-y to EGP 13.11 bn over the first nine months of the year;
Our friends at CIRA Educationmore than tripledtheir normalized net income to EGP 966.9 mn in FY 2025/26 as revenue rose 33% to EGP 5.1 bn. Most of the growth came from higher education, where enrollment jumped 50% to 38.8k students and pushed available-seat utilization to 95% from 67%, while the K-12 network grew to 30 schools across nine governorates;
Egypt’s Cheironsigned an agreementwith state gas holding company Egas to explore for natural gas in the East Alexandria offshore area, committing a minimum investment of just over USD 42 mn to drill three exploration wells and reprocess seismic data in the Mediterranean concession. The agreement finalizes the block Cheiron picked up in Egas’ global bid round in June 2025, when it was one of six companies that were handed new blocks.
International footie takes over the next three days. The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers reach Matchday 3, and the UEFA Nations League heads into Matchday 5. The top two teams in each four-team qualifying group reach next summer’s finals in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. In Europe, the league phase ends on 17 November, with the quarterfinals to follow in March. All matches will be broadcast on beIN Sports channels, so check the full schedule here.
Tonight’s fixtures
In the AFCON qualifiers, there’s plenty to watch:
Ghana vs. Somalia — 5pm;
Guinea vs. Eritrea — 6pm;
Madagascar vs. Guinea-Bissau — 6pm;
DR Congo vs. Sierra Leone — 6pm;
Ivory Coast vs. Gambia — 9pm;
Benin vs. Central African Republic — 9pm;
Cameroon vs. Namibia — 9pm;
Senegal vs. Sudan — 9pm.
In the UEFA Nations League, here’s what’s scheduled:
Turkey vs. Belgium — 7pm;
Armenia vs. Cyprus — 7pm;
Albania vs. Finland — 9:45pm;
Czech Republic vs. Spain — 9:45pm;
England vs. Croatia — 9:45pm;
Italy vs. France — 9:45pm;
Montenegro vs. Latvia — 9:45pm;
San Marino vs. Belarus — 9:45pm.
Tomorrow’s fixtures
It’s the one every Egyptian will be watching. Egypt host Malawi at Cairo International Stadium at 9pm in Ali Maher’s first match as head coach. Maher was named on Saturday after the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) ended Hossam Hassan’s tenure, with the association saying the decision followed a review of recent events.
He has had only a few days of training. His first squad brings back Mohamed El Shenawy, Mahmoud Hamdy, Nasser Maher, and Mahmoud Marei, and hands a first call-up to Modern Sport striker Mahmoud Mamdouh, the league’s top scorer with eight goals. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush lead the attack. Egypt top Group B on four points after a 0-0 draw with Angola and a 5-0 away W against South Sudan, ahead of Angola on goal difference, with Malawi third on three.
Morocco, meanwhile, made a perfect start. The Atlas Lions host Niger at Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca at 10pm. They snagged their first two Group A games 2-0 against Gabon and Lesotho to lead on six points. Niger are level with Gabon on three, having beaten Lesotho 2-1 and lost 2-0 to Gabon. Morocco arrive fresh off a World Cup quarterfinal run, and a victory would put them on nine points before Tuesday’s return leg in Rabat.
More AFCON qualifiers tomorrow:
Mozambique vs. Ethiopia — 3pm;
Zambia vs. Burundi — 3pm;
Comoros vs. Congo — 3pm;
Burkina Faso vs. Mauritania — 6pm;
Equatorial Guinea vs. Zimbabwe — 6pm;
Cape Verde vs. Liberia — 6pm;
Gabon vs. Lesotho — 6pm;
Nigeria vs. Tanzania — 6pm;
South Africa vs. Kenya — 6pm;
Tunisia vs. Libya — 6pm;
Mali vs. Rwanda — 9pm.
