The end of custom-free phone imports

Wednesday, 21 Jan 2026

The end of custom-free phone imports

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Today at a glance

The Big Story Today

No more exempting imported mobile phones from customs.

M&A WATCH

Dutch court slams brakes on Orascom merger.

What We're Tracking Today

Gourmet to temporarily list 400 mn shares on the EGX starting today.

Manufacturing

SCZone to welcome two new projects worth a combined USD 1.3 bn.

Also on our Radar

HDP launches EGP 50 bn Grand Lane in New Cairo.

PLANET FINANCE

Two-speed China: exports fly, corporate profits lag.

HARDHAT

Why the last mile is still Egypt’s biggest delivery problem — and how startups are trying to fix it.

What We're Tracking Today

Gourmet to temporarily list 400 mn shares on the EGX starting today

Good morning, wonderful people. We have a big issue for you on this very windy Cairo morning.

Up first: No more customs-free mobile phone for you. The Finance Ministry has rescinded a year-old ruling that granted Egyptians a once-every-three-years exemption from customs and taxes when they bring a new smartphone into the country. In personal terms, it’s mildly annoying — and it’s also very smart policy, wiping out a grey market in smuggled handsets. We have the full rundown on everything you need to know, whether you’re a resident of Egypt, an Egyptian living abroad, here for a business trip, or coming in as a tourist.

Cabinet is going to get a lot of pushback on this — and while it sucks for us individually, we hope they stick to their guns.

AND- A big warning to Planet Startup and anyone else who has incorporated in the Netherlands in the last decade: A Dutch court just threw into question the big OCI Global / Orascom Construction merger. It’s a transaction that’s been widely cheered in MENA, but a Dutch judge thinks it smacks of conflict of interest — and that it might somehow inconvenience a retail shareholder who might *gasp* have to open an ADX brokerage account.

^^ We have the full rundown on these stories and more in this morning’s news well, below.

***

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***

AND- Gaze into your crystal ball and tell us — how do you feel about 20206? Tap or click here to take our annual EnterpriseAM Executive Sentiment Survey and let us know what you think about:

Whether business conditions will improve in 2026;
The biggest issue your business faces today;
What you think AI will mean for your company;
Where you see the EGP vs the USD this year;
And more…

PSA- Banks will be closed on Thursday, 29 January in observance of Police Day, the CBE announced yesterday. The public and private sectors will also be off for the day.

WEATHER- Cairo is in for dusty winds and a 20% chance of rain. Look for the mercury to rise to 22°C with an overnight low of 15°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Happening today

It’s day three of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos — and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is set to take the stage. El Sisi has landed in Switzerland and is set to give a special address to forum attendees in just a few hours. Shortly after El Sisi takes the stage US President Donald Trump will deliver his special address — which we’re waiting with equal amounts of curiosity and apprehension.

The two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the forum, according to an Ittihadiya statement. We expect the two sides to discuss Trump’s proposal to mediate the resolution of the Egypt-Ethiopia GERD dispute.

On day two of the forum, Investment Minister Hassan El Khatib took to Bloomberg to plug the country’s reform agenda, saying that “the numbers are telling, when you look at reserves, when you look at the remittances of Egyptians working abroad jumping from USD 18 bn last year to USD 37 bn, the reserves exceed USD 51 bn to date.” El Khatib also pointed to inflation falling from a peak of 38% to 12.3% and efforts to promote the private sector.

Additionally, the minister argued that “global trends and shifts in the supply chain [are] a positive dynamic for Egypt,” pointing to the country’s geographic position between continents, freetrade agreements, and competitiveness.

ON THE SIDELINES- El Khatib and Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk met with ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli, who confirmed that ACWA has bid for three upcoming mega-desalination plants to be tendered under the Public-Private Partnership model in the coming weeks.

Happening tomorrow

The search for the perfect executive: Egyptian-Swiss Business Circle and SwissCham Egypt will host a webinar on the future of talent and leadership tomorrow featuring Boyden executives from Cairo and Zurich.The discussion will touch on how organizations in the Middle East and Europe are rethinking executive pipelines to identify "tomorrow's leaders.” The webinar will start at 10am and run until 11:30am. You can find the link to register on SwissCham Egypt’s LinkedIn.

Staying on target

Egypt wants to boost financial inclusion among adults to 80% by FY 2029-30, up from the 76.3% rate recorded in the last fiscal year, according to a document from a government document seen by EnterpriseAM.

