Good afternoon, friends, and happy THURSDAY. We’ve come to the end of a tense week, although the situation in the region continues to develop.
THE BIG STORY TODAY
5G licenses coming this year? The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is reportedly planning to issue a tender for Egypt’s first licenses for 5G frequencies in December for a minimum of USD 500 mn minimum per license, Asharq Business reports, citing sources it says are close to the matter. Former CIT Minister Yasser El Kady had previously said that 5G licenses could be issued in 2020.
THE BIG STORY ABROAD
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Tel Aviv today to show the nation’s support for Israel during its ongoing conflict with Palestine. Sunak’s visit follows that of US President Joe Biden, who agreed with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to coordinate a small stream of humanitarian aid to arrive in Gaza. (Reuters | Washington Post | CNBC) On the ground, the bombing continued early this morning, and included the southern area of Gaza that Israel had identified as a safe zone claiming the lives of at least 12 Palestinians and injuring 40 others. (Associated Press)
HAPPENING NOW- Jordan’s King Abdullah II is in Cairo to meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Abdullah’s visit comes after Jordan canceled earlier this week its planned four-way summit in Amman that aimed to bring together the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, the US and the Palestinian Authority due to Washington’s stance on the war.
** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:
We’re approaching our Jetsons era: Silicon Valley-based company Pivotal has manufactured a single-seat aircraft vehicle, Helix, with deliveries expected as early as next June, the Economist reports. The all-electric aircraft is aimed at recreational and short-hop travel. It will be fitted with user-friendly features, including auto takeoff and landing, and cruise control, according to the Economist.
Who will be able to pilot Helix? The model is primarily designed for personal, public service and defense applications, and comes at the base price of USD 190k per unit, according to Flying magazine. The aircraft has been built in accordance with America’s federal aviation regulations. Although Pivotal claims that a pilot license is not necessary to fly the aircraft over non-built-up areas, Helix buyers will still need to undertake Helix-provided training to fly the model. Helix did not provide further details on the nature of the training.
More people are taking sick days — and the definition of a “sick day” is growing broader in the US, with younger employees in particular feeding into this phenomenon, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some 30% of all white-collar workers in the US have taken sick leave at some point this year — up nine percentage points from those who took time off using a sick day throughout the entirety of 2019, the WSJ reports, citing data from payroll data company Gusto. The uptick is most pronounced among employees aged 25-34, compared to older generations, which typically shy away from taking time off to avoid casting doubts on their reliability, the data indicates.
The problem: Employers and business owners say the unplanned time off is starting to bite, with the uptick in sick days among employees costing companies foregone productivity time from their staff, the Journal notes. Automotive player Stellantis, for example, recorded a 10.9% loss in “hourly worker time” in 2022 due to unplanned absenteeism.
Some are embracing more sick leave — and seeing the potential benefits: The provision of sick leave benefits is actually growing among companies in the US, with some states passing legislation requiring companies to offer sick leave to take care of family members, and several companies are lifting caps on the number of sick days available per year. Some employers are also seeing the potential to increase employee loyalty and productivity when offering comfortable policies and benefits such as increased sick leave allowance, the WSJ says.
Betrayal stings… until you sting back? In Wilderness, the life of Liv Taylor (played by Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman) is upended one evening as she casually saw a text she was not supposed to. Her loving husband, Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), is having an affair — a revelation that Liv was unprepared for: The newlyweds are committed, in love, and simply happy. There’s also the fact that Liv has left job, family, and friends to relocate with her husband to New York so that he may fulfill his professional ambitions. But despite her sweet and demure appearance, Liv is not one to take things sitting down. During a dream trip through the lush national parks of the United States where — shockingly — they bump into her husband’s paramour (Ashley Benson), Liv decides to retaliate. And where better to undergo a devastating accident that in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dense foliage, steep ravines, and neck-breaking cliffs?
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⚽ The international break has ended and the Egyptian Premier League is back: Do you miss Al Masry, El Geish, Ceramica and Al Dakhlia? We hope the answer is yes, because they play together in the opening of the fourth round of the Premier League tomorrow.
Al Ahly in the African Super League: Al Ahly will kick off the new African Super League championship, entitled the “African Football League” tomorrow when it heads out to face Simba of Tanzania in the first leg of the quarter-finals at 6pm tomorrow. Al Ahly is scheduled to host the return match in Egypt next Tuesday, 24 October. The winner of the aggregate of the two matches qualifies for the semi-finals to face the winner of the matches between Sun Downs of South Africa and Petro Atletico of Angola.
