Meet Olimi AI’s Shaden El Olimi

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THE WEEK IN REVIEW

MNT-Halan kicks off one of Egypt’s biggest IPOs in years

☀️ Good morning, friends, and happy first Friday of October. It’s been a busy week in the press, and we’ve got the recap below. This month’s Founder of the Month is Shaden El Olimi, who trained her Arabic voice AI on Egyptian dialect rather than Modern Standard Arabic. The first clients, she says, were shocked that something like it existed.

Elsewhere in today’s issue: We also have Brad Pitt and a German Shepherd lost in the Alaskan wilderness, an all-day brasserie in EDNC, a podcast about investigative journalism that grew out of a lawsuit against its own host, and a book on what repeated displacement does to a country over time.

But first, your weekly recap…

🗞️ LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

CAPITAL MARKETS-

MNT Tech Holding for Financial Investments, the Egyptian arm of fintech group MNT-Halan, announced yesterday that it will list on the EGX. The parent plans to sell 320 mn shares, equivalent to a 20% stake, in a fully secondary offering open to both institutional and retail investors, according to an intention-to-float notice seen by EnterpriseAM. This is set to be one of the largest IPOs Egypt has seen in years, and bankers are wagering it can do what no recent listing has: pull foreign institutional money back into the market.

AND- Egypt’s first hedge fund framework cleared the Official Gazette on 23 September, giving the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) the green light to license funds that can short stocks, trade derivatives, and borrow to invest, with each fund setting its own risk limits, signed off by the FRA one prospectus at a time. The framework covers equities, debt, futures and forwards, exchange-traded options, and borrowed stock for short selling on the EGX.

BANKING-

Fitch says the proposed US clampdown on Banque Misr’s (BM) UAE branches will have a limited impact on the bank’s credit rating, affirming BM at B/Stable/b. The outpost accounts for less than 5% of BM’s assets and net income. The agency flagged potential reputational spillovers that could weaken BM’s business profile or its ability to raise foreign-currency funding, either of which could pressure its Viability Rating.

AND- The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) issued a full licensing and supervision framework for credit guarantee companies, six years after Central Bank and Banking Sector Law No. 194 of 2020 first brought them under its oversight. The CBE board approved the rules at its 23 September meeting. For the first time, the framework sets binding prudential ratios, a formal licensing process, and ownership limits, moving them from a largely contractual model to a regulated financial activity.

PHARMA-

The government has put drug pricing on a new rules-based footing, with the Egyptian Drug Authority tying price reviews to a weighted mix of FX movements, inflation, and interest rates, under a new framework published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, effective Thursday, 24 September. FX carries 60% of the formula, urban inflation 30%, and changes in the CBE’s overnight deposit rate the remaining 10%.

LOGISTICS-

The Suez Canal Economic Zone signed a contract to develop and operate a EGP 1 bn digital truck-management yard at Ain Sokhna Port — and its link to Nafeza, Egypt’s national single window for foreign trade, is already live. The 167k sqm yard will handle up to 1.1k trucks a day at full operation, using real-time planning and digital yard management to regulate truck flow.

REAL ESTATE-

Majid Al Futtaim will invest around USD 3.4 bn in Egypt over the next five years, more than it has spent here in 27 years. The Emirati group’s cumulative investment in the market stands at some USD 2.8 bn. The new money goes into urban development, business complexes, and hospitality.

AND- Grova Developments awarded sister company Hassan Allam Construction a USD 1 bn contract to build its 303-acre (c. 1.2 mn sqm) Grova Westfields project in Sheikh Zayed, West Cairo. The development is being delivered with the Egyptian Kuwaiti Company for Real Estate Development, near Sphinx International Airport, the Grand Egyptian Museum, and the Pyramids Corridor.

ENERGY-

BP is pushing ahead with its USD 700 mn, four-well drilling program in Egypt as it negotiates the sale of roughly USD 1 bn of its local assets to Med-focused Energean. The wells fall on both sides of that dividing line: the first is in a field Energean is lined up to buy, and two of the next three go to Arcius Energy, the joint venture BP is keeping.

