WTF is an NFT — and why are we all talking about them?

id:2021-03-07-13:05:51:080t

It’s a workaday afternoon, friends, as corporate Egypt and government alike tackle a new workweek. No single story is dominating the news agenda here at home, while abroad the news cycle is still dominated by the US Senate’s passage of President Joe Biden's USD 1.9 tn covid relief plan in a party-lines vote. It leads the global business press on both sides of the ocean (Wall Street Journal and Financial Times).

HAPPENING NOW- 16 Egyptian CEOs and business leaders have made the Forbes Top 100 CEOs in the Middle East in 2021 list. The lineup was selected based on the size of the company, the growth it had shown over the past year, and the impact the CEO has had on their respective industry as a whole.

• 10 – Suez Canal chief Osama Rabie
• 16 – National Bank of Egypt chairman Hisham Okasha
• 22 – Etisalat Group CEO Hatem Dowidar
• 43 – Banque Misr chairman Mohamed El Etreby
• 49 – CIB CEO Hussein Abaza
• 51 – Mashreq Bank CEO Ahmed Abdelaal
• 53 – Qatar Islamic Bank Group CEO Bassel Gamal
• 59 – Ahli United Bank CEO and MD Adel El-Labban
• 67 – TMG CEO and MD Hisham Talaat Mostafa
• 72 – Orascom Construction CEO Osama Bishai
• 81 – Commercial Bank of Kuwait CEO Elham Mahfouz
• 83 – EgyptAir Holding CEO Roshdy Zakaria
• 88 – Telecom Egypt CEO Adel Hamed
• 90 – Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group Group CEO Sherif Beshara
• 95 – Arab Contractors CEO Sayed Farouk
• 99 – EFG Hermes Group CEO Karim Awad

Honorable mention: Fine Hygienic Holding CEO James Lafferty, who isn’t Egyptian, but made the Forbes list at #87 and was our Christmas Eve Work From Home Routine last year.

CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from this morning’s edition of EnterpriseAM:

• More than 1k citizens have already been vaccinated against covid-19 as the rollout of jabs from AstraZeneca and Sinopharm continues — and the tourism industry wants to offer shots to anybody heading to hajj this year.
• It looks like the state is edging toward selling another stake in Abu Qir Fertilizers in a secondary sale on the EGX just in time for what many analysts claim will be a commodities supercycle.
• Vezeeta isn’t rolling over under pressure from the Pharmacists Syndicate, saying its newly launched online store is fully compliant with the law.

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FOR TOMORROW- The IDC Future of Work conference gets underway with a theme of “the path to business resiliency.”

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Photopia’s Cairo Photo Week 2021 kicks off this Thursday and runs through 20 March. The photo festival will feature over 100 activities including workshops, panels, photo challenges, exhibitions, portfolio reviews and photo walks throughout the week, all led by more than 80 local and international photographers. Genres including fashion, food, portraits, documentary and photojournalism are all in the spotlight. You can check out the event program on Photopia’s website, there’s plenty to look at on the group’s Instagram feed @cairophotoweek, and both physical and virtual tickets are available here.

Also on Thursday: The next iteration of Le Marché, an anchor of the annual expo scene, takes place 11-14 March at the Egypt International Convention Centre, with over 300 local and international brands set to showcase their wares. Full details and digital catalogue on the show’s website.

The Cairo Fashion & Textile Expo trade show is set to open at the Cairo International Convention Center on Thursday, running through 13 March.

Higher education fair EduGate runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski on the Ring Road. Participants include universities, colleges and training institutions as well as scholarship and grant providers. There’s also an online-only version taking place 18-20 March.

AUC Press’s Mad March book sale will be ongoing for the rest of the month. The sale is open to the general public every day from 10am–6pm CLT at AUC Tahrir Bookstore & Garden.

???? FOR YOUR COMMUTE-

If your company runs on the Microsoft Exchange Server, you want to pay attention to this: An attack on Microsoft’s business email platform that began on 26 February is growing into a global cybersecurity crisis and is raising concerns among national security experts, Bloomberg reports. Microsoft says the attack started with a Chinese government-backed hacking group called Hafnium, which was initially trying to steal information from groups such as infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions and defence contractors.

Microsoft has since issued security updates to protect customers running Exchange Server, claiming there’s no evidence that Hafnium targeted individual consumers or that other Microsoft products are vulnerable.

The attack is estimated to have impacted up to 60k global companies, a former senior U.S. official told Bloomberg. This is the first major cybersecurity crisis since the SolarWinds incident last year where Russian hackers breached nine federal agencies, including the US Treasury and Commerce departments, and at least 100 companies.

