Farm exports are booming, but quality control may limit growth

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Zaldi Capital is preparing to apply to establish a hedge fund, targeting EGP 300 mn

Good morning, friends. Three stories to check out before heading into your weekend — farm exports are on the rise but quality control is stunting growth, success from the mining sector, and new rules for credit insurers.

Farm exports are booming, but products are getting stopped at foreign borders. Underqualified exporters are failing quality checks and triggering border blocks against Egyptian shipments. Industry insiders tell us the solution is at our own borders — improve domestic oversight, and foreign markets will have less to flag.

The mining sector had its first announcement party this week. We attended the Mining Forum, which marked the first public accounting of results under the new open-sector system. State-owned Shalateen is preparing to offer five new zones before year-end, and its partner Afaq Mining may have a gold deposit on the way, the chairman and managing director of Afaq tells us. Saudi Gold Refinery showed up with seven bids and a USD 200 mn expansion plan if the geology cooperates — and we spoke to the deputy CEO about where the financing will go.

Credit ins. losses have been rising, so the FRA is changing the rules. The world’s largest credit rating agency downgraded Egyptian Takaful’s capitalization to “weak” in August, and the regulator has been trying to fix the market-wide pattern. We’re diving into the new rules this morning and unpacking what they mean for lenders and borrowers.

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We’re honored to welcome Ahmed M. Sobhy as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

Ahmed Sobhy currently serves as deputy CEO at E-Finance for Financial and Digital Investments (EFIG), overseeing the investment and finance divisions with a focus on the company’s growth and expansion into new business areas.

Prior to this role, Sobhy served as chief investment officer at Banque Misr, leading the bank’s equities and capital markets investments, including a private equity portfolio valued at USD 3 bn, and playing a pivotal role in the bank’s transformation and fintech expansion over nearly six years. Before that, he was Investment Principal at Ezdehar Fund Management, where he led several acquisition and exit transactions, including the strategic minority stake in Dsquares.

Earlier in his career, Sobhy was vice president in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley & Co., leading M&A transactions exceeding USD 31 bn across the UK, US, and Egypt, and held roles at Swicorp across the MENA region.

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.

Let the hedging begin

Local asset manager Zaldi Capital Investment is preparing to submit an application to establish a hedge fund targeting an initial size of roughly EGP 300 mn, Al Borsa reports, citing founder Mohamed Negme. The move positions Zaldi among the first houses to signal interest since the Financial Regulatory Authority’s (FRA) framework was published in the Official Gazette last week. The fund would need a market maker, Negme said, but Zaldi’s plans don’t include setting up its own market-making arm. Separately, the firm intends to start trading futures through the discretionary portfolios it manages, with Negme attributing the derivatives market’s thin volumes to its reliance on individual investors.

Zaldi’s financial investment arm is also targeting EGP 50 bn in managed assets by year-end, up from EGP 35 bn, and is working on five new vehicles — an equity fund, two index trackers, and two shariah-compliant funds — with plans to reach 10 funds under management by end-2026.

REFRESHER- The FRA’s new framework gave Egypt its first hedge fund rulebook, clearing funds to trade equities, debt, exchange-traded futures, forwards and options, and short borrowed stock. Existing funds can also convert over, with managers required to spell out leverage and liquidity risks, margin calls, and forced liquidation protocols, and regularly stress-test their portfolios.

PSA-

#1- Mark your calendar: Thursday, 8 October will be an official public holiday for public sector employees to mark Armed Forces Day, moved from the anniversary itself on 6 October, according to a Cabinet statement. We’re waiting on the Labour Ministry to call it for the private sector, the CBE for banks, and the EGX.

#2- Drivers will face a simpler licensing process as of today, 1 October, with traffic units nationwide beginning a trial of a single-window system for issuing and renewing vehicle and driving licenses, according to an Interior Ministry statement. Applicants will pay the posted service fee electronically and should face no other licensing charges, aside from traffic fines issued by the traffic prosecution.

There’s less paperwork at the counter too: Applicants will no longer have to present a fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, or reflective warning triangle when issuing or renewing a license. The ministry says the new process should bring licensing fees down, though it has not yet published a revised fee schedule.

#3- Insurers and reinsurers now have until 22 January 2027 to meet most of the Financial Regulatory Authority’s (FRA) corporate-governance requirements, a three-month extension from 22 October, according to a statement from the regulator. Board and board-committee composition requirements are on a different schedule, taking effect from each company’s next board election rather than by the January deadline. Rules governing committee meetings, minutes, reporting, and responsibilities remain applicable once committees are formed. All other governance requirements — including amendments to companies’ articles of association where needed — must still be met by 22 January. The FRA rolled out the underlying governance framework last October.

#4- No more WFH Sundays: The government has canceled the remote-work system that was previously implemented every Sunday for certain employees, according to a Cabinet statement.

