The bourse wants a full income tax break for transferable-asset funds

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

The EGX’s first single-stock futures have completed their first full lifecycle

Good morning, nice people. We are heading into the weekend with an issue all about things waiting to move. The bourse is waiting on the green light from the Tax Authority, and our gas fields are sitting on more than they are giving.

Up first: The EGX has asked for a full income tax exemption on transferable-asset funds, and the target is stalled real estate. Think mortgage-backed Ijarah funds that bolt the property market onto the capital market. Officials tell us this can be a strong investment tool that draws fresh capital through the bourse. The request is sitting with the Tax Authority, and we’re on the lookout for how long it will take.

And then there is the gas story — a gap between drilling and producing that’s getting harder to ignore. New wells are coming. The fields are ready. The question is whether the new output can keep pace with what the old fields are losing.

Morning Drive just turned one! And we’re celebrating with new artwork and a few guest appearances. Listen to today’s episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Anghami.

Morning Drive is your daily download of the essential headlines shaping Egypt. A condensed version of the newsletter in audio form. Hosted by ‘Synthetic Salma’ — an AI-powered version of our own executive editor, Salma.

Futures deliver, finally

The EGX’s first single-stock futures completed their first full lifecycle. September contracts expired at yesterday’s close, with CIB settling at EGP 131.75 and TMG at EGP 95, according to a statement (pdf). This is the first time an equity-linked derivative ran the full course from listing to final settlement on the Egyptian exchange. CIB’s contract went out 9.1% below its June listing price of EGP 145, while TMG’s ended 7.8% below its EGP 103 listing price, but the shares themselves fell only 3.6% and 2.1%, by our math.

The EGX lowered the initial margin on the upcoming December 2026 contracts to EGP 5.5k for the index (from EGP 5.9k) and to EGP 1.5k for both CIB and TMG (from EGP 1.6k).

The next round is already priced: The EGX30 index contract, on a six-month cycle since the March launch, settled at roughly 54.8k, up 4.2% from the 52.6k where the June contract went out. March 2027 contracts start trading today at EGP 149 on CIB, EGP 107 on TMG, and 61.1k on the index. Those are premiums of 13.1%, 12.6%, and 11.5% to yesterday’s closes, or roughly 25% annualized to carry a position to expiry.

REFRESHER- Derivatives are the centerpiece of the EGX’s push to modernize. Index futures kicked off in March as Egypt’s first-ever product, with single-stock contracts following in June on the exchange’s two most-traded names. Volumes have been thin so far. “When you place a derivative contract on stocks that people already like and see value in, it supports the chances of success,” Al Ahly Pharos head of research Hany Genena told us at the time.

A faster, cheaper route

Cosco made its first transit through the Suez Canal since the Red Sea crisis began, Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie said in a statement yesterday. The OOCL Portugal, a Cosco-group vessel with a 24k TEU capacity, crossed from Belgium toward China on an Ocean Alliance service, carrying 247k tons of cargo.

There’s been a broader return to Suez recently, but it’s still selective. CMA CGM sent its Vendome through the canal in June, marking the first southbound transit of its FAL3 service since January. MSC said it would partially restore Suez transits for its Indusa service, westbound only, while Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced that four more Gemini services would switch from the Cape of Good Hope to Suez.

The carrier-by-carrier return is beginning to show up in canal traffic. Container ships moved 72.1 mn tons of net tonnage through Suez in the first eight months of 2026, up 54.2% y-o-y from 46.7 mn tons. The uptick is positive, but regional tensions are still a near-term concern as containers return.

A slower, pricier route

Ukraine’s Danube bottleneck is tripling grain transit times to Egypt. Grain shipments from Ukraine are now taking more than a month, up from around 12 days, as vessels spend weeks waiting to enter and exit the Danube through the Sulina Canal, Reuters reports. Ukraine has rerouted its exports since Russian attacks effectively blocked its main Black Sea ports, which previously handled around 90% of the country’s grain exports.

The cost of getting grain to Egypt has also more than tripled. Shipping 1 tonne of grain from Danube ports to Egyptian ports costs around USD 105 as of 11 September, up from USD 30 on 11 July, when Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were still operating, according to the report. Ships are reportedly waiting roughly 15 days to enter the canal and another three days to exit, while a shortage of coaster tonnage willing to take the voyages is allowing owners to keep freight offers elevated.