But the targets reveal a growing discrepancy — progress for women is projected to grow at only half the speed of the general adult population. The target for women is set at 72% — coming into the system at a rate that’s about half the speed of the general population. It’s the same story for those aged 15-35, where the inclusion rate is projected to grow by 0.5 percentage points annually to 56.5% by the end of June 2030.

MNT-Halan CEO Mounir Nakhla tells us the gap is largely a paperwork problem. Women are often more intimidated by traditional bank branches, making the rollout of digital signatures an important milestone for closing the gap. In the microfinance space — where digital-first onboarding is more common — women already outpace men.

** Nakhla took the stage only yesterday at Davos to talk about Women at the Finance Frontier. You can check out the session here.

Watch this space

IPO WATCH — The EGX’s listing committee approved the temporary listing of Gourmet, according to a bulletin. Some 400 mn shares with a nominal value of EGP 0.25 will be listed on the bourse starting today, bringing the company’s issued capital to EGP 100 mn.

Look for Gourmet shares to start trading next month under the ticket GOUR.CA. The temporary listing approval is a standard box-ticking procedure as our favorite grocer marches down the road to becoming a publicly traded company.

SHIPPING — CMA CGM is signalling caution about the return to the Red Sea shipping lane, after it said it will reroute vessels on its French-Asia Line 1, French-Asia Line 2, and Mediterranean Club Express back through the Cape of Good Hope. The company cited a “complex and uncertain international context” in its statement, but did not explain the exact drivers of the decision. Its Indamex Service, though, will continue going through the Suez Canal.

Why it matters: The decision, which comes after the French shipping giant tested Red Sea transits for the three affected services in 4Q 2025. Maersk has also returned to the canal, we reported earlier this week, rerouting its MECL service connecting India and the Middle East to the US East Coast. It’s not just security concerns that the big shipping lines weigh when they debate whether to reactivate or mothball a line — demand for many lines is already saturated, and bringing back fresh capacity out-of-step with demand could push freight rates down.

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The big story abroad

Is “Sell America” back? A sharp selloff hit Wall Street last night, as US President Donald Trump stood his ground on plans to take over Greenland despite European opposition.

All three Wall Street indices fell to their lowest since October, with the S&P 500 down 2.1%. At the same time: The USD slid 0.9% against a basket of six peers, gold surged to a record high, and long-term US yields hit a four-month high.

Meanwhile, a historic rout in Japanese bonds sent yields above 4% for the first time ever on concerns over the country’s fiscal health, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called for a snap election which could hand her a mandate to pursue stimulus plans, including the removal of a food sales tax.

Adding fuel to the fire: Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said it will exit US Treasuries by the end of the month on the back of concerns that the current administration has created too many credit risks.

What to watch: Trump will be landing in Davos today, where he is set to schedule a few meetings to discuss Greenland.

ALSO- Netflix is tightening its screws in the Warner Bros takeover race: The streamer is converting its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery into an allcash offer, matching one key advantage offered by Paramount Skydance’s Gulf-backed bid, Bloomberg reports, citing a filing. Netflix had previously proposed USD 27.75 per share using a mix of banknotes and stock for Warner’s studio and streaming assets. Investors are set to vote on the transaction in April.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We look at what startups are doing to make last mile delivery more efficient.

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EGX What We're Tracking Today

Education with perspective. At Somabay, learning is about opening minds and shaping perspective. On 23 January, SBMUN will bring young voices together for dialogue, diplomacy, and shared understanding, set within a destination that encourages curiosity, confidence, and a wider view of the world.

The Big Story Today

Egypt ends phone import customs exemption to boost local industry

Your chance to bring in a phone from abroad without being charged customs fees is now gone, after the Madbouly government ended the exemption, which granted Egyptians the right to bring in one handset without customs or taxes (equivalent to 37.5% of the customs value of the device) every three years. This comes almost a year after the policy on personal mobile-phone imports was first introduced.

The message is clear: Buy local. The government is signaling that the local smartphone industry can now meet domestic demand, with 15 international smartphone players now assembling here. Together, they have a production capacity of c. 20 mn units a year.

What does this mean for Egyptians living abroad, but home for a visit? Egyptian expats will get a 90-day exemption from the customs and fees, renewable with each visit, provided they contact a dedicated hotline to activate the grace period, Customs Authority Head Ahmad Amawi tells EnterpriseAM.

As for tourists and folks in town for business? They’ll automatically get a 90-day exemption from the customs and fees when they purchase a local tourist line — the exemption period resets with every visit, Amawi says. Anyone who keeps using their international SIM card while visiting will not be subject to fees.