The future of engineering in the age of AI with Youssef Rizk: What do you risk when you build your business on top of the world’s frontier AI models?

Youssef Rizk, CEO of Windfall and co-founder and CTO of Wondercraft, says,

“Look at Google’s graveyard.”

We discuss the present moment in tech and take a pause to ponder the future. Does AI replace people? Or does it add more work?

Listen to the episode on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami | YouTube

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🌍 AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

What you may have missed this week: This week’s headlines were dominated by Trump’s rejection of Iran’s ceasefire proposal alongside the most consequential week for AI governance since the technology entered the mainstream. Here’s the rundown.

US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day ceasefire offer — which would have seen Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear talks in exchange for Washington lifting its port blockade — with officials saying the US expects to resume bombardment after November’s midterm elections. Iran’s Foreign Minister said mediators had not officially passed along a US rejection despite Trump’s public comments and reiterated that meeting Tehran’s conditions is the only path to reopening the waterway.

Separately, UK counter-terrorism police arrested five men suspected of planning a “major incident” near RAF Fairford — the Gloucestershire base used by US forces to strike Iranian targets — with US State Secretary Marco Rubio saying a “foreign actor” was involved. The suspects were later released on bail.

ON AI- The week amounted to a reckoning. The CEOs of Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI signed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence — committing to internal controls on AI during training and deployment in biosecurity, cybersecurity, and chemical threat domains, alongside external audits. OpenAI axed the GPT-6.1 Astra model after internal testing found it regressed in human alignment and deceived users by misreporting its own actions. Altman said OpenAI’s IPO will not proceed until the company can confidently ensure its safety practices — following a lawsuit alleging its agents knowingly accessed Hugging Face without permission. Meanwhile, Australia summoned the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic to testify before a parliamentary AI inquiry triggered by last week’s Medicare breach.

IN TRADE- Washington and Beijing agreed to cut over USD 30 bn in mutual tariffs on non-sensitive goods — covering US farm exports and Chinese small appliances and toys — alongside an investment board and a November dialogue on AI risks. The move extends a cautious thaw in a relationship still defined more by competition than cooperation.

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS- Nvidia raised its share buyback authorization by a record USD 150 bn — surpassing Apple’s USD 110 bn move two years ago and bringing its total authority to USD 235 bn through FY 2028. A federal jury ordered Apple to pay USD 5.7 bn in damages to Taction Technology over haptics patent infringement in iPhones and Apple Watches; Apple plans to appeal.

We’re delighted to welcome Bedeir Rizk as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

Bedeir Rizk is the CEO of Pargon Adeer, the joint venture redefining real estate development through a human-first, regenerative approach that bridges Saudi institutional strength with Egyptian innovation. Under his leadership, Paragon Adeer develops integrated, mixed-use communities where wellbeing, sustainability, and thoughtful design come together to create long-term value for people, businesses, and cities.

Before founding Pargon, Bedeir led the commercialization of Qopius, a robotics and AI startup, across France and Germany until its 2020 acquisition. His professional journey also includes key roles in investment banking with BNP Paribas and KPMG, focused on strategic growth and investment.

Bedeir currently also serves as CEO of Pargon Developments, extending his vision of regenerative development that integrates innovation, sustainability, and human-centered design to shape resilient urban ecosystems.

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Attendance is by invitation only, and we've reached full capacity.

Registration is now closed. Thank you to everyone who registered. We look forward to welcoming you on Monday, 5 October.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND-

This weekend looks like the start of even better weather. Friday will bring similar temperatures, with hazy sunshine, a high of 31°C, and a low of 21°C. Saturday will be slightly cooler, with temperatures peaking at 30°C before dropping to 20°C overnight, according to our favorite weather app.