What’s next: Autumn and winter weather could further risk Danube transit times heading into the colder months, Avalon Shipping’s Katerina Kononenko told Reuters.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story framed TrèFLE as though funding flowed to individual schools and asked where the money had gone. The program is a teacher-training and curriculum grant and does not disburse funds to schools. The earlier version also suggested the first phase might not have been evaluated while AFD has spoken on record that the first phase was externally evaluated, though the findings have not been made public at this time. We have corrected these points and restored AFD’s full response on teacher retention.

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is less than a month away — and here’s some of what’s shaping up on the agenda:

Where AI fits on the list of topics keeping CEOs awake at night
What AI means for your company, your team, your job, and your family
What’s the AI opportunity for Egypt
Building the AI infrastructure

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Attendance is by invitation only, and seats are filling up quickly.

Request your invitation here.

PSA-

WEATHER- It looks like today could be the last day of this late-summer heat wave in Cairo, with a high of 37°C and a low of 24°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Alexandria will be a little cooler, with a high of 32°C and a low of 24°C.

And over the weekend, expect a welcome cooldown in the capital (a high of 32-33°C) and milder conditions for our friends on the Mediterranean (a high of 28-29°C).

The big story abroad

News of the Fed’s rate hike is all over the front pages today. We dive into the decision, as well as its rationale and wider context in Planet Finance below.

In the AI world: Crux AI, the joint cloud venture launched by Alphabet and Blackstone, has secured USD 22 bn in debt financing from a 10-bank syndicate that includes Goldman Sachs and Barclays. The venture — which aims to bring its first 500 MW of capacity online next year — reflects a broader surge in AI infrastructure spending, where tech firms are raising bns of USD to fund data center construction to keep pace with soaring compute demand.

Atomic power behind AI revolution on hold? Nuclear energy player Holtec International has put its IPO plans on hold as a “perfect storm” affects the AI industry, company CEO Kris Singh said. The company — which has expanded into restarting a dormant Michigan nuclear facility and developing small modular reactors — had planned to raise USD 900 mn this week, while the US nuclear sector lines up tens of bns of USD to back the AI boom.

Major defaults in Turkey: Istanbul-based asset manager Tera Portfoy Yonetimi announced that two of its funds, managing USD 7.5 bn in assets, were unable to process investor redemptions. This news follows a default just one day prior by fellow Turkish manager Pusula Portfoy Yonetimi, which helped trigger a 7.7% plunge in the Borsa Istanbul 100 Index — its sharpest single-day loss since March 2025.

The EGX is asking for a full tax exemption on transferable-asset funds to pull stalled real estate into the bourse

The bourse has asked for a full income tax exemption on transferable-asset funds, aiming to revive investment funds through tax breaks and pull more capital into the market, two government officials tell EnterpriseAM. The EGX is also pushing to expand the list of exempt fund types from the five currently defined under Article 50 of the Income Tax Law (pdf) (debt instrument funds, listed-equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate investment funds, and charitable funds) to 38 categories. But the exchange “asked to focus on the full exemption for transferable-asset funds given the pressing need for it right now,” the officials say.

The request targets stalled real estate first. It is aimed at funds that invest in receivables-based funds, including products built on real-estate finance like mortgage-backed Ijarah funds, to bolt the property market onto the capital market. “Given the stalled projects out there, this can be a strong investment tool that draws fresh capital through the bourse,” the officials tell us.

Why now: New financial products built on securities tied to the real-estate sector are surging. Those products let investors take a cut of returns from the portfolios of securities rather than buying property directly — funneling money into real estate outside the traditional bank credit system. The first such vehicle — which Synergy Capital and Nawy Now billed as Egypt and the Middle East’s first transferable-asset fund backed by an Ijarah mortgage portfolio — launched in October 2025, raising EGP 443 mn. A second issuance closed earlier this month at EGP 633 mn, bringing the program to EGP 1.08 bn.

Each of the five exempted fund categories is subject to specific conditions like bank-deposit caps and minimum asset-allocation ratios. Transferable-asset funds — which invest in a broader range of financial rights such as mortgage receivables, lease-backed portfolios, and deferred payment obligations — fall outside that framework.