In the UEFA Nations League:
Moldova vs. Kazakhstan — 7pm;
Netherlands vs. Greece — 9:45pm;
Serbia vs. Germany — 9:45pm;
Scotland vs. North Macedonia — 9:45pm;
Slovenia vs. Switzerland — 9:45pm;
Slovakia vs. Faroe Islands — 9:45pm;
Bulgaria vs. Iceland — 9:45pm;
Luxembourg vs. Estonia — 9:45pm;
Andorra vs. Gibraltar — 9:45pm;
Liechtenstein vs. Azerbaijan — 9:45pm.
Saturday’s fixtures
Saturday brings fewer fixtures, but plenty are worth your time. In the AFCON qualifiers, Uganda take on Botswana at 6pm, Algeria face off against Togo at 9pm, and Angola go head-to-head with South Sudan at the same time. All on beIN Sports.
In the UEFA Nations League:
Norway vs. Wales — 7pm;
Georgia vs. Hungary — 7pm;
Portugal vs. Denmark — 9:45pm;
Northern Ireland vs. Ukraine — 9:45pm;
Austria vs. Ireland — 9:45pm;
Romania vs. Poland — 9:45pm;
Sweden vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina — 9:45pm.
ICYMI-
Manchester United havesackedhead coach Michael Carrick with the club in the Premier League relegation zone after just one league W all season. Carrick, who took over as interim coach in January after Ruben Amorim’s dismissal, recorded 12 victories from his last 17 games to finish third in the 2025/26 season and signed a two-year contract in May. A club statement said the call followed a “disappointing start to the season” and called him “a Manchester United legend.” United are now close to an agreement with Mauricio Pochettino, ESPN reports.
There’s no shortage of documentaries, films, books, and TV specials about Muhammad Ali, so another biopic had a lot to live up to.The Greatest, Prime Video’s eight-part limited series about the early years of one of boxing’s most celebrated figures, makes a pretty good case for revisiting the story.
The plot: The series picks up in 1960, when 18-year-old Cassius Clay (Jaalen Best) returns home to Louisville with an Olympic gold medal and his sights set on the heavyweight championship. Over the next four years, we follow his rise through professional boxing, from training in Miami under legendary coach Angelo Dundee to his eventual victory over Sonny Liston. As Clay navigates his newfound fame, family tensions, racism, and his growing interest in Islam, he begins to find his voice beyond the ring. The series explores the experiences that helped shape him into the Muhammad Ali the world would come to know.
What we liked: Best knocks it out of the park; aside from his uncanny resemblance to Ali, he puts heart and soul into his performance, embodying Ali’s cadence, showmanship, and charisma without veering into impression or parody territories. Everyone else on the cast kept up too. Michael Ealy brings emotional nuance to Malcolm X, and Dana Gourrier shines as Ali’s mother, Odessa. The casting feels carefully considered across the board, with the costume department’s work being the cherry on top. The boxing sequences are well choreographed, but the show’s real action happens outside the ring. Its portrayal of 1960s America doesn’t shy away from the racism Clay faced, even as his hometown celebrated him as a sporting hero.
The verdict: The Greatest may not reveal a side of Ali that hasn’t been explored before, but it’s a well-paced, finely crafted look at the formative years of a remarkable life, anchored by a charismatic performance. For longtime Ali fans and newcomers alike, it’s a worthy addition to your watchlist.
The EGX30 fell 0.9% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 10.2 bn (8.9% below the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 24.4% YTD.
In the green: Alexandria Containers and Goods (+1.7%), Emaar Misr (+1.4%), and Egypt Aluminum (+1.3%).
In the red: Beltone Holding (-2.4%), Juhayna (-2.3%), and TMG Holding (-2.0%).
Cairo, it’s time to get your sing-along voices ready. Massar Egbari are heading to Cairo Jazz Club 610 in Sheikh Zayed on Wednesday, 25 November for a night of rock, pop, and unmistakably Egyptian melodies. Expect an evening full of the band’s signature wit and plenty of crowd-favorite songs. The show kicks off at 8pm — tickets are available through this link.
Egypt Edition 
MENA+ Edition 
UAE Edition 
Saudi Edition 
AI + Innovation (MENA) 
Infrastructure 
Share Issue