🎤 HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Please, sir, we want some more. Fabrica Musical Theatre’s Oliver is back for season 3, bringing the beloved Dickensian musical in Arabic back to Teatro 90 in New Cairo for three consecutive nights, still running today and tomorrow, for another round of big songs, big personalities, and plenty of Victorian-era drama. Whether you’re a longtime fan or meeting young Oliver Twist for the first time, expect a theatrical evening packed with mayhem and musical numbers you’ll be humming long after the curtain falls. The show begins at 8pm — tickets are available through TicketsMarché.

The She Arts Festival returns this year with a four-day run until Sunday, 4 October, bringing 100+ artists from 10 countries together under the theme “Voices of Peace – A Global Symphony.” Main performances will take place at Ewart Memorial Hall at AUC Tahrir Square, with artists including Nesma Mahgoub, Farah El Dibany, Marwa Nagy, and more.

The festival’s packed schedule also includes workshops, cultural activities, film screenings, exhibitions, and more across venues in Cairo and Alexandria, including the festival’s own women-led local bazaar. You can book tickets for live performances through TicketsMarché — check out the full program here.

Up for a comedy weekend night? Stand-up comedian Alaa El Sheikh is launching his brand-new comedy show Play Crowd in Egypt at Theatro Arkan tonight at 8pm. The comedian brings his signature humor with a little extra crowd work throughout the night. Tickets are available on TicketsMarché.

Up for a brewski? Work Afters, Cairo’s after-work social series, is hosting an Oktoberfest celebration at Maadi’s riverside restaurant Tenaya tonight and tomorrow. The celebration brings a full Bavarian feast, cold brews, and games, alongside folk classics and festival-style live music. The event runs between 1-10pm on both days. Early bird tickets are still available — you can book your spot here.

🎤 HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

Up for a quick one-and-a-half-hour drive from Cairo? Lebanese pop icon Ragheb Alama is heading to Porto Sokhna on Thursday, 8 October for a special live performance by the Dolphin Pool. The concert kicks off at 7pm — you can get your tickets on TicketsMarché.

Looking to hone your creative writing skills? Diwan is organizing a three-day genre-crossing writing workshop, We Are Not Afraid to Love, led by Beirut-based writer and poet Nur Turkmani and Palestinian-Egyptian writer and poet Mai Serhan. The retreat takes participants away from the city to Ardi, Dahshur from Thursday, 8 October to Saturday, 10 October and explores language across poetry and prose through reading, writing, observation, and practice. For more details and registration, you can head to Diwan’s website.

Venture Lifestyle’s first-ever multi-day electronic music festival, Starlight Festival, is making the Great Pyramids of Giza its stage, running from Thursday, 8 October to Sunday, 11 October. In partnership with Visa, the festival brings 50+ international musical artists — including DJ duo Adriatique, global headliner Charlotte de Witte, Brazilian DJ Vintage Culture, and more — to perform across three-plus stages for a unique experience that blends ancient history and futuristic production.

The opening and closing days, 8 and 11 October, will feature welcome and after parties, while the three main festival days in between will kick off at 5pm. Tickets are selling fast — grab yours on TicketEgypt before they run out.

Meet our Founder of the Month: Olimi AI’s Shaden El Olimi

🤖 OUR FOUNDER OF THE MONTH — Every month, Founder of the Month looks at how a successful member of Egypt’s business or startup community got their big break, asks about their experiences running a company, and gets their advice for budding entrepreneurs. Speaking to us this week is Shaden El Olimi (LinkedIn), co-founder of Arabic-language AI voice company Olimi AI.

El Olimi graduated from The American University in Cairo with a major in business marketing and a minor in sociology. She found an early business partner in her brother Omar El Olimi (LinkedIn), starting out with a software development company in 2018 where they were building apps and websites for businesses and startups, before they launched Olimi AI and secured their first client in mid-2025. “We always knew that we wanted to have our own product and eventually be a product-led company,” Shaden El Olimi tells EnterpriseAM.

After two years of developing the product, they launched their voice AI startup, helping businesses and enterprises automate their call centers with AI. While many large language models (LLMs) were trained primarily on Modern Standard Arabic, they took a different approach, training their models on specific regional dialects — starting with Egyptian Arabic.

