Another Hollywood strike?

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: FX reserves inch up again in May + Kuwait heads to the parliamentary polls again

Good afternoon, wonderful people, and happy hump day. It’s so far a rather calm day here at home, but there’s plenty happening in our backyards.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

FX reserves continue to rise: Our net foreign reserves inched up to USD 34.66 bn in May fromUSD 34.55 bn in April, according toCentral Bank of Egypt figures. This is the eighth consecutive month that foreign reserves have increased.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The explosion of a major dam in the Kherson region, the Kakhova, in a Russian-controlled area in Ukraine is still making headlines in the international press. The dam and hydroelectric power plant is unleashing a flood of water and prompting evacuations as nearly 80 villages are under threat. The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of intentionally blowing up the dam and European Council President Charles Michel has blamed Russia and deemed this explosion a “war crime.” The Kremlin claims that this attack was prompted by Ukraine in an act of self-sabotage. Associated Press | Bloomberg | Reuters | FT | CNBC | BBC

ALSO- Former US Vice President Mike Pence has entered the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump, the New York Times reports.

HAPPENING NOW-

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia today for a three-day visit to mend fences with the kingdom and discuss with Saudi officials including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman several issues including Iran, regional security, oil prices and the prospects of a Saudi-Israeli normalization, Reuters reports. Blinken’s visit comes after White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited the kingdom on 7 May.

ALSO- Kuwait began its third parliamentary elections in less than three years today amid stalled policy-making and internal conflicts between Kuwaiti political figures, Bloomberg reports. The elections bring 207 candidates to choose from — the lowest number of candidates since the 1996 polls. This round of elections comes after the country’s constitutional court dissolved parliament in April, just six months after MPs were elected.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

QIA, TE back at the negotiating table over Vodafone stake sale: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), has resumed talks to purchase a stake in Vodafone Egypt from minority shareholder Telecom Egypt (TE).
Taqa Arabia’s shares will start trading on the EGX in two weeks.
Some positive signs for the private sector as PMI rises for second month running: The contraction in Egypt’s non-oil private sector slowed to its softest pace since February 2022 in May as inflationary pressures eased.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’ll be seeing more clouds tomorrow with a high of 38°C and dipping slightly to 29°C in the evening, as per our favorite weather app.

Hollywood’s AI doubles need to pay the price + Multinationals are cutting down on office space

Hollywood actors union threatens to strike over compensation for AI doubles: Hollywood’s largest union, SAG-AFTRA, is entering discussions with film studios over how actors are being “remunerated for the work of their digital doubles,” the Financial Times reports. The rise of AI has caused concern in the industry that it could undercut humans and take over jobs from screenwriters and voice performers, depriving actors from control over their likeness, which could set the precedent for impersonations in visual content without their consent, and potentially jeopardize stars’ careers and income.

Half of multinationals look to slash office space as remote work continues: Major multinational companies are planning to downsize their office space by 10-20% and nearly half of the companies are planning to relocate their headquarters within the next three years, as work from home models persist post-covid, the Financial Times reports, citing a Knight Frank survey. As companies work to downsize their physical spaces, concerns are cropping up over the fate of older buildings and less desirable locations, with the commercial property market already facing a downturn due to a high interest rate environment. A study conducted by Savillspredicts that cities like San Francisco and Washington DC will experience an office space surplus in the next decade, while Asian markets will be more constrained, and Europe will fall in the middle.

Not all companies are embracing remote work: BlackRock recently ordered employees to return to the office four days a week, and JPMorgan decided in April that senior staff should work in person full time. Ride-sharing giant Lyft backtracked on its fully remote work policy and announced that employees should return to the office on a part-time basis following a series of layoffs. Smaller firms are also planning to expand their office space. Around one-third of companies opted for mostly in-person work, while 56% have adopted hybrid policies, and 10% of companies plan to remain entirely remote, according to the Knight Frank survey.

An obituary journalist sees the people she writes about in Not Dead Yet

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Technically we’re all Not Dead Yet: ABC’s Not Dead Yet follows protagonist Nell Serrano as she tries to rebuild her life and career after a 10-year break. After a decade away from her career as a journalist, Serrano ends up stuck with the obituary beat. The catch? She ends up seeing whomever she is assigned to write about, which are always the most colorful characters, with much to say about her personal life and questionable choices. With a cast of sitcom alumni: Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez, New Girl’s Hannah Simone, and Superstore’s Lauren Ash, and at just 13 episodes, the sitcom checks all the boxes for a perfect weekend binge. The series is available to stream on Disney+.