#5- WEATHER- Cairo is enjoying another settled autumn day today, with a high of 30°C and a low of 22°C, the same high as yesterday and a touch warmer overnight, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a notch warmer on the coast in Alexandria too, with a high of 29°C and a low of 21°C.

And over the weekend, expect to see even cooler weather in the capital (a high of 29°C) and as low as 26°C for our friends on the Mediterranean.

The big story abroad

US President Donald Trump has revealed plans for South Korea to invest around USD 200 bn in US energy projects, including eight nuclear power plants and a 6-GW energy facility in Texas. The plans include a USD 54 bn pipeline for the Alaska LNG project, which would carry natural gas to a liquefaction facility for shipping to Asian markets — though Seoul cautioned that the pipeline project would proceed only if certain commercial and legal conditions are met.

Bond market turns back the clock: The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose by more than half a percentage point in September to 5.3%, its highest level since 2007, as US government bonds posted their worst month in four years. Investors warn the market is caught in a “vicious loop” of selling — a sell-off initially driven by US public debt and inflation concerns has pushed yields to levels that force some funds to sell Treasuries, sending borrowing costs even higher.

And in the AI world: As Google begins its rollout of its flagship AI model — Gemini 4 Argon — some of its employees are reportedly questioning its efficacy, Bloomberg reports, citing people with direct access. Despite strong benchmark scores, the model struggles with certain tasks when put into practice, the people said. However, a Google employee familiar with the model's development said there is "large consensus" internally that Gemini 4 is at the frontier, and Google said it would be inaccurate to say the model underperforms in areas such as coding.

This October, Somabay welcomes leading voices from Egypt, the region and beyond, as the Narrative Summit marks its milestone tenth edition. Narrative sits at the intersection of private-sector ambition, government policy, investment, culture, media and tourism — bringing together the people and perspectives influencing Egypt’s growth, identity and global positioning.

Set against the backdrop of Somabay, the summit creates a space for meaningful dialogue, fresh perspectives and connections that can translate ideas into impact.

Ten editions. One destination. Conversations that shape a decade.

Egypt grows what the world wants but loses the margin getting it there

Egypt’s farm exports are setting records, but growth is running into cold-chain gaps and a quality problem at Europe’s borders that could cap how far it goes. Fresh and processed agricultural exports hit a record USD 11.5 bn in 2025, making up 24% of the country’s total exports and marking a step toward the state’s USD 20 bn agro-export target for 2030. The 2026 season has cooled slightly, with volumes at 6.8 mn tons by late August, down 2.49% y-o-y but tracking close to 2025’s full-year record of 9.5 mn tons. Citrus led at 2.3 mn tons, followed by fresh potatoes (929k), sweet potatoes (280k), grapes (189k), and onions (183k), according to figures shared with EnterpriseAM by shipping and logistics expert Hisham Saadawi.

The sector carries weight beyond its export line. It employs some 19% of the workforce as of May 2026 and contributes 13.7% of GDP, according to the OECD’s Policies for the Future of Farming and Food in Egypt report (pdf).

Why exports are booming: Agricultural economist Taher Kadah credits three factors for the export surge: the ministry’s land reclamation push, commercial Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), and expansion into new export markets. Cultivated land has grown toward 10 mn feddans, and multi-cropping lifts the effective crop area to 15 mn. The push is also likely supported by price competitiveness following successive currency devaluations, which significantly lowered international prices for Egyptian produce in key export markets relative to competitors.

The greenback harvest

Agriculture earns hard currency the way little else does. While agribusinesses still rely on imported specialized inputs like seeds, crop protection chemicals, and substrates, the core assets required for farming — land, favorable climate, labor, and water — are 100% domestic. That gives agriculture a structural advantage over traditional assembly manufacturing, which bears recurring foreign currency costs for imported raw materials. “If you sell a pen in Egypt, you have to import the plastic and ink from abroad, meaning you spend USD to generate USD,” Agriventure CEO and co-founder Ali Diab tells EnterpriseAM. “In agriculture, every USD earned in exports converts local currency costs directly into hard currency.”

Where it sells: Egypt’s produce footprint spans traditional regional buyers alongside high-value European supermarket chains. The EU is Egypt’s top produce market, taking EUR 2.4 bn of agricultural exports in 2025, followed by the GCC, led by Saudi Arabia. Egypt has continued to widen that map, opening 25 new markets this year and now exporting 405 agricultural products to 167 countries. Trade pacts are driving the push: a July agreement with the Philippines opened immediate access for grapes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and carrots; two markets in Uruguay opened in April; and four new openings were secured in the Americas in May — Peru for oranges, Panama for grapes and strawberry seedlings, and Mexico for strawberry seedlings.

“Our primary market is the UK, followed by the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Western Europe,” Diab says. Agriventure sells direct to Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and Mercadona and sends the remaining 20% of its volume to the Gulf, Russia, and Southeast Asia.