The match between Al Masry and Talaea Al Geish will start at 4pm, while Ceramica Cleopatra’s match with El Dakhlia was postponed to 8pm.
Saturday is another busy day of local football in round 4 of the league:
Baladiya El Mahalla v Al Ittihad (4pm, Saturday)
Zamalek v Smouha (7pm, Saturday)
Enppi and National Bank (7pm, Saturday)
Get ready for some exciting Premier League matches on Saturday: The ninth round of the English Premier League will witness a lot of anticipated excitement, starting with the Merseyside derby between neighbors Liverpool and Everton at 2:30pm. At 5pm, Man City plays against Brighton, while Chelsea-Arsenal play head-to-head at 7:30pm.
Other matches include:
Newcastle v Crystal Palace (5pm)
Bournemouth v Wolverhampton (5 pm)
Brentford v Burnley (5 pm)
Nottingham Forest v Luton (5pm)
Sheffield v Man United (10 pm)
More than 200 of our readers are returning to compete in the Enterprise Fantasy Premier League. Don’t miss the chance to join them by clicking on this link or entering the code abd0f7.
Across the continent major European leagues’ games will be also be playing tomorrow:
Dortmund v Werder Bremen (Bundesliga, 9:30pm)
Osasuna v Granada (La Liga, 10pm)
Saturday in La Liga: The most prominent Spanish League matches on Saturday bring together Sevilla and Real Madrid at 7:30pm. Real Madrid sits at the top of the league, two points ahead of Girona, its closest competitor, and three points behind Barcelona at third-place. While Sevilla have only achieved eight points from eight league matches so far.
Other La Liga meets:
Real Sociedad v Real Mallorca (3pm)
Getafe v Real Betis (5:15pm)
Celta Vigo v Atletico Madrid (10pm)
The most prominent matches in the rest of the major European leagues on Saturday include:
Award-winning film Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous will be screened at The Netherlands-FlemishInstitute tonight from 7-8:30pm, with doors opening at 6pm. There’s no reservation or purchasing of tickets — it’s on a first-come-first-serve basis with limited seats.
Dust off your windbreakers this weekend at Room Art Space in Garden City for theirBack to the nineties event with performances of your favorite Arabic 90s songs on tomorrow from 8pm. Get your tickets at the branch or from this link.
The Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-Caf) has kicked off and will continue until Sunday, 5 November. The festival is taking place in several places and art centers in the downtown area. You can check the events and buy the tickets through D-CAF’s website.
Lab coats and goggles on for Kidzania’s Halloween Adults immersive party with Lab of Horrors on Thursday, 26 October from 6-11pm. Tickets are not on sale yet but stay tuned for more information on their Facebook page.
Music enthusiasts, this one’s for you: The annual Cairo International Jazz Festival is happening at AUC’s Tahrir campus from Thursday, 26 October to Friday, 3 November. For more information contact them on their page.
We’ve got you covered this Halloween:Cairo Jazz Club is hosting a Haunted Mansionnight of eeriness and hit tunes on Friday, 27 October. Costumes are mandatory and you can reserve your spot on their Facebook page.
DJs Kygo, Tiësto, Kungs, and Frank Walker are performing on Saturday, 28 October at the Giza Pyramids. The concert will be part of the next edition of the four-day Palm Tree Music Festival (PTMF) which will be held from Thursday, 26 October until Sunday, 29 October.
The Russian Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is coming to Egypt for the first time, with three concerts scheduled in Cairo and Alexandria. The Cairo concerts are scheduled for Sunday and Monday, 5 and 6 November at the Cairo Opera House in Zamalek, while the Alexandria concert will follow on Tuesday, 7 November at Sayed Darwish Theater. You can book your tickets for the concerts from here, here and here.
Don’t miss Tamer Ashour at Sheikh Zayed’s Zed Park on Friday, 10 November at 8pm. Tickets are available on TicketsMarche.
Russell Peters is coming to Egypt for the second time: He will be performing on Saturday, 11 November at the Marquee Theatre, Cairo Festival City (CFC). The show will start at 8pm. Tickets are available on TicketsMarche.
The Masr El Gedida Carnival is back and will take place in Merryland Park on Saturday, 25 November at 10am.
