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Sunday, 11 Feb 2024

What We’re Tracking Tonight
For Your Commute
Enterprise Recommends
Go With The Flow
Inside Industry
The Enterprise Entertainment Calendar

Big Tech is filing lots of AI patents

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Today at a glance

1

The Big Story Today

Egypt’s multiple exchange rates is “disastrous” -Georgieva.
2

INSIDE INDUSTRY

A look at Egypt’s 2023 trade figures.
3

FOR YOUR COMMUTE

Who’s leading the patent filing charge among Big Tech?
4

Sports

It’s time for the Afcon final.
5

ON THE TUBE TONIGHT

Captains of the World come together to share their story.
6

OUT AND ABOUT

Catch Ebni at Rawabet this week.
7

Ears to the Ground

Table for Two: Good conversation shared over a good meal.

Sunday, 11 Feb 2024

What We’re Tracking Tonight
For Your Commute
Enterprise Recommends
Go With The Flow
Inside Industry
The Enterprise Entertainment Calendar
1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: Egypt’s having multiple FX rates is “disastrous,” says IMF’s Georgieva

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We’re looking at a busy start to this new week, particularly as we all wait with baited breath for updates on our IMF package.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Georgieva pushes again for unified FX rate: Egypt having multiple exchange rates is “disastrous,” Al Arabiya Business quotes IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva as saying. Georgieva emphasized the need for Egypt to move in a direction that allows the exchange rate to be determined by market forces and eliminate the parallel market. The IMF chief also added that an agreement over our anticipated loan from the Fund is “relatively close,” and that primary terms of the planned loan have already been agreed following a successful two-week visit from an IMF delegation to Cairo last week.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The likely rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the US presidential election is still leading the conversation in the international press this afternoon. Trump may be an inch ahead of Biden, as more Americans trust the former president than the incumbent to manage the economy, according to a poll. (Financial Times | Associated Press)

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

  • More details regarding a potential Ras El Hekma sale: The government and Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) could together retain a 20% stake in the North Coast’s Ras El Hekma after Abu Dhabi takes over the USD 22 bn development of the parcel of seaside land.
  • Inflation hits a one-year low:Inflation eased for the fourth consecutive month in January to reach its lowest level in a year on the back of a continued deceleration in food price increases.
  • We’re not ready for a devaluation, Goldman Sachs says: Under current conditions, it is unlikely that a managed devaluation would meet the Madbouly government’s policy objectives.

HELP GAZA-

Want to support relief efforts in Gaza, but don’t know how? We’ve got you. About 2 mn people in Gaza have been thrown from their homes and every human being there lacks access to food, water, and fuel amid the most intense bombardment any population has endured this century.

The folks at Talabat are processing donations for a range of Gaza relief appeals by charities including the Egyptian Food Bank and Misr El Kheir. Pay in EGP using your credit card.

Or check out our list of charities to which you can make direct donations via bank deposit and / or Fawry.

enterprise

*** It’s Inside Industry day —your weekly briefing of all things industrial in Egypt. Inside Industry focuses each Sunday on what it takes to turn Egypt into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, ranging from initial investment and planning to product distribution, through to land allocation to industrial processes, supply chain management, labor, automation and technology, inputs and exports, regulation and policy.

In today’s issue: Egypt’s trade deficit narrowed in 2023 as imports fell y-o-y and exports remained more or less stable. We take a look at how our non-oil trade fared during the year, which was marked with our ongoing FX shortage.

☁️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Look out for a gloomy day starting with a low of 12°C before warming up to a high of 25°C, according to our favorite weather app.

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2

FOR YOUR COMMUTE

Can you guess who’s leading the AI patents game?

Who holds the most AI-related patent applications? If you guessed Microsoft, Google, or OpenAI, you’d be wrong. IBM currently tops the list of companies holding the most AI-related patent applications in the US over the past five years, reports Axios. While patents may be filed solely to have first dibs on copyrights, the volume of the applications indicate serious interest from Big Tech.