? Czech Republic’sKarolína Muchová has progressed to the French Open semi-finals after a 7-5, 6-2 victory over compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s singles earlier today. Ukrainian Aryna Sabalenka, world no.2, is in the lead after taking the first set 6-4 against Elina Svitolina for a ticket to the semi-final game.

Over to the men’s singles: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (world no.3) and Russia’s Karen Khachanov are going to hit the court at 3:45pm while world no.1 Carlos Alcaraz will be playing against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (world no.5) in a match scheduled to begin at 9:15pm.

We’re closing in on the last few days of Zawya Cinema’s Cairo Cinema Days: The festival showcases the latest films from the Arab region, with this year’s edition including 16 documentaries and feature films from Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Iraq, Palestine, Algeria, and Lebanon. Film screenings are ongoing through 10 June — you can check out the schedule and find more details here.

The annual Flower Exhibition — which is typically held at the Orman Gardens — is now open to the public at the Agricultural Museum in Dokki. The exhibition will run for one month until 27 June.

Dive into Egypt’s infinitely rich contemporary art world: The “Traces of Egypt” Exhibition began in late March and will continue until Thursday, 15 June, at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The exhibit is organized by Egyptian-German artist Susan Hefuna and celebrates the country’s Khayamiya tradition through 28 dresses celebrating local artisans and their craftsmanship.

Your next half marathon is coming up this weekend: The TriFactory is hosting another edition of itsMadinaty Half Marathon on Friday, 9 June at Madinaty. You can sign up for the event through the TriFactory website.

Hiba Tawaji is back with her first concert in Cairo after three years: The Lebanese singing sensation will be performing in the Cairo Opera house on Friday, 16 June starting from 8:30pm to celebrate the release of her new album, Ba’d Seneen. The performance will be conducted by Maestro Ahmed Aweida and under the supervision of Oussama El-Rahbani. Click here to reserve your tickets.

Egyptian soprano Amira Selim will perform at the National Museum for Egyptian Civilization on Wednesday, 21 June to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the museum’s inauguration. Doors open at 7:30pm and the performance begins at 9:30pm. You can book tickets here.

In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh is a touching ode to Cairo, which may come as a bit of a shocker to many of us living in the busy and bustling city. This semi-autobiographical re-telling of Ghosh’s own time in Egypt was inspired by his work as an anthropologist. He was inspired by a letter that he found from Bomma, an Indian slave from Mangalore to Abraham Ben Yiju, a 12th Century Jewish trader from Tunisia. Intrigued, he takes it on himself to journey to Egypt to find out the circumstances that brought Bomma, a name he ascribed to him, to the Middle East. He poses the questions: Where did he live? How did he meet Ben Yiju? And who was he exactly? He pieces the fragments that he finds in a finely-woven historical non-fiction that will make you look at our Egypt with a different eye, one that is similar to the 12th Century slave himself. Alongside these chapters are his hilarious first-person narrative of his time in Lataifa and Nashawy, two Nile Delta villages he lived in as he was completing his doctoral thesis. There, we see scenes where he is welcomed as a treasured and honored guest, the moments where the residents attempt to convert him to Islam and the hilarious episode where they try to marry him off. This novel is both a pleasure and an eye-opener: Through his research, you’ll discover how the city of Cairo was named, how the trade business worked in the Middle East, how theCairo Geniza is a gift that keeps on giving and how enduring, and endearing, the Egyptian people are.

What the markets are doing on 6 June, 2023

The EGX30 rose 0.8% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.28 bn. Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 19.8% YTD.

In the green: Qalaa Holdings (+7.3%), Heliopolis Housing (+6.8%), and Ibnsina Pharma (+6.2%).

In the red: Orascom Construction (-3.9%), Mopco (-3.3%), and Egypt Kuwait Holding- EGP (-3.2%).

Meet our founder of the week: Yasmeen Khamis, co-founder and CEO of Doodle Factory

OUR FOUNDER OF THE WEEK- Every Tuesday, Founder of the Week looks at how a successful member of Egypt’s startup community got their big break, asks about their experiences running a business, and gets their advice for budding entrepreneurs. Speaking to us this week is Yasmeen Khamis (LinkedIn), co-founder of the Doodle Factory.