This put Olimi AI ahead of the game. “Whenever anyone heard our Arabic, they were shocked that something like that even exists,” El Olimi says. The company is pretty much a family affair — a startup of just 10 people, mostly engineers, with Shaden leading the commercial side as CCO, her younger brother Omar serving as the technical CEO and “the brains behind everything,” and her husband Hazem Sorour (LinkedIn) joining as the third co-founder after making a career switch from engineering to take charge of Olimi’s business development.

When Omar and Shaden were knee-deep in software development, Sorour was a strong advocate for building an AI-native product and heading into Voice AI. “It actually came from the pain of having issues with customer service: how can we build something that actually solves customer experience overall in our region? Because we don’t get the same customer experience people get, let’s say, in Europe or abroad, or even in the Gulf,” he tells EnterpriseAM.

How Olimi AI works: “Instead of a human picking up the phone, an AI can handle the call from start to finish. It’s conversational, and it’s not robotic where if you’re asking about X, it says Y. It’s a full-on conversation, and it has the ability to transfer the call to a human agent if needed. It can update the CRM, and it can do a lot of things during the call.”

Why Olimi AI? The El Olimi siblings wanted to solve a problem that they knew technology was going to solve eventually — they needed to act fast. Being the first people to do voice AI in Egyptian Arabic in Egypt at the time, they had zero competitors when they first launched. Olimi offered a solution to companies weighed down by excessive customer support overhead. “We spoke to a lot of customers. We were talking to people every day, going to meetings, jumping on calls, and we listened to their problems,” El Olimi says.

Customer support at scale is difficult to manage consistently, according to El Olimi. Turnover is high, and even well-trained agents will naturally vary in tone and energy across the long shift. Olimi’s agents seek to solve that consistency problem at volume. “It’s the same quality every single call, which is a huge edge,” she explains.

The company hasn’t raised outside investment yet — bootstrapped — but they were able to build the product while running their software house, which already had an established team of engineers. “We kind of did it the other way around. We built the product first because we already had a software house and we were just building products left, right, and center,” she describes.

The company prides itself on its longevity in the game. Shaden sees Olimi AI’s upper hand in its first-mover advantage, having been in the market from day one and gaining more experience in the voice AI space. “We’ve been through all the pitfalls; we’ve tried all the models.”

While the Voice AI market has made significant progress, the technology remains a challenging domain. Omar El Olimi tells EnterpriseAM about the technical difficulties of building Voice AI: “The market is definitely more saturated [now], but it’s not as much as you think, because working with Voice AI is not an easy task. A lot of things can go wrong; a lot of things need to be dealt with hands-on, and it needs a lot of testing. There’s a hard barrier to entry for Voice AI for anyone to start,” he adds.

For Olimi AI, success is measured by a combination of traction, the number of minutes people spend using their product, and how seamlessly they can integrate into a company’s operations. “We don’t tell [companies] to lay off their call center team. At first, we’d be handling outbound calls only, and then we’d start handling inbound calls as well. Then we’d go from handling 20% of the outbound calls to 40 and 60%. That’s how you know you’re successful,” she says.

Right now, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the AI company’s main target markets, seeing as they represent more than 50% of all calls made in the region, according to Shaden El Olimi. Although the founders initially had their sights set on global usage, they quickly recognized Egypt’s prominence as a call center hub, with most of their clients outsourcing their call center operations to the country. Catering to other Arabic-speaking markets with different dialects is also on the cards, she says.

“Working with my wife and my brother-in-law is a little unorthodox,” Sorour acknowledges, but the trio makes it work by setting some “ground rules” to keep family and business matters separate. As both life and business partners, El Olimi and Sorour have found a good balance at Olimi, with Sorour describing how they “complement each other in different ways.”

Work-life balance isn’t always easy for El Olimi. As a mother of two, she juggles two full-time jobs, but still manages to carve out time to invest in her startup. For her, one of the most rewarding aspects of leading Olimi AI is staying up to date with what’s happening in the world. “The technology is getting better every single day, and sitting at the office surrounded by all these engineers keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the world,” she describes.

