Productivity sweet spot

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: Gov’t looking at another stake sale for Telecom Egypt?

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and happy hump day. We’re looking at a news day that promises to be led primarily by updates on the privatization front, as the state privatization program maintains momentum.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

TE stake sale, take two? The Finance Ministry is reportedly considering selling another 10-15% stake in state-owned Telecom Egypt as part of the state privatization program, Al Borsa reports, citing sources it says have knowledge of the matter. The potential stake sale would come a few months after the government sold a 9.5% stake in the company to institutional investors.

ONE WEEK TO GO- There are just six days until the Enterprise Finance Forum, which takes place 18-19 September (Monday and Tuesday) at the St. Regis Hotel on the Nile Corniche. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only events, where CEOs, bankers, investors, founders, and corporate leaders will meet to discuss the trends shaping the future of banking, finance, NBFIs, and fintech — and of their clients.

What to expect: Join Amr Allam (co-CEO, Hassan Allam Holding), Pakinam Kafafi (CEO, Taqa Arabia), Sherif El Kholy (partner and head of MENA, Actis), Tarek Abdel Rahman (managing partner, Compass Capital), Tarek Assaad (managing partner, Algebra Ventures), Ahmed Sobhy (chief investment officer, Banque Misr), and many others for talks on everything from how PE and VC players are tackling fundraising in a challenging climate to what major corporate customers of banking and finance need to see from their institutions.

Tap or click here to view the FULL AGENDA with SPEAKERS.

There will be plenty of parking available at the venue for all those attending.

We are honored to count some of the region’s most important financial institutions as

our partners for this special event. The Enterprise Finance Forum could not take place without the support of our partners including Banque Misr, Al Baraka Bank, FAB Misr, HSBC, Mashreq, CI Capital, Global Corp, Visa, Hassan Allam Utilities, the IFC, and Post for Investment.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

North Korea's Kim Jong Un visits Russia for what is feared to be an arms deal: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia yesterday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that has sparked Washington’s concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. (Reuters | Associated Press)
The devastating earthquake in Morocco continues to dominate news headlines in the international press: The death toll has surpassed 2.8k after the 6.8 magnitude quake struck late on Friday, leaving thousands missing and thousands more homeless in the High Atlas Mountains. (Associated Press | Reuters | Bloomberg | New York Times | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal)

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

Pressure on EGP exchange rate set to rise, says IIF: The local currency is currently overvalued by some 10% in comparison with its “real effective exchange rate” — its relative strength compared to a basket of 13 of our major trading partners.
We now know how much Heliopolis Housing could be getting for Heliopark: The state-owned National Organization for Social Ins (NOSI) is offering Heliopolis Housing and Development (HHD) EGP 15 bn to buy 100% of the land allocated to the Heliopark project.
UAE developers launch EGP 36 bn project in New Cairo: Horizon Egypt Developments — a real estate firm backed by UAE investors — last week unveiled its maiden real estate project, dubbed Saada New Cairo.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures continue to remain subdued with a high of 35°C during the daytime and dropping to 23°C at night, according to our favorite weather app. There is also a chance of high winds that can reach 30/km per hour and chances of light rainfall in different areas in Greater Cairo, tell us the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.

Who runs the box office? Women + How putting in your 110% is so 2008

Changing demographics in Chinese box offices could create an opening for Hollywood movies: Women account for less than half of the population in China, but represent 52% of moviegoers, according to a survey of movie patrons by data analysis firm Morning Consult. This marks a cultural shift in the country, as well as a potential new foothold for Hollywood studios, which have been struggling to secure revenues in the region since the pandemic. During covid-19, China’s domestic film industry thrived, and the country began to limit the number of foreign films allowed in theaters. However,

Fewer marital duties = more purchasing power. Experts speculate that the rise in the number of female moviegoers in China can be attributed to declining marriage rates, which leaves Chinese women with more money and time to spend on leisure activities. Also, female audiences in China are just as interested in science fiction and action films as the male audiences are, according to Morning Consult, but also have a wider scope of interests, which include romantic comedies and musicals. Morning Consult also noted that 32% of women in China reported going to the movies more than three times in July, while 27% of Chinese men reported the same.

Censorship presents a double-edged sword for Hollywood. China requires that foreign movies be approved by regulators prior to screening, and films can be (and were) banned or cut for violating the country’s censorship laws. Instead of trying to market their usual big-budget blockbusters films to Chinese audiences, industry insiders suggest that Hollywood studios invest in Chinese productions, specifically romcoms and musicals.