IBM made 1.6k patent applications within the last five years, according to analysis by patent database IFI Claims. The patent data analytics firm cites Google as the second in lead, followed by Microsoft, Samsung, Intel and Adobe, Capital One, and Baidu. A large percentage of the copyrights were specific to generative AI.

OpenAI didn’t even crack the top 25 — although that figure may not show the whole picture. IFI Claims reported just one patent application filed by the AI research company, which “is surprising for an organization that is knowledge based,” IFI says. Still, it’s important to note that this is the only publicly available patent application, which means there may have been more recent filings that haven’t made it to the public eye yet. Another explanation is that OpenAI is prioritizing protecting its existing IP.

What are they patenting? IBM’s genAI patents vary across image, speech, text, and video, as do Google and Samsung’s applications. Nvidia’s patents mostly focus on image and video AI, while Apple is focusing their copyrights on speech genAI.

As tech giants are doubling down on AI, they’ve also been slashing jobs. So far, some 34k people in the US tech industry have lost their jobs since the start of 2024. While these USD bn companies claim that not all workers were replaced by AI, news of job cuts came hot on the heels of major investments in AI by those same companies.

Hackers had a lucrative year: Ransomware attacks saw hackers reel in around USD 1.1 bn in crypto last year, essentially doubling y-o-y from USD 567 mn in 2022, Axios reports. In addition to the steep y-o-y increase, last year’s haul from ransomware hackers is the highest value of payments Chainalysis has seen in the past five years, which Chainalysis suggests could be due to “the growing number of gangs getting involved in ransomware,” while Axios notes that the increase points to their deft maneuvering of law enforcement.

Some businesses opt to give in to hackers: When a business is targeted by a cybersecurity attack, sometimes it costs less to pay the requested ransom than to wait out the losses in revenue from their blocked systems, Axios notes. That being said, fewer businesses paid out ransoms, with some 29% of targeted businesses making payments in 4Q 2023 compared to 85% in 1Q 2019, according to Coveware. As the total amount of ransomware payments has gone up, the number of payers has dropped, “suggesting hackers are asking for more money in each attack.” The average ransom payment dropped 33% q-o-q in 4Q 2023 to USD 569k, Coveware’s data shows.

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3

ENTERPRISE RECOMMENDS

Captains of the World come together to share their story

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

From locker rooms to the pitch, we take a glimpse into the lives of legends in Captains ofthe World. Produced by Netflix and FIFA, this docu series follows all 32 national teams that took part in the 2022 Qatar World Cup as they battled it out for the chance to lift the most coveted cup of the football world. The series tells these stories through the eyes of team captains, including Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazil’s Thiago Silva, England’s Harry Kane, and France’s Hugo Lloris, as well as other stars, journalists, and World Cup legends.

You’ll get a fresh perspective on the games and the players: Whether you’re a football aficionado or barely know the names of three players, you can’t help but be impressed by the cinematography and the fresh perspective on the way the matches are described.

Drama, drama, drama: FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the event the “ best World Cup inhistory ” with all of the unexpected twists and turns, such as Argentina’s shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in the group stage, before ultimately snagging the World Cup title. The championship also saw Morocco roaring through a streak of victories that helped it get to the semifinals, defeating giants like Belgium, Spain, and Portugal along the way.

The series scored but missed on some aspects: The series can’t really be considered as a comprehensive tell-all, as many of the captains of the 32 teams participating in the tournament are absent, including host nation Qatar. There was also some favoritism, with some teams arguably receiving more coverage than others and a number of top captains appeared in only fleeting shots — such as Serbian Luka Modric and Dutch Virgil van Dijk.

WHERE TO WATCH IT- You can watch Captains of the World on Netflix.

⚽ The Elephants and the Super Eagles in the final face off: Host Cote d’Ivoire will be meeting Nigeria on the pitch for the Afcon 2023 final at 10pm tonight. This is the second clash between the two teams after the Elephants lost 0-1 to Nigeria during the group stage.

