The art of perfumery

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: valU takes EGP 1.42 bn securitized bond issuance to market

Good afternoon, friends. Our eyes are peeled for any official confirmation of which days will be off next week to mark the Eid Al Adha holiday. Dar Al Ifta confirmed yesterday that the first day of Eid is next Wednesday, 28 June, which means that the Wa’fa — which is also given as a day off — will fall on Tuesday.

PSA from the taxman: Property owners have until 30 June to pay the first installment of their annual property tax, the Real Estate Tax Authority said, according to a Finance Ministry statement. The second installment can be paid anytime between July to December.

Who can apply for exemptions: Owners of properties that have been demolished or damaged, and owners of properties worth less than EGP 2 mn that are used as their primary family residences, the statement reads. The poultry sector is also exempt from paying property tax for three years starting January 2022 until December 2024, according to the statement.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

valU kicks off EGP 4 bn securitization program: Consumer finance platform valU has issued EGP 1.42 bn worth of securitized bonds, its first issuance part of a new EGP 4 bn securitization program, according to a statement (pdf). The two-tranche issuance has tenors of 12 and 36 months and respective ratings of Prime-1 and A from Middle East Rating Services (MERIS).

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

US-China show “progress” in stabilization relations: Chinese President Xi Jinping commends the “progress” achieved during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier today, which aimed to address various disputes between the US and China and prevent any further escalation. The issues range from Taiwan, trade, human rights, and the role of fentanyl precursors in the US opioid crisis. The meeting also served as a potential stepping stone for a future summit between President Xi and US President Joe Biden later this year. (Reuters | The Washington Post | Financial Times | The Guardian | The New York Times)

The Enterprise Finance Forum is our flagship gathering — the one so many of you have been waiting for. The two-day event takes place this September and will be the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings. Stay tuned for more information on the location.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations just after the 30 June holiday.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Email mtaalab@enterpriseadvisory.com.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

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

The International Finance Corporation will advise the governmenton its ongoing privatization efforts under a transaction advisory agreement signed yesterday.
B Investments eyes a majority stake in Orascom Financial Holding: EGX-listed private equity firm B Investments submitted a mandatory tender offer on Saturday to acquire 51-90% of EGX-listed Orascom Financial Holding.
The Central Bank of Egypt will keep interest rates unchanged when it meets on Thursday as the pace of global tightening begins to ease and prospects of a near-term EGP devaluation dim, according to our interest rate poll.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >250k daily readers by telling stories that matter.

Journalists looking to explore business, finance and economic stories are welcome. So are recent journalism school graduates.

That said, we're looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

NEVER WORKED IN A NEWSROOM BEFORE? We have the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program. Whether you are a recent graduate, an industry vet, or looking to switch careers, the Enterprise Business Writing Development Program will give you the tools you need to tell the most important stories to our audience of C-suite officials, government ministers, diplomats, financiers, investors and entrepreneurs.

During the program you will learn:

The key news stories and trends shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region, across various sectors;
Business and finance for non-finance people: Whether it's industry jargon or key concepts or simply how to read a balance sheet;
How to construct an Enterprise story: From idea formulation down to the structure, style and tone of writing;
How to develop sources that will give you the key insights needed to tell a complete story;
How to communicate these stories with the confidence and language of an insider.

Not an internship program — a career: The three-month program will see full-time, paid participants take part in workshops and lectures from veteran business journalists, while also working on and filing stories that will run on any of our publications. Those who have successfully completed the program, will then be given long-term job offers.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention “writing development program” in your subject line.

?️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect partly cloudy skies tomorrow with a high of 36°C that will drop to a chillier 21°C in the evening, our favorite weather app tells us.

AI is democratizing job recruitment + The original flower-power garden has reopened

AI isn’t just for employers: The employee-job applicant power dynamic is being rebalanced with the introduction of new AI tools and programs, which was once almost exclusively the realm of employers who used the technology to filter through résumés or even assess recorded interviews using algorithms, the Financial Times says. After being on the receiving end of AI’s judgment for nearly a decade, job seekers are now using it to their advantage, with softwares like Adzuna to find jobs and provide virtual coaching. The program provides users with interview simulations complete with scores and suggestions for potential areas for improvement. In other — more morally ambiguous — instances, applicants are using AI to write CVs and even cover letters on their behalf, which begs the question of whether the technology has rendered the entire hiring process, as it is, obsolete.