Investments pouring in

Capital is going into agricultural infrastructure and modern AgTech to protect USD margins from input price shocks and devaluation. Under the Agriculture Ministry’s 2030 Sustainable Agriculture Development Strategy, the state is modernizing irrigation and deploying 5k machinery units by late 2027 to lift farm productivity by up to 20%, according to a ministry statement.

Development finance and private agribusiness are following with debt and equity for cultivation and local input manufacturing. Germany-based impact investor Finance in Motion is targeting USD 50-70 mn of new Egyptian investment by year-end, on top of a local portfolio above USD 500 mn. The IFC is weighing a USD 40 mn loan to Sawiris-backed Nile Agriculture Company, a Nile Sugar subsidiary, to reclaim 13.7k feddans in Minya for sugar beet. Singapore’s Indorama is closing on a USD 348 mn IFC/EBRD package for a USD 525 mn phosphate fertilizer complex at Ain Sokhna. And to cut reliance on European peat, Industry Minister Khaled Hashem has finalized plans with Kekkilä-BVB and Agriventure for an alternative soil factory in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. On the land reclamation front, the state-backed Mostakbal Misr Agency for Sustainable Development reclaimed 1.6 mn feddans by late 2025, moving toward its target of 4.5 mn feddans by 2027.

The risks undermining growth

Booming exports and lucrative overseas earnings are precisely what attract thousands of inexperienced market entrants who lack supply-chain discipline and jeopardize national growth, Diab says. Of the 5k+ companies registered to export produce, only about 50 have the scale, owned acreage, GAP certification, and end-to-end cold chain to serve foreign buyers reliably, Saadawi says. The rest widen a structural divide across the industry.

When prices spike for crops like strawberries or citrus, speculative traders and smallholders pile into export channels, often hiring intermediaries to handle foreign buyers without grasping destination rules or contract risk, Diab and Saadawi explain. Soft fruit was “hit hard by rejections last season,” as new entrants failed to price end-to-end logistics, including reefer power charges and ocean freight surcharges. Many burned prices, lost money to broker payment scams, and mismanaged pesticide applications.

Those border holds trace back to weak farm-to-fork tracking. Produce is sourced from unaccredited open fields in Beheira, funneled through wholesale hubs like the Obour market, and traded without farm coding or residue testing. “Egypt needs more domestic traceability. Without it, unaccredited produce enters export channels, fails chemical tests, and triggers border blocks that damage the entire national brand,” Diab says. Beyond individual cargo losses, non-compliant shipments risk country-wide import bans on Egyptian commodities, Saadawi warns.

EU inspections add to the cost

Egypt’s professional agribusinesses perform well abroad, so the compliance friction is an avoidable threat to export momentum, agricultural economist and former senior USDA specialist Shaza Omar tells us. Between 2021 and 2025, the EU averaged roughly 88 Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) notifications a year on Egyptian produce. Interceptions more than doubled to a record 180 in 2024 before easing to 131 in 2025, leaving Egypt second only to Turkey in EU border notifications.

That record prompted Brussels to tighten controls. After repeated residue breaches by unaccredited entrants from non-EU countries, the European Commission’s reinforced import framework now requires physical sampling and lab testing on 50% of incoming shipments across affected lines, up from 33% in 2025.

The cost lands on shelf life. Every second container now faces a mandatory hold at ports like Rotterdam, Hamburg, or Valencia, adding overnight power charges and trucking demurrage while cutting the selling window for high-value soft fruits. “When a container arrives even one day late to a client, it means he has one less day to sell it on store shelves,” Diab says, noting that the holds also back up trucking for European receivers.

“Everyone in the sector knows the EU chemical residue rules. They haven’t changed in 15 years,” Diab says. “The issue isn’t a lack of knowledge; it’s a lack of enforcement and domestic traceability. When non-compliant produce triggers a mandatory 50% inspection across the board, the ethical, scaled exporters bear the financial penalty.”

Cold-chain bottlenecks

Logistics in agriculture is not simply about moving a container from port to port. “The objective is to preserve product quality, temperature, shelf life, and commercial value throughout the supply chain,” Saadawi says. Egypt has only about 15% of the cold storage capacity it needs, costing roughly USD 1.2 bn a year in spoilage, Omar tells us. Post-harvest food waste runs at an estimated 65% on non-refrigerated transport and wooden-crate handling, against 18-22% in European supply chains, Diab says.

Sea transit from Alexandria or Damietta runs 4-7 days to Mediterranean Europe, 7-13 to Northern Europe, and 8-13 to the UK. In peak season, reefer shortages and vessel rollovers (a container bumped to a later ship after overbooking) leave cargo sitting on the quay, spoiling it and missing delivery windows. Packhouse errors compound the problem, such as failing to pre-cool or entering the wrong temperature set-points for sensitive fresh produce.

Clearing the sector’s supply-chain and compliance bottlenecks is a multi-bn-USD window. Upgrading cold chains, farm-level traceability, and residue compliance could lift Egypt’s horticultural exports by nearly 60% globally and 50% to Europe, Omar tells us.