What’s next? You can pay the necessary customs and fees for importing a mobile through the Telephony app or using digital payment methods offered by banks and e-wallets and installment payment will soon be available. Users will have a 90-day grace period from the device's first activation date to pay what they owe.

Our take

It’s frustrating personally, but it’s also smart policy: Why should grey- and black-market retailers (and global handset makers) have a back-door to one of the world’s most populous markets? Made-in-Egypt goods — from shoes to clothing, office supplies, and ball bearings — are increasingly the purchase of choice for Egyptian consumers and businesses adjusting to our new exchange-rate reality. By restricting the flow of individual imports — often resold through informal channels — the Finance Ministry is capturing taxes for the treasury and giving a boost to businesses that have invested in assembly capacity (and legit resale relationships).

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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customs TECH THE BIG STORY TODAY trade

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M&A WATCH

OCI halts Orascom merger vote following court order, proceeds with ammonia sale

A Dutch court just threw a spanner in Orascom’s works — and it’s a warning to every Egyptian company that set up shop in the Netherlands. Dutch-listed fertilizer giant OCI Global will remove its proposed merger with EGX- and ADX-listed Orascom Construction from the agenda of tomorrow’s shareholder meeting after a ruling from the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that effectively blocks the transaction, according to a press release (pdf) and a court ruling.

The court sided with minority shareholders, giving credence to their allegations of conflicts of interest as well as their claim that investor protections on the ADX are somehow lesser. The court ruled that moving Orascom’s listing to the ADX could harm their interests, saying that most Dutch brokers do not offer access to the Abu Dhabi exchange. That would, the plaintiffs argued, effectively force retail investors to sell at a loss or navigate complex bureaucratic hurdles to continue as shareholders.

The court also found it concerning that OCI’s CEO handled the negotiations with Orascom while also being a non-executive board member at Orascom — and felt that the board was simply following Nassef Sawiris’ preferences. And it zeroed in on a standard disclaimer in a Beltone report on the transaction that notes the work wasn’t legally independent research, but for marketing purposes. OCI used the Beltone report to defend the valuation in the transaction.

What got blocked: The merger would have seen OCI shareholders swap their stock for roughly 97.8 mn Orascom Construction shares at an exchange ratio of 0.46 Orascom share for each OCI share, based on equity values of USD 1.52 bn for Orascom and USD 1.35 bn for OCI. The board formally approved issuing 97.2 mn new Orascom shares at a USD 12.79 premium, with the remaining 561.8k shares coming from OCI’s existing stake in the company.

Why it matters: This would have seen the two Nassef Sawiris-backed firms combine into a single Abu Dhabi-based infrastructure and investment platform. If the merger ultimately goes through, the combined group would start with a liquidity position that could surpass USD 1.5 bn, giving it substantial room to scale its infrastructure strategy, according to a CI Capital note seen by EnterpriseAM.

What was not blocked: Shareholders will still vote on the sale of OCI Ammonia Holding, allowing the company to raise cash even as the merger is frozen.

What’s next: Two temporary independent directors now oversee the board, giving them veto power over any merger. The Sawiris family must either revise the offer to satisfy the new directors or abandon the transaction and pursue another strategy.

Our take

This is the downside of setting up shop in an offshore jurisdiction, as many Egyptian companies have done in the Netherlands in the past 7-10 years. (We’re looking at you in particular, Planet Startup.)

The mere fact that a jurisdiction is in the West doesn’t mean the legal system will be any more amenable to your plans than ours would have been. Faster? Sure. Better-equipped to handle vanilla disputes? Yes. Recognize and understand all of the provisions of a modern shareholders’ agreement? Yup. But also … European. It’s a jurisdiction that takes minority shareholder rights seriously, where activist investors are a thing, and there the letter of the law is enforced in a — naturally enough — European way.

In this case, that means living with the view of a Dutch judge who apparently believes opening an ADX brokerage account is akin to being asked to learn how to do particle physics.

What Orascom is trying to do here wouldn’t cause a single raised eyebrow in MENA, but when you set up a BV to get seamless dividend management, consistent capital gains treatments, the honoring of complex shareholder agreements, and all the rest? Well, you also get the full Dutch judicial system alongside a requirement that you have substantial business presence in the Netherlands.