Better to err on the side of caution? Experts recommend that, given the rapid changes AI is engendering across the board, it is perhaps more prudent to use it sparingly. Rather than expecting it to do the work for us, no matter how sophisticated the technology has become, and regardless of its positive attributes — like removing personal biases based on identity politics from the hiring process — it is still not a substitute for human judgment.

The history behind the recently reopened Perfumers’ Garden at Versailles: The Sun King’s much coveted perfume garden, adorned with blooms that have been nursed from the 17th century, has reopened recently, reports the Associated Press. The flowers that are on display are not locally grown — many of them have been transported from faraway lands, the bounty of expeditions of the past that only one of Europe’s richest kings could afford. Aside from wowing dignitaries, it was also used during the plague: King Louis XIV courtiers were afraid of using water to wash, lest it spread the disease, so rubbing alcohol and scents were the only solution to mask unpleasant odors.

The art of perfumery started there. Nursing these blooms became a necessary occupation to serve the King’s obsession with flowers, who used them as a love language between himself and Madame de Pompadour. Aside from orange blossoms (a King Louis XIV favorite), Bulgarian rose, and jasmine, among others, that needed tending, a secret garden was found and renovated. Today, it houses extremely rare and frail plants that only the head gardener is permitted to tend to, one of which is the Firethorn, a 17th century plant that catches fire should it be met with any form of heat.

Watch the exhilarating and often dangerous life of Marc-Andre Leclerc in The Alpinist

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

The Alpinist is a documentary on Netflix that focuses on the reclusive Marc-André Leclerc, a young, humble, solo freeclimber who has climbed summits alone that no climber has attempted before. The documentary tracks the researchers’ journey in discovering Leclerc, how his fame eluded him and that he practices what he preaches — living as freely as possible as he climbs summits and mountain faces alone without any ropes, unencumbered by the obstacles that he faces. The documentary has conversations with some of Lecerc’s inspirations, who discuss his talent and ability, underlining what makes him special in comparison to other climbers. The long takes that focus on him scaling frozen waterfalls and near vertical walls are breathtaking — gasps will be taken in anticipation of whether he will reach a summit or will this climb be his last. Watch for his climb of Torre Egger in Patagonia, Argentina, in the winter. A climb that even legendary climbers have feared to tread, and look for the rare selfies and videos that he records when he reaches mountain summits with ease.

El Hamra Street offers some of the best shawarma and man’oucheh around. Their flagship restaurant is strategically located off of Talaat Harb Square in downtown and serves a long line of hungry customers everyday. They also recently opened in Sheikh Zayed, bringing their delightful food to more of us. El Hamra Street provides a wide selection of sandwich options that will leave you with a satisfied belly and at good value for money. Opening until late in the evening, they make the best choice to close a night of fun and their delivery service is spot on — their sandwiches always arrive hot, the fries crisp, and the flavor enticing. We recommend that you try their value meals that offer different chicken, meat and sojouk sandwiches to sample all their items. If you are dedicated to one kind of protein, take on the XL saj sandwiches or the Western sandwiches. With a larger portion, it ensures that you enjoy your meal for longer, with all the goodies inside — pickles, tahini or hummus, and the fresh salad. If you fancy some cheesy carbs, look no further than their man’oucheh collection. Don’t miss their cheese with habash man’oucheh, which has small pieces of smoked turkey hidden under a thick layer of cheese on a soft, airy dough.

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake will be performed by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in the Opera House in the main hall. The performance will start at 8:30pm and will be performed over four days from tomorrow to Friday, 23 June. Tickets can be purchased via Tickets Mall.

Egyptian soprano Amira Selim will perform at the National Museum for Egyptian Civilization on Wednesday, 21 June to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the museum’s inauguration. Doors open at 7:30pm and the performance begins at 9:30pm. You can book tickets here.