How the industry is responding

Agribusinesses and input suppliers are restructuring before harvest to protect access to high-value markets. “Crop protection is the main bottleneck for the export business due to chemical residues,” BASF Country and Sales Manager Ahmed Abu Zahra tells us. Crop science giant BASF is shifting from selling standalone chemicals to acting as a “solution provider,” offering biological fungicides, insecticides, and biostimulants formulated to meet EU Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs), the regulatory ceilings on pesticide residues in food, Abu Zahra says.

Closing the gap means going to the field. BASF runs mobile clinics that reach growers without corporate technical support, diagnosing crop diseases on-site, prescribing safe treatment schedules, advising on fertilizers, and handing out protective equipment (PPE) kits. It also collects empty chemical drums to block counterfeit recycling.

Frameworks exist, including Agriculture Ministry field trials for crop-protection registration and pre-shipment sampling at ports, but operators say testing and enforcement need to scale up to protect the sector’s hard-earned export momentum. “Half of all our rejections happen at the border, meaning they could have been caught one step earlier at origin through pre-shipment testing and digitized spray management,” Omar says.

Exporters are also hedging on their own terms. Scaled agribusinesses keep dual-control lab samples for every container, one in cold-transit simulation and one at room temperature, to prove whether a quality hold came from farm residues or carrier delay. To ride out freight volatility and port delays, they also convert surplus into value-added concentrates, Saadawi says. Plants like Juhayna subsidiary El Marwa Food Industries and Ahmed Abou Hashima’s USD 200 mn MAFI complex in Sadat City turn excess citrus and horticultural harvests into juice concentrate for European food manufacturers, lifting margins and removing the pressure of shipping fresh.

In part two of this deep dive, we move from exports to the farm gate to see how local operators are tackling ground-level vulnerabilities with localized substrates, crop disease protection, and tailored AgTech to protect grower yields and regional competitiveness.

Open-sector delivers: Shalateen and Saudi Gold Refinery reveal Eastern Desert roadmaps

The government confirmed the first awards under the new open-sector mining system at this week’s Egypt Mining Forum, with state-owned Shalateen Mineral Resources Company and Saudi Gold Refinery laying out competing and complementary plans for the Eastern Desert. EnterpriseAM was on the ground at the St. Regis New Capital as the announcements landed.

The new system drew 403 investment offers from 119 companies (including 14 foreign firms) for 118 exploration blocks since the system launched in June, Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi said at the forum’s opening. The wider offering covered 335 blocks across about 650 sq km, including 261 gold and 74 other mineral zones. The rolling system works differently from a traditional tender: once a company bids on a block, a 30-day competitive window opens, and awards are processed continuously rather than batch-announced. The forum marked the first aggregation of results since the system launched.

Five new zones

Shalateen is preparing to offer five new gold exploration zones before year-end, Vice Chairman and Managing Director Abd El Mageed Mohamed told us on the forum’s sidelines. The five zones — offered on a track separate from the open-sector system — span two areas in the south (Allaqi), two in the north, and one near the Eqat concession, Shalateen’s producing gold mine, which has already reached commercial output. Shalateen holds six other major concession areas.

Parallel to the zones: Shalateen is putting the final touches on phase one of its Dahmit Industrial Complex in Aswan, an EGP 350 mn project covering 1.4 feddans. Phase one, with an investment ticket of EGP 120 mn, includes integrated infrastructure, labs, and foundries for receiving and smelting gold, with 56 equipped units for small companies and artisanal miners. The goal is to bring informal milling operations scattered across villages into a regulated, environmentally safe framework under the company’s oversight, Mohamed says. The company is already planning to launch the second phase, which includes admin buildings and operational units expansion.

Afaq’s Romeit discovery: Shalateen’s partner Afaq Mining has completed the exploration phase at Jebel Romeit (west of Gabal Elba) and submitted a feasibility study after identifying a gold deposit, Mohamed says. The company reports approximately 305k ounces of gold at Romeit, supported by more than 39k meters of reverse circulation and diamond drilling — numbers likely pointing to mineral inventory rather than proven reserves. Afaq Chairman and Managing Director Mostafa El Bahr expects a formal commercial discovery announcement this month, with commercial production targeted within approximately four years. Preparations are under way to establish a joint operating company, he says.

The open-sector system

Saudi Gold Refinery confirmed it has submitted bids for seven exploration blocks under the current open-sector round, targeting areas near Al Baramiya, south of Marsa Alam. Deputy CEO Salman Al Othaim told EnterpriseAM the company has allocated USD 10 mn for the initial exploration and field survey phase, adding “we have plans to scale up to over USD 200 mn as projects advance to mine construction and operation.”