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? EARS TO THE GROUND-
Margins of Error helps us make a little more sense of the world: CNN senior data reporter and podcast host Harry Enten goes beyond the facts and figures to shed some new light on things we have long taken for granted and did not necessarily think to question. All the complicated data and studies aside, he brings a more human nuance to peer at, and think about a variety of topics: How much money is required to be happy, and whether something more valuable lies beyond the six-figure salary, like the ability to “purchase” unique experiences, so to speak. He also tries to understand the psychology and the appeal behind rooting for the underdog — is it because they’re relatable? Another episode looks at why this generation of adults and young adults prefers communicating via text and is particularly averse to answering phone calls — a normally routine practice that seems to be increasingly inversely linked with mental well-being.
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? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. A historical, non-fictional novel written by David Grann sheds light on a painful and unexplored chapter in American history, which raises questions about power, greed, and justice. Through in-depth research, Grann highlighted the shocking and tragic events that unfolded in the early 20th century involving the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma, who were the beneficiaries of immense wealth due to oil discovered on their land. The book focuses on one Osage family, whose female members died, successively, in mysterious and violent circumstances. The investigations that followed demonstrated that these killings were not isolated incidents — other Osage tribe members also met similar fates. Grann notes that the death toll continued to rise and eventually reached the ears of the newly-formed FBI uncovering that non-native men tried to acquire the inheritance of the oil-rich land by marrying into the Osage tribe and then orchestrating the deaths of their wealthy wives. The book has been recently made into a film directed by Martin Scorcese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone.
The EGX30 fell 2.3% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.52 bn (57.8% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 48.1% YTD.
In the green: AMOC (+2.4%), TMG Holding (+2.1%) and Palm Hills Development (+1.0%).
In the red: Mopco (-10.1%), Sidpec (-5.4%) and Eastern Company (-4.8%).
A new type of vocational school is on the rise:With the boom in demand in the local real estate sector is undergoing, the industry is grappling with a shortage of trained workers, according to several industry veterans we spoke to. In response, a number of real estate developers have begun to set up real estate “schools,” high-school level programs that teach construction, finishing, landscaping, and other areas of study concerned with real estate development. The push is part of the Education Ministry’s strategy to grow the number of technical and vocational schools in collaboration with the private sector.
Private sector participation is picking up: The country’s first privately-owned real estate school, Amar Applied Technology School, was established last year by real estate developer Amar Developments, and onboarded its inaugural class in the 2022-2023 academic year. Licensed by the Education Ministry, and located in Sheikh Zayed, the school offers a three-year curriculum with specializations in residential and hotel real estate. Coursework includes construction, planning, landscaping, paints, finishes, and hands-on training — even German plumber Grohe has become partners to train students at the company’s headquarters, chairperson Abeer Essam told Enterprise. Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year opened last month.
Our first landscaping school: Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) inked an agreement in Januarywith the Education Ministry to establish the country’s first applied technology school in the field of landscaping. Named Sonaa El Ghad for Applied Technology, the school opened its doors to technical high school students in the current academic year. The school marks the second academic collaboration between the ministry and TMG, who partnered up with TMG to start the Imam Muhammed Metwally El Shaarawi School of Applied Technology. The school, whose first class graduated in the 2020-2021 academic year, offers a range of subjects including architectural finishes, maintenance, refrigeration, air conditioning, specialized facility networks, and integrated electrical systems.
We’re also getting a facility management school: Real estate developer Mountain View has partnered up with the state to set up a school that specializes in facility management technology under an agreement inked between the Education Ministry and USAID back in March. The Mountain View International School of Applied Technology opened its doors to its first class at the beginning of the current academic year. It aims to help raise the standard of technical labor and help graduates secure jobs in facility management at big firms.
Infrastructure exports catalyzed the push for vocational education: The scarcity of skilled labor became apparent in recent years after Egyptian companies started to ink agreements to work on reconstruction projects in Libya and Iraq, Essam said. Cabinet requested the provision of trained technical workers for the reconstruction programs, and confronted with the shortage, the state started to incorporate real estate schools in its plan to grow the number of applied technology schools in the country, Essam explained. The expansion of real estate schools will enable the local real estate sector to export trained labor to Arab markets, allowing us to compete with East Asia’s formidable labor market, Essam added.
The government is working to incentivize technical programs: The Education Ministry provides private sector players that qualify to set up vocational schools with old school buildings free of charge, provided that they renovate them at their own expense, Essam said.The government plans to set up 100 vocational schools with private sector industrial partners by 2030, Deputy Education Minister for Technical Education Mohamed Megahed told us. The government aims to change the culture for graduates of technical education and has come a long way in fulfilling that goal by increasing applied technology schools of different types in collaboration with the private sector, which has made this system successful, he said.
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