{"id":567848,"date":"2020-12-09T03:48:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T03:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/12\/09\/what-were-tracking-on-9-december-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-12-09T03:48:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T03:48:13","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-9-december-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/12\/09\/what-were-tracking-on-9-december-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 9 December 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to Wednesday<\/strong>, where the big news remains the rollout of Pfizer and BioNTech\u2019s covid-19 vaccine in the UK \u2014 the first widescale vaccination campaign with an internationally tested jab. The news dominates front pages across the globe this morning, from the Financial Times<\/a> to the New York Times<\/a>. All eyes now shift to the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration should give Pfizer regulatory approval in the coming days.<\/p>\n

We have lots more on the fight against covid here in Egypt <\/strong>below, as the government continues to warn us all to take things seriously as we\u2019re still months away from a vaccine making an appearance in Egypt.<\/p>\n

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A (WELCOME) SIGN OF THE TIMES- <\/strong>Elissar Farah Antonios has become the first woman to head Citigroup\u2019s MENA operations, Bloomberg<\/a> reports. Antonios, who has headed the bank\u2019s operations in the UAE, Levant and Iraq since 2009, will also join the Europe, Middle East and Africa committee, reporting to Atiq Rehman, who heads Citi\u2019s EMEA business.<\/p>\n

Oil companies and banks have hired the Pope to tell them how to stop polluting<\/strong> the planet and evading taxes.<\/strong> Big business will be consulting with Pope Francis on ESG goals in what will soon become the cartoonishly named Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, the New York Times<\/a> reports. The council will bring together 27 \u201cGuardians for Inclusive Capitalism\u201d (or, \u201cbusiness executives,\u201d if you\u2019re a normal person) with the Pope to discuss how to make capitalism more socially responsible.<\/p>\n

Three Shell executives in charge of clean energy have resigned<\/strong> over frustrations with the oil giant\u2019s slow transition to green energy sources ahead of Shell\u2019s anticipated February announcement of its plans to transform into a net zero emissions business, the Financial Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the topic of doing what\u2019s right in business:<\/strong> Add the FT\u2019s Martin Wolf<\/a> to the chorus of voices saying that Milton Friedman was wrong \u2014 companies really do have responsibilities other than to \u201cmaximize shareholder value.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nuclear war, there will be Cher, cockroaches, and Facebook\u2019s crypto ambitions: <\/strong>That\u2019s right, folks: El Face hasn\u2019t given up its crypto ambitions. Having rebranded its Libra \u2018stablecoin\u2019 following regulatory pushback, the social media overlord is hoping to launch a currency it\u2019s calling Diem its Novi e-wallet in 2021, David Marcus, who heads Facebook Financial, was quoted as saying by CNBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yeah, we\u2019re in that kind of mood this morning. <\/strong>Little wonder, then, that this advert \u2014 featuring Satan going on a date with a woman named 2020<\/a> \u2014 has us smiling today.<\/p>\n

The antidote? A little bit of retail therapy <\/strong>as Apple rolls out its AirPods Max over-the-ear,<\/a>noise-canceling headphones<\/a> that look both practical and fairly cool and sets December 14 as the launch date for its Apple Fitness+ workout-on-demand service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A new GIZ webinar series aims to help the financial sector through covid<\/strong>, the group said in a statement (pdf)<\/a> yesterday. Held in collaboration with the Financial Regulatory Authority, the Financial Services Institute and the Egyptian Banking Institute, the lectures will tackle digital transformation, financial sector liquidity and green finance. The first webinar goes live tomorrow.<\/strong> You can register for the event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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