REMEMBER- The company’s entry marks a reset of earlier talks that collapsed. Saudi Gold Refinery had previously negotiated with Shalateen to jointly develop the Al Baramiya area, but the discussions broke down over contract structure. The Saudi firm wanted the royalty-and-tax (R&T) model now used in the open-sector bid system, while Shalateen was bound by its charter to production-sharing agreements. With Egypt’s formal shift to R&T terms under the open-sector framework, the company re-entered the market on its preferred footing. Al Othaim described the change as “a shift toward serious commercial business that benefits both the investor and the state.”

The company does not plan to build a refinery in Egypt, despite its specialization in gold refining, Al Othaim says. The strategy is to extract and export doré bars for refining at its facilities in Saudi Arabia — the same model used at the Sukari mine — unless legislation mandates local processing, he says. Al Othaim left the door open for partnerships with local players if a viable cooperation model emerges and said discussions are under way for interest exchanges between Saudi and Egyptian investors.

A reform years in the making

The forum closed a week that marked the first real-world test of Egypt’s mining regulatory overhaul. The sequence began with the 2020 executive regulations that scrapped mandatory profitsharing joint ventures and capped royalties at 20% — bringing Egyptian law in line with global norms. Amendments this year cut the state’s minimum stake from 25% to 10%, added a digital application portal, and turned the Mineral Resources and Mining Industries Authority into an economic entity with a one-stop shop for investors. The government is aiming for mining’s share of GDP to reach 5-6% by 2030 (from under 1% today), with gold output rising to 800k ounces annually and USD 1 bn in yearly mining investment.

What’s next: We will watch for Afaq’s commercial declaration this month, Shalateen’s planned international tender for its five zones before year-end, and the next wave of open-sector awards as the rolling 30-day windows close. Al Othaim is also waiting: “Once we obtain the license, we will begin field operations within six months.”

FRA is pushing credit ins. pricing onto actuarial footing with new underwriting rulebook

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) updated rules for credit and guarantee ins. underwriting and pricing, introducing actuarial pricing floors, binding concentration limits, and mandatory stress testing, according to a statement from the regulator. Decision 3132 of 2026 applies to property and liability insurers licensed to write credit and guarantee coverage, excluding domestic commercial credit and export credit.

Why it matters: Credit ins. losses have been climbing. Total ins. claims rose 38.2% to EGP 64.4 bn in 2025, well above the 22.5% premium growth rate (EGP 130.8 bn), according to FRA data. In credit ins., claims outpacing premiums could mean policies were priced too cheaply for the risk of defaults. The pattern showed up at one company: the world’s largest and oldest credit rating agency AM Best downgraded Egyptian Takaful’s capitalization to “weak” in August, citing material underwriting losses in its credit ins. book. That is the problem the FRA is trying to fix. The old rules, set out in Decision 193 of 2022 (pdf), had five basic requirements but no actuarial pricing floor, no concentration caps, and no stress-testing obligation.

IN CONTEXT- The decision is the latest under the Unified Ins. Law 155 of 2024, and it closes a gap the FRA has been working through line by line. Last June, it tightened the reins. governance rules, requiring board-level policies on capital, liquidity, counterparty exposure, stress testing, and contingency planning. A month later, it added credit checks, fraud controls, and suitability tests for high-value life policies — bringing underwriting standards for individuals in line with the data-driven approach it is now applying to credit portfolios. Together, the three decisions force insurers to know what they are underwriting, price it correctly, and hold enough capital and reins. to survive when they are wrong.

What’s new here?

Pricing floor: Each insurer must adopt a board-approved underwriting policy and an actuarial methodology that produces a minimum technical premium rate. The model must account for probability of default, exposure at default where relevant, recovery rates, coverage and retention levels, financing tenor, collateral, risk margins, expenses, commissions, and reinsurance costs. Insurers cannot issue or renew coverage below the resulting technical floor, though they are able to charge a higher commercial rate.

Retention and concentration: The rulebook keeps borrowers or lenders on the hook for at least 25% of the outstanding principal at the time of default, with that retained slice barred from being insured, shifted, or circumvented through side agreements. The retention requirement was already in the 2022 rules, but the decision now explicitly prohibits side arrangements (agreements, addenda, or undertakings) that would alter the coverage scope or reduce the retention.

Concentration limits: Exposure to one client or connected group is capped at 10% of the lower of the active credit-ins. portfolio or funds allocated to the branch. Business sourced from a single lender cannot exceed 50% of branch insured amounts for banks and 30% for other lenders without FRA approval. Credit-and-guarantee premiums cannot exceed 25% of an insurer’s total annual premiums without prior approval. Companies must also set their own internal concentration limits across borrowers, connected groups, lenders, sectors, financing types, and reinsurers — tighter than the hard caps above — while keeping their reinsurance programs proportionate to the risks they cover.