Gold, precious-metals, and carbon funds are also on the EGX’s wish list, alongside other fund types it’s trying to revive, the officials say. Precious-metals funds already operate under a Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) framework, with rules for custodians and trading counterparties, and the market has reached EGP 9.35 bn in net assets with 329k investors as of June 2026. Carbon funds investing in carbon-reduction certificates would work within the FRA’s voluntary carbon market rules.

Market experts are split

The EGX’s rally on the mere removal of the tax burden shows how tax-sensitive these instruments are, capital markets analyst Safaa Fares tells us. Exempting transferable-asset funds “will boost sectors affected by inflation, including real estate, and help overcome the current stagnation.” But the fix needs mortgage funds as new tools, she says, plus scrapping the double tax on both the asset and the fund’s returns. “That would encourage investors to take on risk and expand the launch of such funds.”

Not everyone agrees: Economist Walid Gaballah calls it a violation of tax equity — carve out real estate, and every sector will want the same treatment. Investment funds already hold developer shares, he points out. He argues that incentives should go to industry and agriculture, not prop up real estate bottom lines, and that the shrinking margins in property are a chance to redirect capital toward production. Gaballah says the market should be regulated through new mechanisms, such as ins. companies covering projects against exceptional circumstances. Any tax-exemption resolution should cover all investment funds, he argues.

What’s next: No legislative amendment is needed. “Additional fund types can be added to the exempt list by a decision from the finance minister, per the executive regulations of the Income Tax Law. That ensures quick implementation once the Tax Authority finishes its review,” one official says. The request is currently being studied by the Tax Authority.

The gov’t wants to add nearly 330 mmcf / d to domestic gas production by year-end, mostly from Zohr and West Mina

The government plans to add nearly 330 mmcf / d to domestic gas production before year-end, according to an Oil Ministry statement released yesterday after the Egas general assembly. Most of the gas will come from Zohr and West Mina in the Mediterranean, contributing a combined 250 mmcf / d before year-end. Another 80 mmcf / d is expected from the Western Desert’s Meleiha fields before end-September, following the completion of the second phase of a gas processing plant.

REMEMBER- This target is one piece of a wider upstream push. The Oil Ministry is lining up 160 new oil and gas wells this fiscal year backed by at least USD 7.2 bn in planned foreign-partner investment. Eni alone is planning 230 wells across its Mediterranean and Western Desert acreage over 2026 and 2027, while BP is chasing 1 tcf of potential gas reserves in the Mediterranean as part of a USD 1.5 bn investment plan. Shell’s Velox-1X well has recently confirmed an active petroleum system and the presence of crude oil in the Western Mediterranean — the basin’s deepest well to date. The ministry is also launching a phased 100k-sq-km seismic survey alongside a major concession offering of 70 blocks.

More from Egas: Egas plans to drill 16 wells in FY 2026/27 across seven offshore and nine onshore prospects, targeting an estimated 6 tcf of resources, Executive Managing Director Sayed Selim said. The company made nine discoveries in FY 2025/26 (eight gas, one oil), adding some 2.8 tcf of gas reserves — three exploratory gas wells are already being drilled and scheduled for completion before year-end. Egas also implemented nine gas field development projects and connected 28 wells to production, with investment totaling USD 1.12 bn. Egas is set to begin an East Mediterranean seismic survey in October, following a West Mediterranean survey that Selim said has already drawn fresh investment interest from TotalEnergies and Chevron.

Why it matters: Clearing the USD 6.1 bn arrears backlog was the precondition that unlocked this investment cycle. Oil Minister Karim Badawi framed the production push as recovery from a period when unpaid dues held back drilling and risked a deeper production decline. But even with capital flowing back in, offshore drilling and infrastructure development take years. A meaningful rebound in domestic output won’t materialize overnight, and near-term production gains from these announced targets will only partially offset the natural decline at mature fields.

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Applications close on 18 October 2026. Apply here.

