Unraveling Threads?

1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: United Tobacco eyeing a minority stake in Eastern Tobacco?

Good afternoon, wonderful people, and welcome to the second day of what seems to be a busy week with more privatization news as we push towards the end of August.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Phillip Morris subsidiary United Tobacco is reportedly in talks with the government to acquire a minority stake in state-owned Eastern Tobacco, Asharq Business reports, citing two unnamed sources it says have knowledge of the matter. Details on the size and amount of the stake offered to United Tobacco have yet to be confirmed.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD

China’s interest rate cut is leading the conversation in the international business press. China's central bank decreased the interest rates by 0.10pp to 3.45% only on the one-year loan prime rate, keeping the five-year rate unchanged at 4.2%. This step comes after several S&P 500 banks lowered their China growth forecasts on slower economic recovery due to the government’s lack of economic stimulation via supportive policies to drive growth. (Reuters | Wall Street Journal | CNBC | Financial Times)

Also getting wide play is Hilary, a tropical storm that has hit Southern California and is making its move up to Nevada after claiming one life in Mexico. The governor of California has declared a state of emergency until 3am local time for the sunshine state as mountainous and desert areas have reportedly expected to reach 5 to 10 inches of rainfall — an unprecedented amount for an area that mostly experiences drought. No casualties or deaths were reported. (Reuters | BBC | CNBC | Wall Street Journal)

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

Mashreq Bank Egypt, Credit Agricole Egypt, and the National Bank of Kuwait’s Egypt unit have begun due diligence on United Bank with a view to potentially acquiring a stake in the CBE-owned lender.
We’re waiting on MPs for the UAE wheat financing pact to come into play: Our USD 500 mn financing agreement to purchase wheat from Emirati agribusiness Al Dahra will likely kick off in January.
Rameda Pharma is kicking the tires on two potential acquisitions in the medical sector.

CHECK OUT OUR AGENDA-

The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

This is our first two-day event,which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.

Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:

Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.

Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
Handicapping the winners and losers in fintech in 2024: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, where the untapped opportunities are, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

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

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

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial.

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

MISSED OUR PREVIOUS FORUMS? The EnterprisePodcast has you covered : The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum and the Enterprise Climate Forum.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- In our second panel from the Enterprise Climate Forum, We dive deep into what the business leaders in the climate industry in Egypt and the region have to say about how the private sector is adopting greentech, where they see the opportunities and what they’d like policymakers to do to encourage further participation. We were joined by Amr Allam, co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, CEO and co-founder of Infinity, and Sherif El Kholy, longtime partner and head of MENA private equity at Actis.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury is creeping up to peak at 40°C during the day and dropping to 24°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

Threads seem out of touch with reality due to design flaws + The travel industry is ballooning

Six weeks post-launch, Threads is falling off: After debuting in early July with 10 mn people signing up for the app within hours — making it the most downloaded non-app game app on a launch day in the past decade — Threads is seeing a drop in the number of daily active users, Time reports, citing Sensor Tower and Similarweb data. The app peaked at50 mn daily active users in early July, but is now settling at c.10 mn daily active users — well below the c.108 mn daily active users X (formerly known as Twitter) has. Threads users also spend much less time on the platform, with a daily average of just 2.4 minutes, which is some 80% below its July peak, according to Time.

What went wrong? Threads’ initial allure was grounded in the ongoing turbulence at X thanks to Elon Musk’s brand of management, but analysts have been warning that there is more to sustaining its success than promoting it as “Twitter, but without Elon Musk.” The drop-off in user interest is largely due to the lack of cultural relevance that Twitter has cultivated over the past 17 years, Times suggests. Experts also cite critical design flaws — like the lack of a search function — as a major factor in Threads’ decline, which not only made it difficult to find the same accounts users followed on Twitter and made it nearly impossible to keep up with current events.

Within 10 years, the travel industry is set to be worth USD 15.5 tn, accounting for over 11.6% of the world’s gross domestic product, reports Bloomberg, citing data forecasts from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). That’s a 50% increase from 2019, when the industry was valued at USD 10 tn or 10.4% of global GDP.

US, China, Germany, the UK and Japan account for the largest share of tourism’s contribution to global GDP, the report says. This trendis predicted to continue from pre-2019 based on how much is spent in-country by international visitors and how much citizens of each country spend on their own travel abroad contributing to the ratings. Honorable mentions also go to France, Mexico, Italy, India and Spain, who are in the top ten slots.