South Africa claimed the bronze medal last night, taking the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national team to penalties after a goalless draw at full-time.

Today in Gameweek 24 of the English Premier League: West Ham is hosting Arsenal later today, kicking off at 4pm, and Man United will be paying Aston Villa a visit at 6:30pm.

LaLiga is also broadcastingtonight. We’re looking forward toBarcelona facing off against Granada at 10pm and, earlier, Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid at 7:30pm.

The Serie A showdown between Milan and Napoli is taking place tonight at 9:45pm.

? OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

THEATER-

Ebni is back at Rawabet Art Space: The play, an adaptation of God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, demonstrates how two different families react when their children get into a fight,and as the play unfolds their true colors are revealed. Catch the performance on Tuesday and Wednesday, 13 and 14 February at 8pm. Book your tickets here.

MUSIC-

Don’t miss out on Mohamed Mounir, Ramy Sabry, and Sharmoofers taking the stageatFamily Park. The event will take place on Friday, 16 February with gates opening at 1pm and performances starting at 7pm. Get your tickets through Tazkarti.

Amr Diab is back on stage for the first time in Egypt this year. El Hadaba’s concert is taking place in Manara Arena on Friday, 16 February. Grab your tickets while you can.

Ready to rock? ROKN, a rising Egyptian rock band, is performing at ROOM Art Space and Café on Friday, 16 February. You can snag tickets for EGP 200 here or at the door.

Oud player Saad Al Oud and his band will be playing at Theatro Arkan on Saturday, 17 February. The night of classical Egyptian music will open its doors from 7:30pm and begin at 8pm. You can get your tickets at Ticketsmarche.

Renowned musician and composer Omar Khairat will be gracing the stage again at the Egyptian Opera House for two nights on Wednesday, 21 February and Thursday, 22 February at the Grand Theatre at 8pm. Get your ticket for the first night here and the second night here.

POETRY-

Amr Hassan will be performing at El Sawy Culturewheel for their annual end-of-winter show. Alongside his band, he will perform two concerts on Friday, 16 February, one at 3:30pm and one at 7pm. Find out more here.

ENTERTAINMENT-

In another of Mahmoud Saad’s live interviews, Ashraf Abdelbaki will be featured on stage on Saturday, 17 February. Accompanying entertainment will be provided by Mai Farouk. Before you grab a ticket, keep in mind that this is a no-phone, filmed experience, meaning that you should expect to hand your phone over at the gate and be seen by friends and family on their TV screens at home.

Russell Peters is taking the stage at Sports City Stadium later this month. Peters is making his comeback in Egypt on Monday, 19 February in the New Administrative Capital City. Grab your tickets while you can. For EGP 12k, you can meet the all-time highest grossing standup comedian.

SPORTS-

Join a run for Gaza on Friday, February 16 with the TriFactory in the Wadi DeglaProtectorate. All proceeds will go towards sending aid to Gaza and you can sign up here for the 5K or 1K distances.

The Cairo Half Marathon is taking place in just over a month: Mark your calendars for Friday, 1 March, and start stretching. Cairo Runners is bringing back a fan favorite, offering 5km, 10km, and 21km runs as well as a Family Run. Tickets are still available, giving you ample time to convince seven of your friends to join, which will get a 10% reduction in price when you register.

Get down and dirty at the TriFactory’s Tough Mudder Egypt on Friday, 1 March. The obstacle course challenge will take place at Belle Vie Club in New Zayed.

INTERACTIVE EVENTS-

Fancy yourself a detective? Murder-mystery fans can pull out their magnifying glasses to crack this case. Cluedupp and Crime Scene Investigator are staging a hard-boiled outdoor event where you have to solve four murders around the city by solving puzzles, interrogating witnesses, and hunting for clues. Find more details here.

COMMUNITY SERVICE-

JoinWadi Ibex on their Wadi Degla clean-up event on Saturday, 9 March. All you have to do is wear your trainers, sunglasses, and refillable water bottles and head down to Wadi Degla Protectorate at 10am. You can sign up here.