Less is more: You’re most likely to find success in what you do — whether in the workplace or with fitness goals — by giving 85%, rather than a full 100%, the WSJ writes, citing physiologists and business leaders. The argument: Doing too much often backfires, as it impacts mental wellbeing and self-confidence and is broadly just not sustainable.

Optimize successful learning: The human brain learns best when presented with tasks measured at 85% difficulty — going beyond that leads to frustration and ultimately failure, researchers are quoted as saying. One leader from the hospitality industry agrees, albeit for different reasons. Rather than seeing accomplishing 100% of your goals as the ultimate success, he believes this may mean your goals are not ambitious enough. Instead, reaching 85% means you’re always striving, rather than stagnating.

German suspense drama reminiscent of Dark

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Dear Child : A German thriller that will leave you puzzled, and, perhaps, a little scared. In this new Netflix miniseries, based on the bestselling novel by Romy Hausmann, the suspense is real. After a distressed woman runs out of the woods and is hit by a car, she is taken to hospital along with a young girl. When meeting with police officers, little Hannah explains things to the authorities: She says that the unconscious woman is her mother, Lenah, a woman who went missing over a decade ago and was never found. But when Lenah’s parents are alerted and called in to identify the unconscious woman, they say that it isn’t her. Instead, they find a shocking resemblance between the young Hannah and their own child. As more questions than answers emerge, the show takes on many twists and turns that will leave you at the edge of your seat throughout the six episodes. If you enjoy European drama and series like Dark, this series should make your watch list.

Get your running shoes ready for the 2023 edition of the El Gouna Half Marathon, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 11 November. You can sign up for the marathon from here — and catch the lowest registration price with the early bird special which starts today and ends Saturday, 30 September.

Jim Gaffigan’s Barely Alive Tour will be The Marquee stage at Cairo Festival City on Thursday, 16 November. Get your tickets with Ticketsmarche.

No Meat Required : The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating. For years now, the vegan diet seems to have taken a life of its own. In this book, Alicia Kennedy takes us all the way back to the US of the 1970s to retrace the steps of plant-based eating — which was, back then at least, a niche choice among “hippies” and bohemian youth. Today, however, its features as a rebellion against capitalist overconsumption and waste, are getting blurred. In her introduction, Kennedy mentions how veganism is often weaponized by a toxic, fatphobic culture. How ecofascism couples veganism with racist alt-right beliefs as the answer to environmental issues caused by specific groups of people — namely the global South. How giant corporations have seemingly co-opted the movement with their organic everything and vegan “Beyond Meat” meat and turned a non-materialistic ideology and way of being into a USD bn industry. By tackling these contradictions and this hijacking head on, Kennedy hopes to return plant-based eating to its original purpose: A pathway to a nourishing, abundant life that rejects exploitation in all its forms and builds a new relationship with the environment that is respectful of both people and planet.

What the markets are doing on 12 September, 2023

The EGX30 fell 0.7% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.62 bn (24% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 31.1% YTD.

In the green: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (+1.8%), Eastern Company (+1.5%) and Qalaa Holdings (+1.3%).

In the red: Telecom Egypt (-2.4%), E-Finance (-2.3%) and Heliopolis Housing (-2.0%).

Meet our founder of the week: Omar Safar, founder of Ascent

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 Omar Safar (LinkedIn), one of the founders of Ascent.

My name is Omar Safar and I’m one of the founders of Ascent, the only indoor rock climbing gym in Egypt. I studied Accounting and Finance at the American University in Cairo and moved on to get a masters in the same field at the Westminster Business School in London.

I’ve been climbing for the past six years now. It all started in 2016 — I was in London at the time and I remember coming back to Egypt during spring break and one of my friends suggested we go to Dahab, which I had never visited before. When we got there, my friend wanted us to go rock climbing; at first, I refused to do it or even risk the chance of falling. Eventually, I agreed. There was a bedouin guide called Mondi who tied the harness on me and told me to “ascend,” and when I got down I said this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.

It took some time at first to actually decide to start Ascent. When I got back to London from Dahab, I started getting into rock climbing and bouldering (which doesn’t involve a harness). At that time, I was still doing my masters, which was in a very different direction from rock climbing, but I ultimately knew that climbing was what I wanted to do. When I graduated, I started working as an accountant at PwC, where I stayed for seven months but came to terms with the fact that the office work life is not for me.