Modon is looking for an EGP 35 bn syndicated loan to fund infrastructure in Wadi Yamm

UAE-based Modon Holding is seeking an EGP 35 bn syndicated loan to help fund infrastructure in Wadi Yamm, the first district of the Ras El Hekma megaproject, Asharq Business reports, citing two sources it says are familiar with the matter. FAB Misr is arranging and managing the facility, with local lenders and UAE banks operating in Egypt expected to participate, one source said.

IN CONTEXT- Modon has tendered more than EGP 80 bn in utilities, infrastructure, and residential construction work within Wadi Yamm to date, per the sources. The district — a coastal zone within the USD 35 bn Ras El Hekma masterplan — will feature residential units, hotels, two golf courses, a country club, and a 10k-seat open-air theater. Contracted sales reached around EGP 65 bn in the first eight months of 2026, the news outlet reports, citing data from The Board Consulting, pushing cumulative sales since the October 2025 launch to roughly EGP 144 bn.

Modon has drawn a steady run of contractors this year: Orascom Construction landed a EGP 15 bn package in January; a Rowad Modern Engineering-CCC consortium secured an EGP 10 bn roads and utilities package, and Hassan Allam was tapped to build the Montage Hotel & Branded Residences, both in July; and a Redcon Construction-Innovo consortium was awarded a c. EGP 12 bn package last week.

Buying into the outsourcing boom

US-based outsourcing firm InteLogix is scaling up in Egypt, opening its New Cairo headquarters after acquiring local operator Athear in October 2025, according to a statement (pdf). The company plans to grow its local workforce to more than 1.3k over the next three years from about 135. InteLogix — based in Utah with over 68 years of operating history — will provide customer experience, business process outsourcing, and IT services from Cairo, targeting markets speaking Arabic, Turkish, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese, with AI-enabled infrastructure.

IN CONTEXT- Egypt’s outsourcing push is still gathering pace. Sector exports reached USD 5.2 bn in 2025, with the government targeting USD 8 bn by 2028. InteLogix joins a fresh wave of international players scaling local delivery operations, including Spain’s Konecta, which is investing USD 100 mn to expand its AI hub.

A bloc, consolidated

B Investments is eyeing control of Madinet Masr’s largest shareholder: B Investments’ board signed off on acquiring 53.5% of Big Investment Group, a related shareholder that owns 20.4% of listed developer Madinet Masr for Housing and Development, according to a bourse filing (pdf). The EGX-listed private equity firm, which already holds a direct 7.66% stake in Madinet Masr, will pay Big’s shareholders in newly issued stock rather than cash. The transaction value, exchange ratio, and timeline were not disclosed.

The acquisition would hand B Investments an indirect look-through interest of another 10.9% in the developer — 53.5% of Big multiplied by Big’s 20.4% holding, by our math — while putting Big’s full voting bloc under its control.

OUR TAKE- This is likely only a restructuring. Both B Investments and Big are already treated as one shareholder group. Madinet Masr’s 2Q 2026 disclosure (pdf) folds B Investments’ direct stake in with Big’s, alongside Rimco EGT Investment (2.82%) and BPE Capital (0.05%), for a combined 30.97% of the developer — that’s double the state-owned Holding Company for Construction and Development’s 15.56%. The move would transition B Investments from one member of that group to majority-owner of the vehicle holding its largest stake.

What’s next: The transaction will now go to the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) before an EGM is called. The board also approved bringing in an FRA-registered independent financial adviser, though no one has been named for the mandate yet.

Paying in its own paper

Al Baraka Bank’s bid for AT Lease has drawn enough shares to go through. Shareholders tendered 273.7 mn shares into the bank’s mandatory tender offer (MTO) before it expired yesterday, according to and EGX disclosure. This clears the 51% minimum acceptance Al Baraka set when it published the offer last month. The count is preliminary, and the exchange has yet to confirm final accepted quantities.

Al Baraka pays for all of it in stock. The offer doesn’t carry a cash component, converting each AT Lease share into roughly 0.19 Al Baraka shares at a ratio set by BDO — which would put the bank on the hook for around 52.5 mn new shares, by our math, against the up to 63.2 mn it earmarked. Al Baraka has committed to keeping AT Lease listed and independent, with no merger into the bank, no asset sales, and no layoffs for 12 months after closing.