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SIGN OF THE TIMES #1- As a country we’re loving the whole “tap to pay” thing, with Visa saying at a recent Egyptian Banking Institute webinar that the number of active contactless cards in use here was up ten-fold in the year ending September 2020. Some 78% of Egyptians surveyed are making more contactless payments.

SIGN OF THE TIMES #2- Robots are being given pedestrian status as they roam sidewalks and cross city streets in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Idaho, Florida and Wisconsin, writes Axios. The change in legislation comes as Amazon, Fedex, Postmates and other delivery companies have added robots and drones to their delivery fleet and are currently being tested in urban and suburban settings. The NIMBYs are unimpressed, but Big Tech insists we all welcome a future in which household items show up in a matter of hours, with fewer delivery vans blocking traffic and spewing emissions, according to Wired.

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???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

(All times CLT)

Maybe it's time to blow the dust off of your TV receiver: While many of us have given up the commercial-riddled, uncontrollable aspects of the TV, we do still sometimes feel nostalgic about having a channel decide what we’re watching as opposed to hours of scrolling down Netflix. So if you’d like to check out the good ol’ satellite TV tonight, you can catch Dumb and Dumber To on MBC2 at 8pm or The Man from U.N.C.L.E on Dubai One at 8pm.

⚽ The Premier League is going strong, with West Brom just about finishing up their match against Newcastle at the moment. Mo Salah’s Liverpool are up soon, playing Fulham at 4pm, while Man City will face off with Man United at 6:30pm and Tottenham take on Crystal Palace at 9:45pm.

Roma and Genoa are already on the field in Serie A, but you have three matches with 4pm kickoffs from which to choose: Crotone versus Torino, Fiorentina versus Parma, and Verona versus Milan. Sampdoria will face off against Cagliari at 7pm, while Napoli plays Bologna and Inter Milan take on Atalanta, both at 9:45pm.

La Liga is also already playing today, with Huesca currently head-to-head with Celta Vigo. You’ll want to take note of the match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid tonight at 5:15pm, while Real Sociedad and Levante will play at 7:30pm and Athletic Club will go up against Granada at 10pm.

MEANWHILE: FC Barcelona is getting caught up in politics: The largest football club in the world by revenue is picking a new president today and the outcome may have widespread impact on the Catalonia independence movement, Bloomberg reports. While the club is one of the largest Catalan institutions remaining outside seperatist control — and candidates have mostly avoided publicly addressing the issue — behind the scenes efforts are being made to ensure that whoever wins will be firmly aligned with the separatist cause, unnamed sources tell the publication.

???? Team LeBron faces Team Durant at 3am on Monday in the 2021 NBA all-star exhibition game: This is the first time the all-star weekend is condensed into one night, with the skills, three-point, and dunk contests all taking place tonight as well. Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, who was diagnosed with a mild hamstring strain in February, is replaced on the roster by Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. Also worth noting: This is the first time Lakers’ LeBron James and Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry play on the same team.

Can’t wait for tonight? Enjoy this highlight reel of the top all-star plays of the decade.

????EAT THIS TONIGHT-

A good day starts with a good breakfast. Or so our moms have always claimed, and it’s a notion likely supported by the marketing people for Canada’s Eggspectation at Cairo Festival City. The Montréal-born chain came to Egypt last year as part of its international expansion — and quickly gained popularity with the New Cairo crowd for its heaping plates. They serve all the classics, from poached eggs to pancakes, but make sure to add a twist to each plate with ingredients such as lobster or their house sauces. We’re addicted to their chicken and waffles and their beef bacon and eggs. You can visit Eggspectation for brunch, lunch, or dinner with their all-day breakfast menu or their lunch menu, which features pastas, burgers, and a few main dishes.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

Art D'Égypte is currently displaying the UN Women-sponsored exhibition “Mu'anath” featuring a variety of artists exploring the feminine in our cultural identity through photography, painting and sculpture. The opening is today from 6-10 pm in Downtown, with the exhibition set to run through 1 April.

It’s getting big notice: US ambassador Johnathan Cohen, French ambassador Stéphane Romatet and business icon Naguib Sawiris were among the attendees at a private showing last night.

The Comedy Bunker is on stage for standup comedy night at The Room Art Space in New Cairo today at 9pm CLT. The lineup includes Mohamed Helmy, Pola Samwel, Hamza Bahaa, Hossam Edris, Mina Nader, and the musical comedy duo ElNo Talents.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think is the perfect bedside read to pick up every once in a while for a bitesized tale. Author Brianna Wiest complies her writing that explores pursuing purpose over passion, embracing negative thinking, seeing the wisdom in daily routine, and becoming aware of the cognitive biases affecting your perspective on life.

???? TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect sunny skies tomorrow, with highs of 25°C (which with the sun we’re sure will feel like more) and nighttime lows of 15°C. Our favorite weather app is warning that we’re looking at a heat wave, with a high of 32°C in the capital city on Tuesday and 35°C on Wednesday.