When the pandemic hit, that’s when I told myself that it’s time to start Ascent. During that time, I climbed together on a small rock climbing wall with one of my closest friends — who’s as obsessed as I am with rock climbing — at his house. He mentioned that someone was interested in starting a rock climbing gym at his family-owned mall, and that’s when I met Youssef Shoukry (LinkedIn). Youssef is also a rock climbing fanatic and once we met, we instantly started planning and officially opened Ascent in 2021. What worked out perfectly is that we both had similar experiences and we wanted to make a living out of what we loved. We eventually connected with Sherif Hafez through Ascent, and he is now our third partner in the business.

At the start, we faced some liquidity issues and I couldn’t get the money that I thought I could. I ended up selling my car and taking out a loan, and my dad also pitched in. Aside from the financial aspect, mentally I had to prepare in the sense of sacrificing a stable job at my father’s consultancy firm, which would have provided me more money in the grand scheme of things; but I stuck to my principle of following what I’m passionate about.

There’s no worst part of my job — even the unglamorous bits, like managing the business’ finances, is necessary to make sure we can keep going, which in turn contributes to the best part of my job: Building this community of rock climbers and sharing that passion together. But I can tell you that what makes it difficult is seeing how new the sport is and how difficult it is to grow and create a knowledge base for climbing — a lot of people don't know that climbing is an Olympic sport and we’re trying to develop the idea that it is a sport. For me, aside from building awareness about the sport, I also want to educate people about how rock climbing can really help with your mental state; it clears your mind and helps you focus.

Our intention is to create more competitions and gain international recognition from the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), which would help us grow the sport in terms of awareness and to develop our own federation for climbing here in Egypt. We’re working on making our gym one of the few facilities in the Middle East that have both bouldering and rock climbing, and we’re planning to develop our competitions to make them more inclusive to include more aspects like lead climbing and maybe even speed climbing eventually.

My family and business partners are my biggest supporters and everyone in my family — except my dad, because he’s not a big fan of heights and likes to be in control [laughs] — enjoyed rock climbing at Ascent. But the person I turn to for business advice would be my business partner Youssef because he has a great capacity for problem solving and the ability to take action, which I’m lucky to have in a partner.

If I didn’t have Ascent, I would’ve probably been in Dahab working as a rock climbing instructor. I can’t begin to explain how much rock climbing means to me — it was a dream come true when we opened our doors and when I got certified as a rock climbing instructor in 2021. These were some of the best things to ever happen to me.

The last book I re-read was New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I’veread this book four times now and every time I read it, I discover something new. The book is basically a lesson in being in the present by making use of what you have now and seizing the day, which helps to avoid the “what if…” thoughts in retrospect. I highly recommend it — it’s life changing.

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

14-17 September (Thursday-Sunday): Medfest Cinematic Film Forum at AUC Tahrir Cultural Center.

15 September (Friday): Wust El Balad concert, City Center Almaza’s summer hub, Cairo.

15 September (Friday): Aly & Fila performance, The Great Pyramid of Giza.

16 September (Saturday): Cairo Flea Market at Zamalek Fish Garden.

21 September (Thursday): Standup Comedian Ali Quandil show at Theatro in Arkan Plaza.

21-23 September (Thursday-Saturday): L’Etape Egypt by Tour de France, Sharm El Sheikh.

22 September (Friday): Masar Egbari concert at City Garage Live in City Centre Almaza.

22-23 September (Friday-Saturday): Tamino Sahar Tour concert in AUC Tahrir Cultural Center.

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

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

29 September (Friday): Samar Tarek, Muslim and Molotof LitOne concert, Greek Campus, Tahrir, Cairo.

OCTOBER

6 October (Friday): Armed Forces Day.

11 October (Wednesday): Teatro Di San Carlo performance, the Pyramids of Giza, Giza.

13-20 October (Friday-Friday): El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

28 October (Saturday): DJs Kygo, Tiësto, Kung and Frank Walker concert, Giza Pyramids.

NOVEMBER

11 November (Saturday): El Gouna Half Marathon 2023, El Gouna.

15-24 November (Wednesday-Friday): Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).

16 November (Thursday): Jim Gaffigan’s Barely Alive Tour at The Marquee, Cairo Festival City.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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