Gold bars, barred

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has banned consumer finance companies from transactions involving precious metal goods, including gold bullion and jewelry, as well as items made of silver and platinum, according to a statement. The watchdog based its decision on the classification of gold bullion and jewelry as investment tools rather than eligible consumer goods.

ALSO- The authority is mandating that consumer finance players report quarterly data on bank interest rates and consumer fees, starting with 2025 figures. This move aims to boost transparency, align rules with micro, small, and medium financing, and balance market growth with consumer protection.

More on our radar

The Communications Ministry signed an MoU with US tech giant Intel to provide AI training for 1 mn citizens a year over the next three years. (Statement)
Military Production Ministry subsidiary Tuya Technology also signed an MoU with Intel to drive local AI training, knowledge transfer, and technical support. (Statement)
Mastercard, Trip.com, and Network International are partnering to roll out an AI-powered booking tool, TripGenie, in early 2027, allowing travelers to search, book, and pay for trips through an AI agent. (Statement)

Fed hikes rates for the first time in three years

The US Federal Reserve unanimously voted to raise its key benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2023, hiking it by a quarter point to 3.75-4% as it looks to rein in inflation, according to a statement. This is Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first hike since taking over the central bank in May, and it sets up a test for his relationship with US President Donald Trump, who has spent months publicly pushing the Fed to cut.

The move was widely expected, with a Financial Times poll showing 50 out of 51 economists chose a raise as the best option — most favoring the 25 bps move, though 14% argued the war’s escalation warranted a bigger hike of 50 bps.

The White House wasted no time reacting. On Fox News, just after the announcement of the rate hike, spokesman Kush Desai called it “a rather unfortunate decision by the Federal Reserve” that was “not, from the administration’s point of view, backed by a particularly compelling economic case.”

The rationale: New global tariffs, energy shocks from the regional war, and heavy AI-related capex have kept price pressures elevated: headline CPI rose 3.4% year-on-year in August, and the Fed’s own updated forecasts now put headline PCE inflation at 3.7% for the year, with core PCE at 3.4% — both nowhere near the 2% target. The median FOMC dot doesn’t see 2% being reached until 2029. Warsh said inflation has been “too high ... for too long” at his post-decision press conference.

Key context: Earlier this week, 10-year US Treasury yields surged past 5% to reach levels not seen since the 2008 financial crash, underscoring the friction between heavy global sovereign debt and surprisingly durable economic expansion. Leaving rates unchanged when the market heavily anticipated a move would have pushed bond yields even higher, former Pimco co-chief exec Mohamed El Erian said.

REMEMBER- The last meeting saw the Fed hold its benchmark rate at 3.5-3.75% for the fifth time in a row, with three regional Fed presidents voting in favor of a 25 bps raise. At the time, analysts had priced in a hike for September after the regional war slashed predictions of a cut sometime this year.

What’s next: The dot plot suggests the Fed isn’t done this year — 16 out of 18 officials (Warsh again declined to submit a projection) penciled in at least one more hike in 2026, with four of them seeing two more, while two expect the Fed to stop here. That tracks with a pre-meeting UBS note expecting a second 25 bps hike in December — though the bank flagged that a cooling in six-month annualized inflation toward 2.5% by year-end could still prompt a holdoff.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian stocks edged higher in early trading, as Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi rose around 0.3%. Meanwhile, US equities fell across the board after the Fed’s decision to hike rates.

EGX30	54,823	-0.2% (YTD: +31.1%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 52.14	Sell 52.28
USD (CIB)	Buy 52.15	Sell 52.25
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	10,780	-0.0% (YTD: +2.8%)
ADX	10,114	-0.2% (YTD: +1.2%)
DFM	5,967	+0.7% (YTD: -1.3%)
S&P 500	7,552	-0.5% (YTD: +10.3%)
FTSE 100	10,688	+0.3% (YTD: +7.6%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,267	+0.5% (YTD: +8.1%)
Brent crude	USD 105.83	-2.7%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.89	+0.1%
Gold	USD 4,313	-1.7%
BTC	USD 75,937	+0.0% (YTD: -13.7%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,117	+0.1% (YTD: +12.5%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	148.59	-0.1% (YTD: -2.2%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	17.71	+3.0% (YTD: +18.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.2% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 10 bn (14.2% below the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 31.1% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+4.7%), Heliopolis Housing (+2.9%), and AMOC (+2.8%).