The company recently took home the “Disruptive Egyptian Startup” award among 300+ exhibiting startups at the international AI Everything MEA summit — a notable milestone for the Arabic-first Voice AI platform as it continues to build out its presence in the regional AI market.

“The fact that small teams like ours are able to compete for the first time in more than 50 or 60 years with large BPOs or call centers opens up a huge [possibility] where it’s not just, ‘hey, let’s build a tech company, just throw money at it, and just grow at any cost.’ [Voice AI] is one of the pockets in AI where you can actually build a profitable, sustainable business out of it,” Sorour adds.

“We’re in it for the long run,” Shaden says of being part of a family business, where support is plentiful and there’s always a strong sense of mutual recognition for their achievements. Her advice to new entrepreneurs boils down to one thing: trial and error. “If you try something and it doesn’t work, try something else and never give up. Maybe the first idea or project won’t go as planned, maybe it’s the fourth one that will.”

Heart of the Beast is a Brad Pitt survival thriller set in Alaska

📽🐶 Brad Pitt and a dog? Sign us up. In Heart of the Beast, director David Ayer (Fury and Suicide Squad) delivers a man-versus-nature story, with nothing but memories and a loyal dog for company. It wears the thriller and action coating familiar from survival films but carries underneath something more affecting: a genuine love letter to dogs.

The plot: James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is a former Special Forces soldier flying over the Alaskan wilderness with his retired police dog Odin when he suffers a mid-flight heart attack, sending the plane down into the forest. What follows is a week-long survival journey as the two try to make it back to civilization — fighting cold, hunger, and their injuries every step of the way.

What we liked: Pitt delivers a clean, unforced performance — natural and honest, communicating everything without saying much. That’s worth noting: this kind of film can go flat quickly in the hands of a less experienced actor who can’t carry emotion through physicality alone. What genuinely stole the film, though, was the German Shepherd — four dogs were used across the shoot, and whichever one was on screen at any given moment had the audience. The cinematography also deserves credit: Alaska does a lot of the work, turning almost every outdoor frame into something worth looking at.

What we didn’t: Our main criticism is the opening, which tells you where the story ends before it begins — something we’d have preferred to discover along the way. The script has also been called thin by a number of critics, and we largely agree: most of what happens is predictable from the moment the plane goes down. But the emotional honesty of the central relationship carries more weight than the plot or the dialogue, which keeps the film from feeling hollow.

The verdict: Heart of the Beast gets the job done for an evening out without excessive expectations. It won’t compete with Hollywood’s bigger releases this year, but it delivers exactly what it promises: a bold survival thriller with a furry friend at its heart.

WHERE TO WATCH IT- Catch the movie at VOX Cinemas in City Centre Almaza, Mall of Egypt, and Alexandria; City Stars Cinema; Scene Cinemas at Cairo Festival City and District 5; Cima Arkan; and Point 90 Cinema. Watch the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:25)

Waiting on Borders turns the refugee camp into a lens for understanding how time itself becomes an instrument of control

📚 On power and suspended time: In Waiting on Borders, Lebanese architect, urban planner, and geographer Paul Mouawad dissects the concept of frozen time, tracing how waiting transforms from a passive state into a potent instrument for controlling the lives of refugees. Using informal refugee camps as a launchpad for a sharp critical reading, Mouawad illuminates the intricate relationship between power, time, and the physical body. He documents the nuances of daily life in Syrian informal settlements across Lebanon, where waiting becomes far more than just a bridge between the present and the future.

What to expect: Borrowing Samuel Beckett’s famous line from Waiting for Godot, “nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful,” Mouawad opens his study by evoking an extended stretch of time that leads nowhere. He zeroes in on the absurdity of waiting in these informal settlements and shows how it binds refugees to a precise matrix of authority and power dynamics that dictates how they live, where they can move, and what they can or cannot do.