Validation and monitoring: Where reliable historical data is available, companies must compare modeled risk costs against actual losses on comparable portfolios, with annual back-testing and validation. Boards must approve an actuary’s report covering the pricing methodology, technical floors, assumptions, calibration, and testing results, while the FRA must be notified before the technical limits are put into use. The study and limits must be resubmitted at least annually or whenever there is a material change in loss experience, defaults, recoveries, underwriting policy, credit-data inputs, or actuarial assumptions.

Stress tests and scenario analysis must be run at least twice a year, and whenever portfolio risk changes materially, covering defaults, recoveries, losses, lender concentration, and the failure or downgrade of major reinsurers. The FRA can require a corrective plan if the tests point to deterioration.

What’s next

The actual rulebook is not yet out. When it is published in the Egyptian Gazette, insurers will have six months to comply. The new rules will apply to policies first issued or renewed after the grace period, leaving existing contracts untouched until renewal. The FRA plans to issue a separate decision setting detailed definitions of default and restructuring, debt-dispute rules, data correction and retention periods, and confidentiality rules — ahead of real-time default reporting through an electronic platform, Deputy Chairperson Tarek Seif said in the statement. The Ins. Federation of Egypt is also preparing draft standard terms for credit and guarantee ins. policies, to be submitted to the FRA for approval.

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Applications close on 18 October 2026. Apply here.

EGX bags two AFCM awards for 2025 trading activity

The EGX picked up two regional awards for its 2025 trading activity, taking the Arab Federation of Capital Markets’ (AFCM) prizes for the highest average daily traded value and the highest average daily trading volume, according to an EGX statement. The awards were handed out during the federation’s annual capital markets conference.

REMEMBER- The recognition caps a banner 2025 for the EGX as the EGX30 gained more than 40% and market capitalization reached around EGP 3 tn by year-end, with domestic institutional liquidity providing much of the market’s support.

Fawry Business taps Congineer to plug PoS payments into Retail Pro

Fawry Business inked an agreement with business tech provider Congineer to connect its PoS terminals and payment services to Retail Pro’s business management software, according to a press release (pdf). The tie-up will allow vendors running Retail Pro software through Congineer to manage sales and take in-store payments under one system, on either Fawry or Congineer PoS devices, as well as grant access to Fawry Business’ payroll portal.

REMEMBER- This is Fawry’s third agreement of this kind since July, after tie-ups with Crystal Mind’s payments arm Crystal Pay in July and medical software provider DMS in early September.

Sand, sea, and land settlement

The New Urban Communities Authority (Nuca) collected EGP 26 bn (USD 500 mn) from developers and landholders regularizing their land on the Alexandria-Matrouh road on the North Coast between June 2025 and August 2026, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official.

Where this comes from: Back in 2020, Presidential Decree 361/2020 transferred roughly 707k feddans of the Western North Coast from a tangle of old authorities into Nuca’s jurisdiction. That transfer gave Nuca the footing to impose a unified master plan on a corridor that previously had none and demand that everyone holding land there go through a formal regularization process with new fees attached.

IN CONTEXT- The EGP 26 bn is the latest payoff in a fee campaign that kicked off last summer. Nuca froze new North Coast allocations in September 2025 to review pricing, then offered up to 50% off retroactive fees for projects approved before February 2024. In July, it rolled out another round of assignment fee cuts — but kept Western North Coast land out of most of the breaks.

Eight sailors freed

Eight Egyptian sailors kidnapped aboard the M/T Eureka off Somalia were released, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The sailors had been held since 2 May off the coast of Puntland, with Egypt’s embassy in Mogadishu now arranging their return on the earliest available flight.

More on our radar

Neat Developments is entering the Egyptian real estate market with a pipeline of four projects valued between EGP 6-10 bn. Three are slated to launch in November, including an EGP 1.6 bn project next to Gezira Sporting Club, an EGP 1 bn project in Sheikh Zayed’s green belt, and an EGP 3 bn El Nozha project in Sheikh Zayed, followed by an EGP 2 bn medical project expected to launch in January. (Middle East News Agency)

Temasek is putting down Gulf roots. Will the capital follow?

Temasek to build GCC presence next year: Singapore sovereign investor Temasek plans to open an Abu Dhabi office by 1H 2027 as part of a broader Middle East expansion, alongside a Riyadh outpost and deeper engagement with institutions in Qatar, according to a company statement. The offices, which are subject to statutory approvals, will also host some of Temasek’s portfolio companies and support investments across the GCC, Central Asia, and Africa. The moves take Temasek’s global office network from 13 in nine countries to 15 in 11 and mark its first physical Gulf presence after years of doing Gulf-adjacent business without one.

Why it matters: Temasek is formalizing a relationship that has been years in the making, one built almost entirely through co-investment rather than direct dealmaking in the region itself, Global SWF says in a note seen by EnterpriseAM. Temasek’s own disclosures put Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at just 12% of underlying exposure in its SGD 518 bn (USD 401 bn) portfolio as of end-March, with the Middle East not broken out separately — a footprint that looks thin next to how often Temasek’s name shows up alongside Gulf capital elsewhere in the world.