Tourists want outdoorsy adventures: Spikes have been noted in increasing nature-based travel and for lesser-known destinations with a drive in scientist-accompanied expeditions to Antarctica and the Galapagos, indicates data from the WTTC and Virtuoso, a network of over 20k luxury travel advisers. In Egypt, interest is abounding for eco and adventure tourism, but more support in the form regulations and streamlining registration could help the industries contribute to the Tourism Ministry’s goal of pulling in 15 mn tourists this year. We’re off to a good start already with a record 7 mn tourists visiting the country in the first six months of the year.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: An inspiring midweek film about breathing life into an African village

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is a film about a heroic 13-year-old boy,William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba), whose determination helped him rescue his village in Malawi from the misery of drought and famine. Based on a 2009 autobiographical book, the events of the film begin in the East African country, one of the poorest nations in the world. Kamkwamba invented a windmill made from scrap bicycle and tractor parts that generated electricity — rushing water to his family's dried farm and bringing it back to life. Kamkwamba was deprived from continuing his education as his family could not afford it, but he went on educating himself and reading science books about energy to find a life saving solution for drought. Malawians considered science to be mythical, leading them to discourage and attempt to frustrate Kamkwamba. Nevertheless, he was persistent and determined, and believed science could do wonders to save people. Despite the troubling scenes that illustrate the starvation and dehydration that the protagonists’ family suffer from, the film will bring hope and inspire young and old to look for ways to overcome adversity.

Lebanon is bringing us vintage burgers at Husk : Located in New Cairo, the restaurant offers a range of choices for all kinds of meat lovers. We started off with a mighty round of appetizers: Mozzarella crisps, crispy chicks, and onion rings. And then we rolled our sleeves for the more serious stuff. Based on friends’ recommendations, we went for the smashed burger, the steak burger, and the cheesy sirloin steak wrap — our more daring companions opted for the Hot Lucy: A 150 gm burger stuffed with beef bacon and topped with jalapeños. If you’re not big on meat, you can opt for the southern fried chicken sandwich or deep fried wings with a variety of all your favorite sauces like honey mustard and blue cheese. While we doubt you’ll have room for dessert, you should probably go for the crispy pain perdu topped with a scoop of refreshing lychee ice cream.

Swedish-Syrian singer Faya Younan and Medhat Saleh will be performing at the opening concert on Friday, 25 August.
Cairo Symphonic Orchestra and Wust El Balad band will be performing on Saturday, 26 August.
Hany Shaker will perform on Sunday, 27 August.
Hisham Abbas and Simone will perform on Monday, 28 August.
Mostafa Haggag will perform on Tuesday, 29 August.
Ali El Haggar will be performing on Thursday, 31 August.
Musician Hisham Kharma and the Tunsian singer Ghalia Benali will be performing on Sunday, 3 September.

CJC 610 is bringing the laughs to get over hump day with the Weekend Comedy tomorrow at 9pm. You can make a reservation by sending a message through their Facebook page.

Get ready for a fancy event at the Omar Khairat concert at Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski tomorrow, 22 August. The concert will start at 6:30pm until 10:30pm. Get your tickets on TicketsMall.

El Dor El Awal and West El Balad are performing at CJC 610on Wednesday, 23 August at Cairo Jazz Club 610, Sheikh Zayed Branch. You can make a reservation by sending a message through their Facebook page.

Russ is coming to New Alamein. American pop star Russ will be performing as part of the New Alamein Festival this Friday, 25 August. Tickets are available on Tazkarti.

Get some more laughs over the weekend with The Elite Standup this Friday, 25 August at Paragon Beach Hub, New Alamein. The show will start at 7pm. Tickets are available on Tazkarti.

Cairokeex New Alamein Festival . Catch Cairokee in the few weekends left in Sahel as they perform on Saturday, 26 August in New Alamein as a part of the Alamein Music Festival. Tickets are available on Tazkarti.

AzizMaraka x City Center Almaza. The Jordanian singer Aziz will be performing at the opening of “City Garage Hub'' at City Center Almaza Mall on Tuesday, 29 August. Tickets are available on Tazkarti.