Grounded in field and ethnographic research conducted between 2018 and 2022, Mouawad moves past the conventional view of camps as temporary shelters. Central to his thesis is the idea that time itself is weaponized as a tool of governance and control, deeply intertwined with spatial geography and networks of influence. The informal camp emerges as an arena of complex power relations among refugees, landowners, local institutions, and humanitarian agencies. Through managing these relationships and shaping the physical landscape, spatial organization itself becomes a core mechanism for governing residents' lives.

What we liked: The author employs a remarkably sharp and balanced narrative approach. Steering clear of dry, clinical academic prose, Mouawad weaves together hard facts and human stories without falling into emotional exploitation — a tightrope walk. Another striking choice is the decision to present all photographs and maps in black and white. Stripping away decorative visual distractions forces the reader to focus entirely on the core of the human experience, leaving ample room for reflection. Crucially, Mouawad does not reduce refugees to passive subjects; he highlights their agency, adaptability, and capacity to reshape their surroundings. His architectural and urban planning background also adds analytical depth.

The verdict: In Waiting on Borders, Mouawad turns the marginalized into the central focus, balancing across almost 400 pages urban analysis, ethnography, and lived experience without reducing refugees to mere victims. By interrogating the mechanisms of control, he leaves readers face-to-face with an existential question: what happens to a human being when they are stripped of the right to control their own time and future?

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find a physical copy at AUC Press and Diwan. You can also get the e-book on Amazon.

Bittersweet is a versatile social house for the casual, the fancy, and the in-between

🍴 Restaurants that make room for your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all those casual in-between plans are true godsends, making scattered going-out options a whole lot easier. Bittersweet is one of them — offering an all-day menu, the right mix of drinks, and exactly the kind of easygoing vibe you want for any occasion.

First impressions: Bittersweet embraces a striking red interior, contrasted by playful branding and a light atmosphere. We tried our hand at the EDNC branch, which offers ample seating both indoors and outdoors, opting for an outdoor table to make the most of Cairo’s nice, breezy autumn weather and the more casual vibe. From the outside looking in, the indoor area takes on a moodier, cozier atmosphere that feels more fitting if you’re after a fancier vibe.

The Bittersweet all-day affair: The brasserie offers two separate toothsome breakfast and lunch & dinner menus. We were visiting for a hearty dinner and were in for quite a few options: a selection of the usual, mostly fried starters, a line-up of hearty salads, brunch-leaning sandwiches including their signature burger, a familiar selection of pizzas, four main platters, and a “pasta-your-way” section boasting homemade artisan pasta alongside a list of sauces and toppings. Rounding things off is a sweet dessert assortment, the classic hot and iced caffeine fixes, and a line-up of fruit “chilled house mixes.” Their Levantine and Turkish-style breakfast menu seemed tempting but will have to wait for another visit.

What we ordered: We opened with their staff-recommended BBQ chicken bites starter. They offered a nice, flavorful bite and tasted relatively fresh but didn’t seem too out of the ordinary. For our main meals, we opted for their newly added Popeye chicken platter and the guest-favorite Philly cheesesteak sandwich. The Popeye chicken came out as the night’s favorite, offering a delicious combination of tender grilled chicken breasts, spinach, and feta cheese. Our choice of fries and sautéed vegetables as sides was similarly satisfying, with the veggies proving exceptionally well-seasoned.

As for the Philly cheesesteak sammy, we’ve definitely had better. It was a solid enough meal, with flavorful crispy wedges on the side, but the filling itself didn’t stand out much. The seared beef and not-so-generous helping of melted provolone made for a somewhat dry bite, while the beef itself could have used more seasoning. The white bread, however, was fresh and nicely crisp. Overall, it wasn’t a sandwich we’d be tempted to order again given the better options.

We wrapped up our meals with their fruit smoothies — another favorite of the night — going for the two standouts: the Sweet Beat and the OMG (orange mango madness). The Sweet Beat came in a bright maroon color, with a refreshingly cold and balanced blend of beetroot, pomegranate, strawberry, and orange. The orange mango mix was similarly refreshing and pleasantly bittersweet (pun intended).