VC firm Foundation Ventures is planning to invest around EGP 30 mn this year from its inaugural Egypt-focused fund, managing partner Omar Barakat told us. “We’re always interested in fintech, given that it’s growing across Egypt” and is getting a boost from the state’s drive to promote digitization and financial inclusion, Barakat said. Foundation Ventures’ EGP 100 mn fund officially launched late last year with an initial portfolio of four companies including fintech players Capiter and Nowpay, entertainment platform Minly, and logistics company Flextock. The fund was also a “major” participant in home buying platform Sakneen’s recent USD 1.1 mn seed investment round and invested in online education platform Abwaab. Foundation’s partners include Barakat, Mazen Nadim and Onsi Sawiris.

SPEAKING OF ONSI SAWIRIS: Beltone Financial is planning to focus on adding more non-banking financial services to its portfolio, but isn’t yet thinking about acquisitions, Sawiris told Hapi Journal. Sawiris, who is acting as chairman of the firm on a temporary basis, said Beltone is looking to bring in fresh management talent and test new ideas for up to two years before committing to a longer-term strategy. Beltone is undergoing a transitional phase after last month’s horizontal demerger saw its former parent company, Orascom Investment Holding (OIH), spinoff its non-bank financial services holdings into newly-created Orascom Financial Holdings (OFH), which Sawiris chairs.

The nation’s foreign currency reserves rose nearly USD 100 mn in February, ending the month at USD 40.2 bn, according to central bank figures. Foreign reserves had increased USD 38.2 mn in January, after shooting up by almost USD 800 mn in December 2020 to their highest level since last April. Foreign reserves had dropped by almost USD 10 bn during the height of the covid-19-driven market panic last year, and are still short of their February 2020 USD 45.5 bn high.

CATCH UP QUICK-

• Internet service providers are now required to send out notifications to their customers when data usage hits 50%, 75%, and 100% under new guidelines from the National Telecom Regulatory Authority.

SOUND SMART- What the hell is an NFT — and why is everybody and her sister suddenly talking about them? “The artist Grimes recently sold a bunch of NFTs for nearly USD 6 mn. An NFT of LeBron James making a historic dunk for the Lakers garnered more than USD 200k. The band Kings of Leon is releasing its new album in the form of an NFT.”

Okay, but you really want to know what an NFT is? It’s a non-fungible token. A unique digital thing recorded on the blockchain as … uniquely yours — after you kick over real-world cash (or some BTC) for it.

But … what is it? Think of it like a both certificate of provenance and ownership for digital art. You buy a clip of video or a GIF or a JPEG, and your ownership recorded on the block chain. You probably don’t get the copyright, and good luck trying to make sure there are no other digital copies out there on the interwebs. But you’re the owner of the “one true video” of Lebron’s dunk. (If you’re willing to believe there’s one true anything in this digital world of ours.)

Can I make an NFT of my own? Sure thing. All you need to do is make a file (a .TXT file of your great novel, say, or a JPG of your bellybutton lint), then upload it to an NFT marketplace where collectors can then start bidding. OpenSea bills itself as one of the biggest marketplaces, and there’s already a league table…

Okay, so … show me a real live NFT? Sure thing — here’s that clip of Lebron dunking. Some bozo paid USD 71,455 to “own” it, but you can watch it without charge.

Why are we all suddenly reading about NFTs and … a week ago nobody had ever heard of them? You may thank the hype machine that is the interwebs.

Want to go deeper? The Verge and NPR have got your back.

The EGX30 rose 2.0% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 954 mn (35.3% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 6.6% YTD.

In the green: AMOC (+7.9%), Sidi Kerir (+6.5%) and Orascom Investment (+6.4%).

In the red: Edita (-1.2%), Eastern Co. (-0.2%) and EFG-Hermes (-0.1%).

EARNINGS WATCH- Alexandria New Medical Center’s consolidated net profits were down 15.6% y-o-y to EGP 20.85 mn in FY2020, down from a EGP 24.71 mn in FY2019, according to the company’s financials (pdf). Revenues were up to EGP 225.4 mn, a 5.5% y-o-y increase from EGP 213.7 mn the year before. This comes as Alexandria New Medical’s parent company Alexandria Medical Services has been the target of a bidding war by multiple firms. There’s Saudi’s Tawasol Holdings, which looks to be wanting to team up with Speed Medical to acquire 100% of the company. Alex Medical had received a competing offer from a consortium of Mabaret Al Asafra Hospitals and investment firm Tana Africa Capital back in January.

