Good afternoon from the gorgeous (and beautifully chill) city of Muscat, where some of us are in town for the official launch of Mashreq in Oman.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for our friends at Mashreq, who are our partners here at EnterprisePM and for our EnterpriseAM UAE edition: Mashreq started life in 1967 as the Bank of Oman.

Plenty of the faces here will be well-known to our readers in Egypt, including Mashreq Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal and Group Head of International Banking Tarek El Nahas.

Mashreq’s strategy in Oman: Capitalize on deepening trade and investment ties between the UAE and Oman as the Dubai-headquartered lender builds on its decades-long involvement here. It’s good timing: Oman emerged from 2024 as one of the most intriguing places to do business in the Middle East, with IPO flows that dwarfed London, a commitment to economic growth and diversification, and an ambitious series of growth targets.

We’ll have more in EnterpriseAM tomorrow, with coverage in both EnterpriseAM UAE and EnterpriseAM Egypt.

Want to go a bit deeper in the meantime? Mashreq outlines its vision for Oman and priority sectors in this slick intro video (watch, runtime: 1:34) and you can check out the press release here.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

IDG to invest EGP 3 bn in industrial zones in 2025: Samcrete Holding’s industrial arm, Industrial Development Group (IDG), plans to invest EGP 3 bn to develop its industrial zones this year, Managing Director Shady William said during a presser attended by EnterpriseAM earlier this week.

IDG currently owns three industrial zones — its 6 of October industrial park, dubbed e²October, its New Alamein zone, dubbed e² Alamein, and its East Port Said Development. The company plans to finish developing its 6 of October and New Alamein zones within 3-5 years, with work on the East Port Said Development set to take between 10-15 years.

Fresh industrial partnerships could also be in the cards: The group is currently looking into a number of strategic partnerships across various sectors, with plans to enter 3-4 partnerships with foreign investors throughout 2025, William said. He highlighted the automotive and pharma sectors as key areas of cooperation, noting that the company is currently exploring opportunities with specialized automotive companies to set up auto feeding industries in its zones.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Trump readies flurry of executive orders as day one of his second term nears: Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly readying over 100 executive orders to be signed following the incoming US president’s inauguration at 12pm EST (around 7pm Cairo time). Among Trump’s expected moves on his first day are reversing many of President Joe Biden’s green policies, pivoting US energy policy back to oil and gas production, kicking off widespread deportations, and imposing new sanctions on Iran.

It’s not yet clear whether Trump’s threatened tariffs will be put into effect immediately: While some believe that the heavy tariffs Trump has said he will put in place since his presidential campaign will be introduced gradually, Trump has at his disposal emergency powers that could allow him to put them into effect quickly, the FT writes. Stocks were cautiously optimistic and the dollar drifted lower in anticipation of the inauguration, with the full market reaction set to be revealed after today’s national holiday in the US. (Bloomberg | Financial Times | Reuters)

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

• National Investment Bank to offload entire stake in Alamal Alsharif Plastics through direct EGX listing in 2Q 2025: Alamal Alsharif Plastics is expected to make its EGX debut through a direct listing in 2Q 2025. The listing will reportedly see the government-owned National Investment Bank divest its entire 29.5% stake in the part-state-owned plastics manufacturer.
• Organi Group to launch region’s first chlorine pellet plant with USD 100 mn investment: Made-in-Egypt chlorine pellets should hit the market by the end of this year, as Organi Group works towards a USD 100 mn factory that will mark the Middle East’s first facility producing the swimming pool cleaner when it starts operations in 2025, cutting down the country’s annual import bill for chlorine pellets by USD 200 mn.
• Budget supermarket chain Kazyon is set to fully acquire Minya’s Upper Egypt for Concentrates — the company behind condiment, paste, sauce maker Giardano — pending approval from the Egyptian Competition Authority. The acquisition will be financed via a capital increase of an unspecified size, with EFG Holding advising on the transaction.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re expecting slightly warmer temperatures in the capital tomorrow, with the mercury set to rise to 24°C in the morning and 14°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.