My name is Yasmeen Kamis, and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Doodle Factory, an Egyptian brand that designs products using doodles by children in need to meet their educational, medical and shelter needs. I double majored in Business Administration and History at the American University in Cairo (AUC). After graduating, I worked for a while with Ahl Masr Foundation, which treats burn victims without charge, but didn’t stay there for very long.

I decided it was time to build my own business because I was working with children and wanted a way to help them that went beyond donations. I wanted to create a product that is attractive for people to buy, but also has a cause and story behind it. While I was at Ahl Masr, I worked on a project with Farah El Masry, who then became my business partner. We decided to establish a company and start our business as we both love art and children.

Doodle Factory’s mission is to drive social impact through creative design solutions. We look to partner with businesses to create innovative and impactful products and ideas that support underprivileged children — and hopefully in the process inspire hope and make a difference in the world. Every project starts with us hosting an art session for children to doodle, paint, and draw freely. We then take these drawings as they are and print them on a variety of products such as laptop sleeves, make-up bags, notebooks, clothes, and kitchen sets. We originally started selling these products directly through a B2C model, but we’ve also recently shifted to B2B and started designing products for other brands.

The art sessions we start our process with really keep me going and inspire me.I love spending time with children and witnessing their creativity and the joy they get out of the session.

We’re currently working on a big project with Sightful Hearts to help 100 visually impaired childrenand build the first ed-tech learning center in Egypt equipped especially for them.

The most important KPIs that we focus on are the number of clients we have and the number of products we produce and sell. It’s not necessarily a business KPI, but we care a lot about the number of children we make smile every week and support through the Doodle Factory.

We started out bootstrapping the business and didn’t formally raise funds. All of the business’ income is invested back in the company, and we also generate income through partnerships with other brands. Acquiring new investments are not on our list in the near future but in the long run we are looking forward to attracting new ones and expanding in markets outside Egypt. We are now more concerned with developing our portfolio and creating more products with the same business model.

Establishing your own business is not easy at all — and it’s definitely a lonely journey. I always find myself stuck in the struggle of pushing myself forward when I fail or feel myself falling back; as a founder you have to take most of the decisions, especially the hard ones, and it’s your responsibility whether they succeed or fail. I do sometimes struggle with burnout, especially with the current challenges of the economic circumstances.

We went through some hardships as a business during covid-19, which was not easy at all to cope with. We had to change our presence from being hybrid — with both a brick and mortar store and an online presence — to an entirely online brand. We faced financial pressure after the currency devaluation, which affected our brand a lot in terms of production.

Family has played an important role throughout my journey as a founder. My father and sister were very supportive from the very beginning and they believed in Doodle Factory and its mission. My husband has always been caring and helpful as well. My mother initially didn’t really grasp or support the idea of Doodle Factory — she’s had a long, stable career as a banker, so entrepreneurship was something new to her. But once she saw our success and saw people wearing our products, she got on board and is really happy for us.

If I could give someone who is thinking of starting their own business just one piece of advice, it would be to plan well and effectively, breathe, and make sure you are balancing between your dedication and passion for your business and your social life and mental health wellness.

I got a lot of inspiration from the founder of Toms shoes, Blake Mycoskie. He developed aone for one model — for every shoe the brand sells, it gives away one pair “to fund community development programs, health and education.” I realized that I can follow a similar model and produce a purposeful product to support children.

One of my favorite local brands is Kilim. I think they’re doing a great job; if I didn’t have Doodle Factory, I would have built something similar to Kilim that combines heritage and development at the same time.

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

MAY

17 May-10 June (Wednesday-Saturday): Cairo Cinema Days at Zawya Cinema, Downtown Cairo.

27 May-27 June (Saturday-Tuesday): Annual Flower Exhibition from 10am at the Agricultural Museum.

JUNE

1-10 June (Thursday-Saturday): Cairo Food Week.

9 June (Friday): TriFactory Madinaty Half Marathon.

10 June (Saturday): Thanaweya Amma examinations begin.

15 June (Thursday): Last day of the Traces of Egypt Exhibition at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

28 June-2 July (Wednesday-Sunday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Friday): June 30 Revolution Day.

JULY

18 July (Tuesday): Islamic New Year.

20 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Sunday): Revolution Day.

27 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Revolution Day.

SEPTEMBER

26 September (Tuesday): Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

28 September (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

OCTOBER

6 October (Friday): Armed Forces Day.

13 October- 20 October (Friday-Friday): The sixth edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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