Sound smart: Many big Egyptian names have set up shop in the Netherlands in the past decade to capture revenues offshore during the last two currency crises, be more tax efficient, and ensure that complex, modern shareholder agreements are enforceable. A handful of big companies like OC paved the way, but the Netherlands became a destination of choice for Egyptian startups, in particular.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

Tags:

M&A Watch OCI Global

Manufacturing

SCZone to welcome two new projects worth a combined USD 1.3 bn !_StoryHedWeb_! Egypt to welcome two new projects worth a combined USD 1.3 bn

USD 1.3 bn worth of new projects are heading the Suez Canal Economic Zone’s way, after they were greenlit by the Ministerial Group for Industrial Development.

#1- A USD 1 bn project for the production of pesticides, chlorine, and alkali products — all core chemical inputs used across several sectors, including agriculture, water treatment, food processing, and manufacturing. This new plant will help us slash our import bill, seeing that we currently rely on imports to meet local demand for these products.

#2- A USD 291 mn tire manufacturing plant, which would support the government’s push to localize the production of automotive components. The localization of tires and other auto parts is high on the government’s list, especially as it looks to position the country as an automotive manufacturing hub.

PLUS- Three new cement factories will be up and running within a year after securing the green light from the group, each with a single production line. The group also approved the expansion of several other cement plants. The new licenses and expansions are expected to equip local manufacturers for a spike in demand in preparation for Gaza’s reconstruction and help stabilize prices.

We also expect local demand for cement to pick up in the short term, driven by the implementation of massive national projects and the reinstatement of the 2008 building law, which will contribute to stimulating private construction activity. Demand is also on the rise from regional and international markets, which creates significant prospects for local factories to boost exports, Federation of Egyptian Industries Egyptian Cement Division Chairman Ahmed Shireen Korayem has previously told us.

** The statement didn’t disclose any details about the owners of the projects.

AND- Turkey’s Eroglu Global Holding will set up its fourth project in Qantara West Industrial Zone, a USD 175 mn carton and packaging factory. The 70k sqm facility is set to export 50% of its output and create 2k direct jobs.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

Tags:

cement Manufacturing Suez Canal Economic Zone

LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS

Talk shows take on the new mobile phone import rules

Talk shows last night were fixated on the government’s decision to scrap customs exemptions for mobile phones brought in by travelers from abroad.

The House is pushing back: House Budget Committee Deputy Chair Abdel Moneim Emam slammed the decision during a call with Lamees El Hadidi on Al Sora (watch, runtime: 16:49). Emam argued that Egyptians living abroad should be granted an exemption for at least one handset per year as a perk for their contribution to the economy. He highlighted a massive price discrepancy between locally-assembled handsets and those sold in Gulf markets.

The gov’t defense — it’s to support local industry: Deputy Finance Minister for Taxes Sherif Al Kilani defended the move to El Hadidi, urging a shift in focus toward supporting domestic manufacturing. Al Kilani rejected the price-gap claims, asserting that domestic units are significantly cheaper than their imported counterparts.

The industry stats: Around 92% of the mobile brands purchased by Egyptians are now manufactured locally, NTRA spokesperson Mohamed Ibrahim told Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 11:02). The spokesperson noted that 50% of all handsets sold in Egypt last year were made in Egypt.

** Check out our full coverage of the decision in the news well, above.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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customs LAST NIGHT’S TALK SHOWS trade

Also on our Radar

HDP launches EGP 50 bn Grand Lane residential development in New Cairo

The Housing and Development Bank’s Housing and Development Properties (HDP) launched a EGP 50 bn residential project in New Cairo, Grand Lane, according to a statement. The 98-feddan project offers a range of residential units, including apartments, townhouses, and standalone villas. The project is offering long-term payment plans stretching up to 14 years.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR real estate

PLANET FINANCE

China’s export boom masks a domestic squeeze

China’s exports hit record highs in 2025, generating a USD 1.2 tn trade surplus, even as exporters faced an uphill battle during the year to tap new markets amid freefalling US orders. The shift, exporters tell Reuters, came at a hefty price tag in exchange for smaller, less profitable orders and more work, despite headline numbers suggesting a thriving global trade picture.

The export growth followed a pivot away from the US after President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes cut American orders by about a third. Chinese exporters shifted to markets in South America and Africa, where buyers often negotiated tougher terms and smaller orders. Meanwhile, industrial bottom lines fell 13.1% in November, the fastest decline in over a year.

A two-speed economy

Strong exports masked weaknesses at home: While China’s GDP grew 5% during the year, investment shrank, and consumption remained sluggish, Bloomberg notes. Government incentives, including a USD 72 bn loan-backing facility and interest subsidies for SMEs, aim to boost domestic spending and private investment. Still, interventionist policies, overcapacity, and declining household demand have left industrial profitability and wages under pressure.