The verdict: Bittersweet serves up the perfect menu-and-atmosphere mix for casual family lunches, quick professional catch-ups, or nicer, reliable nights out. The menu might fall short in some instances, but it’s nonetheless a worthy addition to your social-house rotation — a spot you can visit at any time of day, whether you’re craving a hearty meal or something on the lighter side.

WHERE TO FIND IT- You can find Bittersweet at EDNC in SODIC Eastown, Sheikh Zayed’s Arkan Plaza and Westown Hub, and the Grand Egyptian Museum.

💵 Per person: EGP 600-900

🪑 Outdoor seating: Yes

🍺 Alcohol: No

🦽 Accessibility friendly: Yes

Nitty-gritty investigative journalism on Question Everything

👂 Across hundreds of episodes, American investigative journalist Brian Reed probes the core of journalism itself on his podcast Question Everything — how truth is erased, distorted, and denied, and who suffers in the fight to reclaim it. The podcast offers a rare insider look at American media while tackling high-stakes, controversial stories with fearless grit.

A little background: The idea for the show grew out of a deeply personal ordeal. Following the runaway success of his hit investigative podcast S-Town, Reed found himself slapped with a lawsuit by the estate of the show’s main subject, claiming the podcast was anything but journalism. Once the suit was settled, Reed decided to launch a brand-new show focused entirely on investigative reporting — one that is equal parts hard-hitting investigation and intimate personal reflection.

How Zuckerberg always escapes the hook: In a recent episode, Reed uncovers the behind-the-scenes drama of an unexpected settlement in a landmark lawsuit filed by 47 US states against Meta a few weeks ago. The tech giant stood accused of deliberately harming children through Instagram and Facebook. Reed sits down with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who led the negotiations on behalf of the states. Together, they dissect how Meta managed to land a quiet settlement without ever admitting wrongdoing — even though the states held a rock-solid case and Meta had already lost two major child safety lawsuits earlier that year.

What worked: Reed is, in our view, one of the most gifted storytellers in audio journalism, and his mastery shows in every episode. He uses a compelling, cinematic narrative style that perfectly matches the gravity of his subjects. In the Meta episode, his ability to break down complex, interwoven legal details makes for a thrilling listen. Since August 2024, the show has covered a remarkably dynamic slate of topics, spanning AI, political maneuvering, and the existential crises facing modern journalists.

What didn’t: Because the podcast leans heavily into American affairs — whether exploring specific court battles, media ethics, or journalism policies under the Trump administration — some global listeners might find the content a bit too niche. That said, the episodes covering Big Tech remain universally engaging, carrying global relevance regardless of where you live.

The verdict: Question Everything is a masterclass in modern journalism. It comes highly recommended for media junkies, followers of US politics, or anyone fascinated by the ongoing drama at the intersection of power, tech, and truth.

WHERE TO LISTEN- You can tune in on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anghami.

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

🗓️OCTOBER

6 September - 30 October (Sunday-Friday): Khayal Mareed at Theatro Arkan.

21 September - 20 October (Monday - Tuesday): International Flower Exhibition at Al Horreya Garden, Zamalek.

29 September - 2 October (Tuesday-Friday): Opera Aida by Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Orchestra at Cairo Opera House, Zamalek.

1-3 October (Thursday-Saturday): Oliver season 3 by Fabrica at Teatro 90.

1-3 October (Thursday-Saturday): Leila Assal at The Theater, Movenpick, 6th of October City.

1-4 October (Thursday-Sunday): She Arts Festival at Ewart Memorial Hall, AUC Tahrir Square.

2 October (Friday): Alaa El Sheikh’s Play Crowd at Theatro Arkan.

2-3 October (Friday-Saturday): Oktoberfest by Work Afters at Tenaya Riverside Dining, Maadi Al Corniche.

3 October (Saturday): One Day One World GEM visit by Educate Me Foundation at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

4 October (Sunday): Exclusive Material Tryout by Mohamed Helmy at Theatro Arkan.

4-5 October (Sunday-Monday): Omar Khairat at Cairo Opera House.