Qatar, its biggest co-investor, is not getting an office

Temasek isn’t opening a Doha office, but its ties to the Qatar Investment Authority, per Global SWF’s tally, are arguably its deepest in the Gulf. The two have repeatedly co-invested across biotech, energy, and deep tech: QIA led a EUR 250 mn Series D for French biotech Innovafeed in 2022, with Temasek participating; Temasek then led two rounds in German radiopharma company ITM, with QIA alongside it both times; the pair joined Decarbonization Partners on a USD 460 mn round for battery materials firm Ascend Elements in 2023; and in 2025 and 2026, they turned up together again in PsiQuantum’s USD 1 bn Series E, AI chip firm d-Matrix’s USD 275 mn round, and Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker Nearfield Instruments’ USD 380 mn Series D. That’s a half-decade of overlapping bets across biotech, the energy transition, quantum, and semiconductors.

The Abu Dhabi ties are already getting thicker

Temasek’s asset-management platform Seviora — which already operates an office in Abu Dhabi — signed an MoU with FAB this week to explore distributing its strategies to the bank’s wealth clients and potential co-investments. Temasek also joined BlackRock’s GIP, Adnoc, and L’imad in May on a USD 30 bn infrastructure investment platform targeting the GCC and Central Asia, and has run a separate strategic partnership with Mubadala Capital since 2024.

Saudi is the newer, thinner relationship

Unlike Qatar and Abu Dhabi, there isn’t a comparable string of joint investments to point to. The clearest Saudi-Temasek link runs the other direction, with PIF-owned SALIC paying USD 1.24 bn for a stake in Temasek-owned Olam Agri back in 2022 — a Saudi investment into Temasek’s orbit rather than the reverse. Global SWF frames the Riyadh office as more a play on Saudi Arabia’s diversification drive and its pull for foreign capital and operating expertise — with Abu Dhabi, in its words, starting from “a denser institutional network” than Riyadh.

The test that hasn’t happened yet

None of this, per Global SWF, is proof that more Temasek capital is about to flow into the Gulf — only that the relationships now have a physical base to work from. The note frames the offices as bringing years of co-investment “closer to the markets themselves,” but explicitly leaves open whether that translates into anything more. “The next test,” it says, “is whether ties formed through global transactions lead to a larger flow of Temasek capital into the Gulf.”

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets were mixed in early trading, with Japan’s Nikkei gaining around 1.9% and South Korea’s Kospi down 0.3%. US equity futures were mostly in the green.

EGX30	51,895	-0.8% (YTD: +24.1%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 51.92	Sell 52.06
USD (CIB)	Buy 51.94	Sell 52.04
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	10,441	-0.1% (YTD: -0.5%)
ADX	10,070	-0.6% (YTD: +0.8%)
DFM	5,961	-0.5% (YTD: -1.4%)
S&P 500	7,652	-0.3% (YTD: +11.8%)
FTSE 100	10,606	-0.3% (YTD: +6.8%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,269	-0.8% (YTD: +8.2%)
Brent crude	USD 98.20	+0.2%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.00	-0.8%
Gold	USD 4,177	-0.2%
BTC	USD 83,478	+0.0% (YTD: -4.7%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,124	+0.1% (YTD: +13.2%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	146.70	-0.1% (YTD: -3.4%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	16.34	+1.9% (YTD: +9.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.8% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 8.8 bn (23.5% below the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net sellers. The index is up 24.1% YTD.

In the green: Emaar Misr (+10.2%), Beltone Holding (+3.7%), and Palm Hills Developments (+2.0%).

In the red: Abu Qir Fertilizers (-3.2%), Orascom Development (-3.1%), and Qalaa Holdings (-2.5%).

My Morning Routine: Ahmed Abu Zahra, country and sales manager for Egypt and the Middle East at BASF

Ahmed Abu Zahra, country and sales manager for Egypt and the Middle East at BASF: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Ahmed Abu Zahra (LinkedIn), country and sales manager for Egypt and the Middle East at BASF.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

Most of my career has revolved around agriculture. I joined BASF in 2010, just as the company was returning to Egypt. We were building everything from scratch. My role was mainly in marketing, and our job was to put BASF in a strong position in the market. Within two or three years, we were the second-largest crop protection company in Egypt by sales. After a new market approach, we eventually took the lead.

In 2016, I moved to BASF’s headquarters in Germany as crop manager for Northeast Africa. I ran all marketing activities across those countries until 2020. I then joined the South European team, handling portfolio development and go-to-market activities for the whole of Africa. In 2022, I became European portfolio manager, focusing on Africa and later Central Asia as well. My background is mainly in marketing, but my experience has always combined it with sales.

I came back to Egypt this year and started my current role on 1 September. After almost 10 years in regional roles abroad, going from a strategic position to an operational one is a new challenge. I see these first months as a time to connect the dots. I’m working closely with the team, talking to our distributors and customers, and learning what’s holding back growth and what we can do differently. We don’t have a physical presence in the Levant or the Gulf, so I count on our distributors there.