Frontline realities

Manufacturers in China are struggling to keep their factories running, with widespread job cuts leaving many factories nearly empty, according to the Financial Times. The number of struggling companies — or “zombie companies” — has reached 12% of the total registered companies, more than doubling since 2018, according to a study by Natixis’ chief Asia-Pacific economist, Alicia García-Herrero.

The contrast highlights China’s economic divide, as exports surge while domestic industries struggle, leaving workers and households with stagnant wages, layoffs, and few prospects, the FT claims. Analysts expect the divide to widen as Beijing doubles down on its export-led growth by supporting its high-tech sector to compete with the US — allowing the housing market to keep deflating.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background and outside sources.)

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asia-Pacific markets are broadly in the red once again this morning, weighed down by Washington’s threats of imposing tariffs on European countries over Greenland. Investors continued to pour into safe havens, driving up gold prices even further. The Hang Seng Index and mainland China’s CSI 300 are just marginally in the green, while other markets including Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi are trading down. Futures indicate Wall Street is in for a better start to trading, with Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures trading up.

EGX30	45,905	+1.9% (YTD: +9.7%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 47.43	Sell 47.56
USD (CIB)	Buy 47.44	Sell 47.54
Interest rates (CBE)	20.00% deposit	21.00% lending
Tadawul	10,912	0.0% (YTD: +4.0%)
ADX	10,196	+0.3% (YTD: +2.0%)
DFM	6,375	+0.5% (YTD: +5.4%)
S&P 500	6,797	-2.1% (YTD: -0.7%)
FTSE 100	10,127	-0.7% (YTD: +2.0%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,892	-0.6% (YTD: +1.7%)
Brent crude	USD 64.16	-1.2%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.88	-0.8%
Gold	USD 4,838	+1.5%
BTC	USD 88,917	-4.0% (YTD: +1.5%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,002.79	+0.1% (YTD: +1.0%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	151.64	0.0% (YTD: -0.2%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	20.09	+6.6% (YTD: +34.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.9% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 7.5 bn (39.7% above the 90-day average). International investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 9.7% YTD.

In the green: Telecom Egypt (+8.4%), E-finance (+7.0%), and ADIB (+5.3%).

In the red: Egypt Aluminum (-2.6%), Arabian Cement (-1.6%), and Juhayna (-1.4%).

Tags:

China Financial Markets Planet Finance

HARDHAT

Why the last mile is still Egypt’s biggest delivery problem — and how startups are trying to fix it

Egypt’s logistics stack looks solid on paper. Ports have expanded, customs procedures have improved, and warehouse capacity has grown rapidly alongside e-commerce. But the system still often breaks down just before the doorstep. The last mile — the final handoff from courier to customer — remains one of Egypt’s most expensive and unreliable legs of the delivery process. And for e-commerce platforms and couriers, it is where margins go to die.

The structural drag on deliveries

“The last mile is notoriously difficult in Egypt,” Pargo Egypt Senior Operations Manager Adham Elmolla tells EnterpriseAM. He pointed to vague addresses, dense traffic, and customers who are rarely home during delivery windows. The result, he says, is a cycle of missed deliveries, repeated attempts, and constant phone coordination between couriers and customers — something we think all our readers have had more than enough experience with.

Informal housing compounds the issue. Without reliable addressing, drivers depend on landmarks and live directions — adding time and fuel costs to every drop-off. In gated communities, security procedures often prevent drivers from entering freely, creating further delays. Each failed delivery attempt adds direct costs for couriers and indirect costs for retailers, from customer complaints to returns and lost trust.

The pivot away from the front door

To break that cycle, some logistics players are abandoning home delivery altogether. One approach comes from Imbox, which installs automated smart lockers that act as shared pickup and drop-off points. Instead of shipping to a home address, customers select a nearby locker during checkout. “We are solving the last-mile delivery bottleneck,” IMbox founder and CEO Ayman Hendawy tells EnterpriseAM. The core problem, he explains, is failed delivery attempts. “For logistics companies, those failures are a major cost driver. For customers, they are a constant source of frustration,” he adds.

Once a courier deposits a parcel, the customer receives a QR code and can collect it at any time. Hendawy says Imbox lockers are currently installed in malls, gas stations, gated communities, and transport hubs — locations designed to fit naturally into daily routines. “For logistics firms, this replaces brick-and-mortar offices with automated stations,” Hendawy says, adding that local manufacturing allows Imbox to customize and scale faster than imported locker systems.