? EARS TO THE GROUND-

Clear your schedule tonight and get yourself a Table for Two. This isn’t your run-of-the mill celebrity gossip podcast — there’s a tie-in with food as host Bruce Bozzi brings his decades of experience working at his family’s restaurant to deliver the match made in heaven that is good food and good conversation.

The stories aren’t just about rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, but rather the genuine connections and friendships that can be formed over a shared meal. Bozzi’s interviews are as intimate as they are entertaining, offering a rare glimpse into the lives of Hollywood's elite with the likes of Anna Wintour, Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Ford, Kate Hudson. He even broke the unspoken rule against having more than two at the “table” by bringing George Clooney and Julia Roberts to discuss their history of filmmaking together.

You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, iHeart, and Podbean.

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This publication is proudly sponsored by

4

GO WITH THE FLOW

What the markets are doing on 11 February, 2024

The EGX30 fell 0.8% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 4.8 bn. Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 13.3% YTD.

In the green: Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (+9.4%), Qalaa Holdings (+3.3%) and Abou Qir Fertilizers (+1.7%).

In the red: E-finance (-3.2%), Orascom Development Egypt (-3.0%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding (-2.6%).

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Our weekly look at the issues, trends, and policies that are shaping Egypt's manufacturing industries.

Published every Sunday in EnterprisePM.

Read Inside Industry
5

INSIDE INDUSTRY

A look at Egypt’s 2023 trade figures

BY THE NUMBERS- Where Egypt’s exports stood last year: Egypt’s non-oil exports were more or less flat in 2023, inching up 0.3% y-oy to USD 35.63 bn, according to data from the Trade and Industry Ministry. This compares to the USD 35.5 bn we exported in 2022, the Trade Ministry said last year. This came as global demand for exported Egyptian products remained stable, while the country began tapping new export markets, the ministry said.

REMEMBER- Egypt has rolled out a handful of programs and initiatives over the past several years geared towards boosting our exports, as the government is looking to increase exports to USD 100 bn a year by the middle of the decade and reduce dependency on imported products. Under a 2022 strategy, the Madbouly government identified nine priority sectors to focus on in terms of exports, including food, textiles, pharma, and metals. Last year, German development agency GIZ kicked off the Ezdhar Program, in cooperation with several associations and government bodies, which looks to aid more than 80 Egyptian companies in the printing and packaging and chemical sectors to develop them and help them step into new markets.

The good news: Although the y-o-y increase in exports was relatively small, a steep drop in our imports (-14% y-o-y) last year helped the trade deficit narrow by 23% y-o-y to 36.9% in 2023, the ministry statement shows. The drop in imports comes as our ongoing FX shortage has hindered importers’ ability to pay for customs clearance, despite the government moving to address import backlogs since the end of 2022, including by scrapping burdensome import requirements to secure letters of credit (L/Cs) for imports.

Our biggest export market of the year? Turkey, to which we exported USD 2.94 bn worth of goods in 2023, according to the ministry statement. Arab countries followed, with Saudi Arabia importing USD 2.77 bn worth of Egyptian goods, and the UAE importing USD 2.20 bn during the year. Italy came in fourth place (USD 2.10 bn), followed by the US (USD 1.97 bn).

Which sectors exported the most: Building materials recorded the highest export revenues in 2023, coming in at USD 8.81 bn. Other sectors that led the export charge:

  • Chemical products and fertilizers (USD 6.54 bn)
  • Food (USD 5.46 bn)
  • Engineering and electronics (USD 4.36 bn)
  • Agricultural products (USD 3.71 bn)
  • Readymade garments (USD 2.43 bn)
  • Textiles (USD 1.12 bn)
  • Printing and packaging materials (USD 891 mn)
  • Medical industries (USD 611 mn)
  • Furniture (USD 297 mn)
  • Handmade products (USD 196 mn)
  • Leather, leather products, and shoes (USD 115 mn).

