Good morning, friends, and happy FRIDAY. It’s been a very busy week for all of us, with conferences, meetings, and the corporate budget season. We hope you have some fun plans coming up this weekend to take your mind off work.

How about dabbling with a new hobby that you have always thought about… learning a musical instrument. No, it's never too late. If you’re looking for a place to support your itch for creative expression, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned musician looking to dust off the cobwebs, the Enterprise Guide this week will get you covered. Give it a read below.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

EnterpriseAM Finance Forum-

We wrapped the successful EnterpriseAM Finance Forum on Tuesday, which saw more than 550 senior members of our community join us in person in frank discussions on the future of the finance and banking industries and the critical issues in key sectors from financial markets to real estate, SMEs, and more.

#1- The opening was with our on-stage interview with Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan El Khatib, In a remarkably candid discussion, El Khatib touched on everything from how he aims to make it easier to do business to his thoughts on privatization, how he will choose priority industries, and the role of the state in the economy. Read the full interview here.

#2- What international investors want to see from Egypt moving forward: We brought together a panel of international advisors and investors who are committing capital to Egypt or advising those who are looking to do business. We spoke to Amr El Bahey, CEO of Mashreq Egypt, Essam Al Tamimi, founder and chairman of Al Tamimi & Company, Leila Serhan, senior vice president and group country manager for NALP at Visa, and Sherif El Kholy, partner and head of Middle East and Africa at Actis, asking them about the broad view of Egypt from the outside. Read the full discussion here.

^^ Await our coverage of the rest of the forum’s panels in future issues of EnterpriseAM Egypt.

PRIVATIZATION WATCH-

#1- United Bank to make its EGX debut early next year: The Central Bank of Egypt will offer a stake of United Bank on the bourse, with the initial public offering set to take place before the end of 1Q 2025. The CBE did not disclose how much stake it will be offering but media reports put the stake size somewhere between 30% to 45%. The central bank is still looking for a strategic investor to acquire a majority stake in the lender, a senior banking source told Enterprise earlier this week, adding that offering a portion of the bank on the EGX will make it more appealing to potential investors.

#2- The government is looking to sell an additional 10% of its stake in Telecom Egypt before the end of this year, a government source told Enterprise earlier this week. The Madbouly government has also resumed negotiations for the sale of the state’s remaining 20% stake in Alexbank to Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo Group, which currently holds the remaining 80% of the lender, the source added. If the longstanding negotiations fall through once again, then the government will sell its stake to another strategic investor, the source said.

DEBT-

Egypt signals it's ready to issue Eurobonds — and other issuances — for the first time since 2021: Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk told foreign investors in London last week that Egypt was set to issue USD 3 bn in Eurobonds and other debt instruments in the current fiscal year coming to a close at the end of June, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing sources it says are familiar with the matter. The government is not planning to issue international bonds on global stock exchanges before February, a government source told Enterprise, commenting on the Bloomberg story.

MANUFACTURING-

Lots of love from China: Chinese manufacturing projects in Egypt have become a staple in the news, as we saw progress in two key projects in SCZone this week.

#1- Construction of Kemedi Chemical Company’s new USD 30 mn chemical manufacturing facility kicked off in the TEDA industrial zone in Ain Sokhna this week. The factory is expected to become the largest producer of calcium hypochlorite in Egypt and Africa, with the facility targeting an annual production of over 40k tons annually.

#2- Haier lays foundation stone for second phase of industrial park: Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier laid the foundation stone for the USD 40 mn second phase of its eco-industrial complex in Tenth of Ramadan City this week. This second phase of the project is scheduled to go online and begin production in the last quarter of 2025, and will have a production capacity of 300k refrigerators and deep freezers and offer around 1k jobs,Haier Egypt General Manager Ahmed El Gendi told Enterprise on the sidelines of the event.

HEALTH-

E. coli has been identified as the reason behind the spate of illnesses in Aswan, the Health Ministry announced after completing the analysis of patient samples and investigations in the Abu Rish and Daraw areas. Of the 480 people that ended up in the hospital, 78 are still recovering and 36 are in intensive care, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said. Drinking water in the governorate was confirmed to be safe to drink and the crisis is expected to come to a close by the end of the week, he added.

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

Israel’s ongoing attack on Lebanon has been dominating front pages all the week as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed yesterday to continue with attacks with “all [their] strength,” despite increased pressure from foreign and Arab leaders for a ceasefire.

The US and France have been leading calls for a ceasefire, with attempts to secure an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah for 21 days. Rejecting those calls, Israel expanded its campaign yesterday to the Syrian border, killing a total of 92 people across the country, according to a Financial Times tally. Netanyahu is set to address the UN General Assembly later today.

Pressure is also increasing on the US to interfere and put an end to the fighting, with diplomatic advisor to the UAE president Anwar Gargash saying they should not “shy away” from exercising their influence, Bloomberg reports.

AND IN BIG TECH NEWS- OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati announced her departureon Wednesday— the third in a string of high-profile departures from the AI leader after John Schulman and Ilya Sutskever earlier this year. It was also revealed that OpenAI is in the midst of formulating a plan to restructure the core business into a for-profit corporation as the company seeks to remove the cap on investor returns.

PLUS- The FBI is investigating California-based VC fund Hone Capital on allegations of accessing information about the technology, finances, and clients of US-based startups for the benefit of their Beijing-based financiers or even the Chinese state. The VC fund has invested in more than 360 tech startups in less than three years, including acquiring stakes in driverless car maker Cruise, payments group Stripe, and aerospace engineer Boom.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- Fall weather is finally here as we witness a mix of sunny spells and chill evenings in Cairo. The capital will be seeing a high of 34°C and a low of 23°C today, and a cooler high of 33°C and a low of 23°C tomorrow.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Warm up those vocal chords. Join this Singing Masterclass with world-renowned opera singer, Farrah El Dibany today at AUC Tahrir. The class will start at 10am and includes breathing and singing exercises, vocal techniques for any musical style and insights on studying abroad and building a global career in music for both beginners and experienced singers. Book your spot on Ticketsmarche.

The Ice Warrior Challenge makes a thrilling return to Ski Egypt, featuring over 20 challenging obstacles at freezing temperatures, this is the ultimate endurance test for athletes. The event will take place tomorrow, Saturday, 28 September starting at 9am. Book your spot on Ticketsmarche.

The famous Canadian-French band Ghostly Kisses are performing two shows at Cairo Jazz Club as part of their latest album’s tour. This will take place at CJC 610 in Sheikh Zayed tomorrow and Sunday, 28-29 September. Grab tickets from Ticketsmarche.

For the love of tapestry. Today in History is Amsterdam-based Egyptian artist Dina Danish’s first exhibition in Egypt in nearly a decade. Composed of a collection of appliqué tapestries that resemble medieval banners, the exhibition is still open at the Gypsum Gallery till Saturday, 30 October.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

MENA’s first and only design-film festival is back: Film My Design festival is back for its third edition — under the theme Designing Our Lives for a Better Future —, taking place from Thursday, 3 October to Saturday, 12 October at Zawya Cinema. The festival features film screenings, masterclasses, a motion design exhibition, VR immersive experiences, and much more. Buy your tickets from Collard Tickets.

Relive the magic of Amy Winehouse withThe Amy Winehouse Band. This isn’t just a tribute band, it’s Winehouse’s actual original band keeping her spirit and legacy alive. Witness the era defining music at The Theater in Somabay on Saturday 5 October. Grab your tickets from Tazkarti.