He also frames lockers as a sustainability play. By consolidating multiple home deliveries into a single drop-off point, Hendawy says Imbox cuts courier mileage, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions — turning last-mile efficiency into a way to make the sector more environmentally sustainable.

Click-and-collect via neighborhood shops

Pargo is tackling the same problem from a different angle — delivering parcels to neighborhood shops instead of lockers or homes.

“The idea is to decouple the courier from the customer,” Elmolla explains. Couriers deliver to a verified business location — a Pargo Point — ensuring first-time delivery success. Customers then collect their parcels at their convenience, using a one-time PIN sent via SMS, email, or WhatsApp.

Pargo’s network includes convenience chains, fintech hubs, and local retailers. For shop owners, Elmolla says, the value goes beyond logistics. “Thirty to fifty percent of customers who come in to collect a parcel end up making a purchase,” he says, turning delivery into a footfall driver rather than a disruption.

What’s working — and what’s holding things back

Both models share the same advantage of consolidation. Delivering dozens of parcels to one location is cheaper, faster, and more predictable than door-to-door delivery. But scaling in Egypt comes with unique constraints.

Hendawy says Imbox’s biggest challenge has been market education. “Smart lockers are standard in Europe and the GCC, but they are still new to the Egyptian market,” he says. Convincing retailers, property managers, and developers that shared delivery infrastructure is essential — not optional — takes time.

Elmolla points to payment behavior as a critical barrier. “When we launched in Egypt, the reliance on [paper payments] was a challenge we hadn’t seen in other markets,” he says. Pargo responded by building a pay-on-collection option, allowing customers to pay with banknotes at pickup points — a move Elmolla describes as the missing link to mass-market adoption.

What Egypt can learn from other markets

In Europe and the GCC, lockers and pickup points expanded quickly thanks to clear addressing systems, automation, and cooperation between municipalities, property developers, and logistics operators. Hendawy argues similar coordination is needed locally. He says government support — particularly streamlined permits for installing lockers in public spaces — would accelerate adoption and encourage large e-commerce platforms to integrate alternative delivery models.

The big picture

Egypt’s last-mile problem is no longer about infrastructure at ports or warehouses; it is about micro-infrastructure in neighborhoods — and whether consumers are willing to stop expecting parcels at their doors. “With a 100% success rate on first-time delivery, the logic is hard to ignore,” Elmolla says. The question is whether lockers and pickup points remain niche solutions — or become the default way Egypt finally cracks its hardest mile.

Tags:

ECOMMERCE Hardhat infrastructure logistics retail

CALENDAR

2026

JANUARY

19-23 January (Monday-Friday): World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland

22 January (Thursday): ESBC SEEING webinar, From Zurich to Cairo: How Global Executive Research Shapes Tomorrow’s Leadership.

25 January (Sunday): Revolution Day / Police Day.

FEBRUARY

3 February (Tuesday): S&P Global to release PMI figures for January.

10 February (Tuesday): Capmas expected to release inflation data for January.

10-12 February (Tuesday-Thursday): Gitex Global’s AI Everything Middle East & Africa Summit

12 February (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s first meeting of 2026.

19 February (Thursday): First day of Ramadan (TBC).

MARCH

15 March (Sunday): IMF to hold its seventh review of Egypt’s USD 8 bn EFF arrangement.

21 March: (Saturday): Eid El Fitr starts (TBC).

30 March - 1 April (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt International Energy Conference and Exhibition 2026 (EGYPES)

APRIL

2 April (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s second meeting of 2026.

12 April (Sunday): Coptic Easter.

25 April (Saturday): Sinai Liberation Day.

MAY

1 May (Friday): Labor Day.

21 May (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s third meeting of 2026.

27-29 May (Wednesday-Friday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

JUNE:

30 June (Tuesday): National holiday in observance of June 30 Revolution (TBC).

JULY

9 July (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s fourth meeting of 2026.

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

AUGUST

20 August (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s fifth meeting of 2026.

26 August (Wednesday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

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.

OCTOBER

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

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

DECEMBER

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

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

Early 2026: Passenger operations on the New Administrative Capital–Nasr City monorail scheduled to begin.

Early 2026: The government will launch the second package of tax breaks.

1Q 2026: Trial operations for the Ain Sokhna–Sixth of October section of Egypt’s first high-speed rail line scheduled to begin.

1Q 2026: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to visit Egypt

May 2026: End of extension for developers on 15% interest rates for land installment payments

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

2027

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

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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