In the red: Ibnsina Pharma (-3.0%), Eastern Company (-2.0%), and E-finance (-1.1%).

My Morning Routine: Nadine Okasha, Sodic’s chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer

Nadine Okasha, chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer at Sodic: 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 Nadine Okasha (LinkedIn), chief strategy, brand, and sustainability officer at Sodic.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’ve changed from high-speed mornings to a conscious decision to slow down. I used to wake up, check my email, get my kids ready, and fit in a 90-minute yoga session or a long walk before heading to the office — often reading EnterpriseAM before 7 am. Nowadays, I start slower. I linger over coffee on the couch and hold off on email until 8 am, though I do not always succeed. I have also moved my workouts to the evenings, which I find easier on my nervous system and better for staying grounded through the day.

I call my role brand leadership — an integrated approach that keeps our business direction and communication aligned with what shareholders and customers expect. Day to day, that means building a five-year strategy with teams across the company, grounded in analytics and market intelligence — then carrying it through into the brand communication and customer journeys that bring it to life. Sustainability shapes how we build, sell, and communicate along the way.

I trained as a chemical engineer and have spent 16 of Sodic’s 30 years helping steer it through market and leadership changes. Sodic has held a position of credibility in Egypt’s real estate market since its founding, with the same ethos of excellence and accountability holding steady since it went public at its inception. The real test now is sustainable growth: healthy sales and earnings are not hard on their own, but doing both while delivering on time and on promise is what separates strong developers from the rest, especially as affordability tightens and incomes catch up with post-devaluation price increases.

Customers have become far more discerning after several cycles of sales through delivery. They can tell developers who deliver from those who only promise, and the longest payment plan is no longer enough to secure buyers. Livability is the other big shift: what used to be a nice-to-have is now expected, built in from the start, not bolted on later. That shift is driving Sodic’s investment in sustainability and wellness, because the promise now has to be bigger and more personal than simply “live, work, and play.”

No two days look the same for me, and that is what keeps the job interesting. My scope covers strategic planning, operations, and a fair amount of firefighting, mostly from the office, with site visits every week or two. Site visits are my favorite — watching a project come to life in person is genuinely gratifying. I also enjoy the long stretches building strategy decks and the push that comes with a big deadline.

My one constant is my second coffee at 11 am. Staying organized comes down to a habit I have kept for 16 years: a single to-do page, updated every Thursday, printed out on Sunday, and scribbled on all week as new items come up. If it is not written down, it does not happen — that is how nothing slips through the cracks.

Professionally, I want to invest in my own learning again. Nearly 18 years after Wharton, I am exploring executive programs that could broaden my thinking, and I would like to explore teaching business students too. Personally, I am working on holding my forearm stand for longer than 16 counts. Yoga remains a big part of my life, and raising three boys keeps things lively.

I manage my stress levels first, and everything else about balance follows. I stay almost constantly connected given what I do, but I have learned to stay calm through most of it. A calm nervous system makes for a clear mind, and a clear mind is a productive one. That is the real hack behind my balance.

I make room for personal time as long as work is on track and targets are met. I stay agile enough to move with the workload as it ebbs and flows. Sodic’s workplace is competitive, but it genuinely values family, and that combination holds significant weight for me.

I switch off by reading, writing, and sitting outside in the quiet. Time with close, lifelong friends keeps me grounded — without it, you lose sight of why you do everything else. I am a tough grader with books, but Sophie’s World, One Hundred Years of Solitude, A Long Petal of the Sea, and the Neapolitan novels all made the cut. I listen to Eckhart Tolle and Dr. Joe Dispenza, and my husband and I are currently deep in The Tudors after falling down a 1500s rabbit hole we cannot climb out of.

Always pick the option that leaves you with the most future choices — that is the best advice I have ever received, and it came from my mother. It is a simple rule but has served me well at nearly every turn.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

15 September (Tuesday): IMF to hold its eighth review of Egypt’s USD 8 bn EFF arrangement.

24 September (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s sixth meeting of 2026.

27-29 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Global Conference on Population, Health, and Human Development.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Egypt Mining Forum, St. Regis Hotel New Capital.

30 September - October 3 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

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.

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.

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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