DJs Kygo , Tiësto, Kungs and Frank Walker are performing on Saturday, 28 October at the Giza Pyramids. The concert will be part of the next edition of the four-day Palm Tree Music Festival (PTMF) which will be held from Thursday, 26 October until Sunday, 29 October.

El Morabba3 is coming to Egypt. The Jordanian rockband El Morabba3 will be performing in two concerts, the first one will be at the closing ceremony of the International Summer Festival that will be held at Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Friday, 1 September. The second one will be at El Sawy Culturewheel on Sunday, 3 September. Tickets are available here for Bibliotheca Alexandrina and here for El Sawy CultureWheel.

Get your running shoes ready for the 2023 edition of the El Gouna Half Marathon, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 11 November. You can sign up for the marathon from here — and catch the lowest registration price with the early bird special which starts today and ends Saturday, 30 September.

S. A. Cosby publishes yet another gripping “Southern noir” novel: All the Sinners B leed is a story that is thick with tension, suspense, and heartache. It begins with Titus Crown, the newly appointed sheriff in a rural town in Southern Virginia, who is also the first black man to hold the coveted position. And while things seem to be more on the quiet side in Charon County, as luck would have it, tragedy hits just as Crown celebrates his one-year mark as sheriff. Out of nowhere, it seems, a former student opens fire on his high school campus, murdering a faculty member — Mr Spearman, the geography teacher — before being shot down himself by one of the sheriff’s deputies. But this supposedly unexpected act of deranged violence opened a Pandora’s box that reveals Charon County’s true colors: When the authorities seize the beloved geography teacher’s belongings and what Titus Crown finds in Spearman’s phone leaves him reeling from the atrocity of what he discovers. The photos are not only personally devastating for Crown, they also threaten the shaky balance of a town that has clearly not moved beyond its tragically racist past.

What the markets are doing on 21 August, 2023

EARNINGS WATCH-

Chemical Industries Holdings’ subsidiary, Egyptian Chemical Industries (Kima) reported EGP 1.19 bn in net income in 4Q 2023, up 83% y-o-y, according to the company’s earnings release (pdf). Revenues climbed 49% y-o-y to EGP 6.61 bn during the same period.

The EGX30 fell 0.6% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 2.5 bn (23.5% above the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 22.8% YTD.

In the green: Oriental Weavers (+2.9%), Heliopolis Housing (+2.7%) and Edita (+2.0%).

In the red: B Investments Holding (-6.4%), Beltone Financial Holding (-4.3%) and Juhayna (-2.2%).

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

AUGUST

21 August (Monday): Akher Zafeer concert, El Sawy Culturewheel, El Zamalek, Cairo.

22 August (Tuesday): Weekend Comedy show, the Cairo Jazz Club 610, Sheikh Zayed.

22 August (Tuesday): Omar Khairat Live Concert, Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski, Cairo.

23 August (Wednesday):El Dor El Awal and Wust El Balad concert, Cairo Jazz Club 610, Sheikh Zayed.

25 August (Friday): Faya Younan and Medhat Saleh concert, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

25 August (Friday): Russ Concert, New Alamein Festival 2023, New Alamein.

25 August (Friday): The Elite stand up comedy performance, New Alamein Festival 2023, Paragon Beach Hub, New Alamein.

26 August (Saturday):Cairokee concert, New Alamein Festival, New Alamein.

26 August (Saturday): Cairo Symphonic Orchestra and West El Balad band, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

27 August (Sunday): Hany Shaker concert, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

28 August (Monday): Hisham Abbas and Simone concert, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

29 August (Tuesday): Aziz Maraka concert, City Center Almaza Mall, Cairo.

31 August (Thursday): Ali El Haggar concert, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

SEPTEMBER

1 September (Friday): El Morabba3 band concert, Summer International Festival, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria.

3 September (Sunday):El Morabba3 band concert, El Sawy Culturalwheel, El Zamalek, Cairo

3 September (Sunday): Hisham Kharma and Ghalia Benali concert, Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, Citadel Salah El Din, Cairo.

21-23 September (Thursday-Saturday) L’Etape Egypt by Tour de France, Sharm El Sheikh

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.

13-20 October (Friday-Friday): El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

28 October (Saturday): Djs Kygo, Tiësto, Kung and Frank Walker concert, Giza Pyramids.

NOVEMBER

11 November (Saturday): El Gouna Half Marathon 2023, El Gouna.

15-24 November (Wednesday-Friday): Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

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