Egypt still gets a lot of my attention. It’s a big, attractive market, so competition is fierce. That’s my main challenge right now, and it takes a lot of energy. I want BASF to become a solution provider in Egypt, offering services that go beyond crop protection. That means being more customer-focused, getting closer to our customers, and tailoring our offer to what they need. It sounds simple, but it isn’t — it takes effort from the entire team.

This year, we launched one of the latest innovations in our portfolio in Egypt ahead of some European countries. That had never happened before, and the whole team here is proud of it. We’re also training growers, who often lack access to technology and best practices for using pesticides. That training covers sustainability and stewardship too.

Digital tools can help farms, especially larger ones, move from traditional to more modern farming. A few years ago, we started a disease warning system. Diagnosis isn’t always easy for growers, and they can’t always predict when a disease is coming. Based on our data, we messaged retailers and growers to warn them and advise them to apply a protective product. We can do even more in that area, and I intend to bring those solutions to Egypt.

Biological products can help Egypt grow its exports. Egypt is a strong candidate for export business, and products sold here need to be acceptable in markets like Europe. Crop protection is one of the biggest bottlenecks for exporters, since residues and product types can create a lot of problems. The market still lacks biologicals, so we’re expanding our biological fungicides and insecticides across several crops, alongside biostimulants. Egyptian exporters are well trained and already use the latest technology, so I expect adoption rates to be very high.

I wake up at 5:30am, which I know is very early. I spend the next hour watching the news, which feels especially important these days. I also check social media and read — and EnterpriseAM is part of that. I prefer reading it in the morning because it shows me what’s happening across different businesses. I find that inspiring.

I’m at the office by 8:00am at the latest. I start with business discussions and emails from the day before, then plan the day ahead. This month has been exceptional, and I’ve been leaving at 8:00pm, which isn’t sustainable. Normally, I come in early and leave around 5 or 6pm to maintain a work-life balance.

I try to switch off as soon as I get home. It’s harder right now, especially since I’m also responsible for sales in Egypt. Sales teams don’t consider the “office hours” rule, so they call at any time. I’m still adapting to that, but I respect it. If someone calls, I answer because they might be bringing something valuable.

Family time is the best way for me to disconnect. We usually have dinner together and talk about everything outside of work, mostly about the family. If we have time, we watch TV or read. What matters is that we do something together.

Professionally, my ultimate dream is to make BASF the leading and most customer-focused company in the Middle East. Growth over one or two years isn’t enough. We need to set the fundamentals now so that growth lasts.

My biggest personal wish is to see my family succeed. My daughter is studying medicine, and my son is still in school. For me, I need to succeed in this new challenge.

My constant in life is reading — without question. Reading to me has shifted from a hobby to a habit. It has become an essential part of my routine, especially at night. Now I can’t even fall asleep without it.

I’m a big fan of Arabic literature, especially Naguib Mahfouz. I’ve read the Cairo Trilogy three or four times, and Midaq Alley is one of his best. I enjoy his novels more than the film adaptations because the sequence of events is more interesting on the page. I recently recommended him to my daughter, and his books are easy to find in English.

I’ve recently started following CNN Business Arabic’s podcast Kalam Business, which highlights strong entrepreneurial stories.

“You must strive, but success is not in your hands.” This is the best advice my father gave me. Some misread it as not caring about results, but it’s the opposite. Things outside your control can still affect the outcome, but I’m at peace when I know I’ve done my best. I’ve passed this on to my kids, especially when they study: do your best first, then see what happens.

CALENDAR

OCTOBER

5 October (Monday): The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

10-11 October (Saturday-Sunday): Egypt Women’s Health Summit (EWHS), Cairo Marriott Hotel.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): IEX Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29 October (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s seventh meeting of 2026.

NOVEMBER

6-8 November (Friday-Sunday) : Global Entrepreneurship Festival, JW Marriott Hotel, New Cairo.

8-11 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Cairo ICT Forum.

10 November (Tuesday): Cityscape Egypt Forum, Cairo.

DECEMBER

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Food Africa, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

17 December (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s eighth meeting of 2026.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2H 2026: Operations at Deli Glass Co’s new USD 70 mn glassware factory kick off.

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

4Q 2026: Banque du Caire IPO.

2027

20 January-7 February: Egypt to host the African Games.

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Agri Expo, Cairo International Convention Center.

April 2027: Tenth of Ramadan dry port and logistics hub to begin operations.

29 September - 2 October (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape Egypt Exhibition, Cairo.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2027: Egypt to host EBRD’s annual meetings.

2027: Egypt-EU Summit 2027.

End of 2027: Trial operations at the Dabaa nuclear power plant expected to take place.

September 2028: First unit of the Dabaa nuclear power plant begins operations.

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