5 October (Monday): EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

8 October (Thursday): Ragheb Alama at Porto Sokhna.

8 October (Thursday): Hamid El Shaeri at The Village, Sheikh Zayed.

8 October (Thursday): Exclusive Material Tryout by Mohamed Helmy at Theatro Arkan.

8-10 October (Thursday-Saturday): Genre-crossing workshop: We Are Not Afraid to Love with Nur Turkmani and Mai Serhan at Ardi, Dahshur.

8-11 October (Thursday-Sunday): Starlight Festival in partnership with Visa at The Great Pyramids of Giza.

9 October (Friday): Abdelrahman Mohamed’s Man3an Lel Ehrag at Teatro 90.

10 October (Saturday): El Leila El Kebira at Teatro 90.

11 October (Sunday): Tamer Ashour Fundraising Concert at Al Qubaah Palace.

11-13 October (Sunday-Tuesday): Crowd Gigs by Mohamed Helmy at Theatro Arkan.

11 October - 2 November (Sunday-Monday): Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF).

11 October - 8 November (Sunday-Sunday): Cairo International Art District by Art D’Egypte at Downtown Cairo.

15-23 October (Thursday-Friday): El Gouna Film Festival.

16 October (Friday): Tul8te at Al Manara Arena.

16 October (Friday): Omar Khairat at Fustat Festival.

16-17 October (Friday-Saturday): GEM Family Weekend at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

16-17 October (Friday-Saturday): Ultra Relay Run by The TriFactory at AUC, New Cairo.

16-17 October (Friday-Saturday): Egypt Coffee Festival at Kamelizer, District 5.

17 October (Saturday): Amr Selim at Teatro 90.

17 October (Saturday): Steps Summit at Sodic Sports Club, Sodic Eastown.

17 October (Saturday): Konnect Summit at The Greek Campus, El Tahrir St.

23-24 October (Friday-Saturday): Sukun’s Tulua Wellness Festival at IL Monte Galala, El Sokhna.

23 October (Friday): Alaa El Sheikh’s Play Crowd Vol.02 at Teatro 90.

24 October (Saturday): Blue 25th Anniversary Tour at New Capital.

28-31 October (Wednesday-Saturday): Egypt’s Cheese Festival at Al Horreya Garden, Zamalek.

29 October (Thursday): Fatma Said at the GEM.

30 October (Friday): Fustat Festival: Ekhtarna Lak with Hisham Abbas, Hamid El Shaeri, Mohamed Fouad, and Ehab Tawfik.

31 October (Saturday): Aziz Maraka at E7kky Festival at Bermillan Mall, Sheikh Zayed.

NOVEMBER

4 November (Wednesday): Angham at the New Opera House in the City of Arts and Culture.

5 November (Thursday): Gala De Danza at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

5 November (Thursday): Nour Hajjar Stand up Comedy show at Teatro 90.

5-7 November (Thursday-Saturday): Cairo Jazz Festival at AUC Tahrir Square.

6 November (Friday): Angham at the New Opera House in the City of Arts and Culture.

6 November (Friday): 20 Years of Ramy Sabry at El Arena.

2-7 November (Monday-Saturday): Barbara O’Neill Wellness Journey at Sheraton Miramar Resort, El Gouna.

11-20 November (Wednesday-Friday): Cairo International Film Festival.

12-14 November (Thursday-Saturday): Max Amini at St. Regis, New Capital.

14 November (Saturday): Trauma comedy special by Momos at CJC 610.

19-28 November (Thursday-Saturday): Cairo Design Week.

20 November (Friday): Saad El Oud at Ewart Memorial Hall, AUC Tahrir Square.

21 November (Saturday): El Gouna Half Marathon.

28 November (Saturday): Shakira at The Great Pyramids of Giza.

DECEMBER

4 December (Friday): Ghostly Kisses at Zed Park, Sheikh Zayed.

11-12 December (Friday-Saturday): The Marakez Pyramids Half Marathon at The Great Pyramids of Giza.

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