We’re also exporting more to Africa: Egyptian businesses exported more goods to Africa last year, as the country pushes towards developing economic and trade ties with the continent.Libya was our biggest export market in the continent, recording USD1.76 bn worth of exports, followed by Sudan (USD 988 mn), Algeria (USD 851 mn), Morocco (USD 817 mn), and Kenya (USD 326 mn). We also exported USD 290 mn worth of goods to Tunisia, USD 223 mn to Cote d’Ivoire, and USD 203 mn to Ghana. Building materials, chemical products, food, and fertilizers, were our biggest exporting industries to the continent, followed by engineering and electronics, furniture, medical supplies, and readymade garments.

Your top industrial development stories for the week:

  • A Bulgarian Industrial Zone? Bulgaria floated the idea of setting up an industrial zone in Egypt, to serve as an industrial hub for Bulgarian products during a meeting between Trade Minister Ahmed Samir and Bulgarian Deputy Economy Minister Nikolay Pavlov. Samir highlighted sectors that may be of interest to potential Bulgarian investors — car components, artificial intelligence, tourism, petrochemicals, and medicine.
  • Schneider Electric plans to build 1k smart homes in Egypt – ones that will be designed to have a lower carbon footprint and be powered by renewable energy. The components for the home automation systems will be manufactured in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.
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THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

FEBRUARY

6-11 February (Tuesday-Sunday): My Bedroom 2 theater performance at Dawar.

12 February (Monday): Oil painting workshop at Art Square Academy.

13-14 February (Tuesday-Wednesday): Ebni at Rawabet Art Space.

15 February (Thursday): Nouran AbuTaleb concert at Theatro Arkan.

15 February (Thursday): Komedy Koshk comedy open mic night at EDEN Spaces.

15 February (Thursday): Valentine’s Bazaar by Le Marché.

16 February (Friday): Amr Hassan concert at El Sawy.

16 February (Friday): Amr Diab live concert at Al Manara Arena.

16 February (Friday): Run for Gaza with TriFactory.

16 February (Friday): ROKN x ROOM concert at ROOM Garden City.

16 February (Friday): Game night at ROOM New Cairo.

16-17 February (Friday-Saturday): Football Access Summit at Zed Park.

17 February (Saturday): Ashraf Abdelbaki interviewed live by Mahmoud Saad.

17 February (Saturday): Gudran tour and workshop with Qahrawya.

17 February (Saturday): Saad El Oud concert at Theatro Arkan.

18 February (Sunday): Time Plus Tragedy comedy show by Rawabet Art Space.

19 February (Monday): Russell Peters standup show at Sports City Stadium.

21 February (Wednesday): Celebrating 100 Years of the Legendary Um Kalthoum at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

21-22 February (Wednesday-Thursday): Omar KhairatHafliti concert at the Cairo Opera House.

24 February (Saturday): Fatma, Marcia and Rachel tour with Qahrawya.

24 February (Saturday): Gheer La2eq comedy show at Theatro Arkan.

MARCH

1 March (Friday): Cairo Half Marathon by Cairo Runners.

1 March (Friday): Tough Mudder Egypt by TriFactory.

2 March (Saturday): CSI Cairo by CluedUpp.

9 March (Saturday): Wadi Degla clean up event at Wadi Degla Protectorate.

11-12 March (Monday-Tuesday): Creative Industry Summit.

11 March (Monday): The Oscars

APRIL

9 April (Tuesday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

25 April (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Sinai Liberation Day (TBC).

MAY

1 May (Wednesday): National holiday in observance of Labor Day (TBC).

5 May (Sunday): Coptic Easter.

6 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim (TBC).

JUNE

15-19 June (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Sunday): June 30 Revolution Day (TBC).

JULY

7 July (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Tuesday): Revolution Day (TBC).

SEPTEMBER

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

OCTOBER

6 October (Sunday): Armed Forces Day.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Q1 2024: Opening of the newly developed Pyramids Plateau in Giza.

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