Black Theama hits Falaki: Egyptian band Black Theama will be performing this Wednesday, 21 June at 8:30pm at the downtown AUC campus’ Falaki Theater. You can buy tickets from Tazkarti here.

The French Institute in Egypt is hosting its three-day Grün Fête de la Musique from Thursday, 22 June through to Saturday, 24 June at Al Azhar Park. The events will include discussions about music, as well as awareness workshops on the environment. The doors will open at 3pm, with the discussions set to kick off at 4pm, followed by a lineup of musical performances at 7pm. You can register for the events as of next week, and check out the event website here.

Run for a cause: Get a good night’s sleep this weekend and join the Cairo Runners’ marathon to mark World Refugee Day on Friday, 23 June at 6:45am. The marathon’s starting point is at Le Lac du Caire next to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. You can register for the marathon here.

Wegz lovers, this is for you. Don’t miss Wegz’s performance in ZED East in New Cairo on Friday, 23 June starting from 10pm. Reserve your place now through Ticketsmarche.

Cairokee Empire returns: Cairokee is hitting the stage with two mega-concerts at New Cairo’s Manara Arena on Thursday, 27 June and Saturday, 29 June. Tickets are available on Tazkarti here and here.

Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an allegorical narrative of the South Asian experience in the US. The novel opens with the first person narrative of our protagonist, Changez, sitting at a cafe in the Lahore market and having a chat with an American who happened to be in the same cafe. Changez talks about his privileged background in Pakistan and his eventual success at Princeton. He adds his own joy with getting a job with Underwood Sampson, a financial advisory that specializes in mergers and acquisitions of developing firms and the life that he led while he lived in New York. 9/11 happens, and as expected, he begins to describe the drift in his sentiment towards the US and his eventual repatriation to his homeland. Even though the novel does not endorse fundamentalism or terrorism you can feel it peeking its ugly head from page to page, which shows how even the most placid and lucky can look down that rabbit hole and eventually fall in. The novel’s symbolism is obvious but the effect of the first-person narrative makes the storytelling personal and a difficult read to put down. The book would make a great summer read and a good introductory text to the South Asian/Western experience.

What the markets are doing on 19 June, 2023

The EGX30 fell 0.2% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.64 bn. Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 23.2% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+13.8%), ADIB (+3.9%) and Credit Agricole (+1.6%).

In the red: Palm Hills Developments (-2.8%), Rameda (-2.4%) and Ibnsina Pharma (-2.3%).

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

MAY

27 May-27 June (Saturday-Tuesday): Annual Flower Exhibition from 10am at the Agricultural Museum.

JUNE

14-27 June (Wednesday-Tuesday): Zawya’s two-week festival for Italian director Michelangelo Antonio.

21 June (Wednesday): Egyptian soprano Amira Selim performance, National Museum for Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).

22-24 June (Thursday-Saturday): Grün Fête de la Musique at 3pm at Al Azhar Park.

22 June (Thursday): Ahmed Amin’s interview on SoldOut Live, El Falaki theater.

23 June (Friday): Wegz Live Concert, ZED East, New Cairo.

23 June (Friday): Cairo Runners marathon, Le Lac du Caire, Cairo.

27 June (Thursday): Cairokee mega-concert, Manara Arena, New Cairo.

29 June (Saturday): Cairokee mega-concert, Manara Arena, New Cairo.

28 June-2 July (Wednesday-Sunday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Friday): June 30 Revolution Day.

JULY

18 July (Tuesday): Islamic New Year.

19 July-23 July (Wednesday-Sunday): Egypt Summer Festival, Heliopolis.

20 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Sunday): Revolution Day.

27 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Revolution Day.

AUGUST

2 August-3 August (Wednesday-Thursday): Fintech Revolution Summit at 9:30am at Cairo Festival City.

SEPTEMBER

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

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

OCTOBER

6 October (Friday): Armed Forces Day.

13 October- 20 October (Friday-Friday): The sixth edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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