Emaar Misr’s consolidated net profits decreased 3.4% y-o-y in FY2020 to EGP 1.67 bn, down from EGP 1.73 bn in FY2019, according to the company’s financials (pdf). Revenues decreased to EGP 4.68 bn, down 17% y-o-y from 5.67 bn in 2019.

Deaths from obesity-caused conditions now represent 19.08% of total deaths in Egypt at over 114k last year, according to a study carried out by Novo Nordisk Egypt and the Health Ministry on the economic burden and cost of obesity in Egypt that will be published this year, the company said in a press release (pdf). The study focuses on major conditions resulting from obesity and how evident they are in the country, with some 7 mn Egyptian adult patients suffering from diabetes due to obesity, 13 mn suffer from sleep apnea, 8.5 mn suffer from fatty liver, and almost 6 mn suffer from hypertension.

Obesity-related health problems are causing Egyptians to spend around EGP 50 bn annually, the Novo Nordisk study found. The economic burden from obesity on countries comes from the increase in health care expenditure, as well as foregone economic growth as a result of lost work days, lower productivity at work, mortality and permanent disability.

2020 saw a stark increase in obesity cases among Egyptians, and while the press release didn’t go into the reasons why, the phenomenon has been explored in this study published in the National Library for Medicine. The study argues that the weight gain last year was caused by lockdowns which resulted from an increase in stress-eating, more snacking on junk food, less exercise, as well as an increase in anxiety which caused bad sleeping habits.

Out of almost 50 mn Egyptian adults, 39.8% suffer from obesity, Novo Nordisk says, citing a survey conducted in 2019 by the ministry’s 100 mn Healthy Lives campaign. Compare this figure to the World Health Organization’s estimate that 13% of the world’s adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese in 2016, while 39% of adults were overweight.

Egypt has a history with obesity: Back in 2015, Egypt was found to have the highest level of age-standardized adult obesity globally, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The abundance of the condition in the country was attributed to more than just overeating, but also to the quality of ingredients making up the diet of most Egyptians which can lead to dietary insufficiencies.

It’s not just us: Globally, the average adult is three times more likely to be obese today compared to 1975 and We Forum released an animated map in 2016 that changes colors as obesity rates changed throughout the past years. The map shows Egypt’s obesity rate rising over 25% in 1997 and over 30% in 2006, while countries such as the US and Saudi Arabia hit the over 30% mark earlier.

Bond ETF providers may have played dirty to prevent a corona-inspired exodus last March. This is what the Bank of International Settlements seems to suggest in a paper earlier this month when it tried to explain why ETFs were trading at such huge discounts to their underlying assets at the height of the covid panic last year. But understanding exactly what they’re getting at here requires that we have a grasp on how the ETF market functions.

Why does this matter? The popularity of bond ETFs has surged over the past decade, with funds now managing more than USD 1.2 tn assets, compared to less than USD 10 bn in 2009.

The basics: ETFs are funds that are designed to track the performance of another asset or market, be that an equity index, a commodity or a currency. This means that in theory the value of an ETF will ebb and flow with the value of the underlying asset, or net asset value (NAV).

As we know from last year though, this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the market will price an ETF below the value of the underlying assets (called a discount to NAV) and other times it might be more expensive (otherwise known as a premium to NAV).

“Authorized participants” are the most important players in this space: Before we can get a handle on how ETF prices are adjusted, we need to understand a bit about the principal ETF market makers. Large banks otherwise known as so-called “authorized participants” (APs) are responsible for creating and redeeming shares of an ETF, and act as intermediaries between investors and the ETF provider.

Creating and redeeming ETF shares: This group of financial institutions purchase the assets the ETF provider wants to have in its portfolio and hands them over to the provider, receiving ETF shares in return which they then sell on to investors. The redemption process works in the opposite way: investors sell ETF shares to the APs which then either hold onto them or hand them back to the ETF provider, receiving either the underlying asset or cash in return.

It is through this mechanism that ETF prices are aligned with the underlying assets: APs take advantage of cheap ETFs by purchasing shares in the secondary markets and redeeming them with the ETF provider, netting a profit when they sell the more expensive underlying asset. This brings the price of the ETF back into alignment by trimming the supply of ETF shares and raising the supply of underlying assets. The same principle applies when the fund is trading at a premium: the APs are incentivized to decrease the supply of the underlying asset and create more ETF shares, thus lowering the price of the ETF.

So what happened last March? At the height of the sell-off in the financial markets in March 2020, huge gaps opened between the share price of bond ETFs and their NAV, indicating that the arbitrage mechanism in the market had broken down. The two biggest bond ETFs — Vanguard’s USD 55 bn total bond market ETF and BlackRock’s USD 71 bn iShares core US aggregate bond ETF — traded at a 6.2% discount and a 4.43% discount respectively on 12 March.

And why did the arbitrage fail? In an effort to protect themselves from the market sell-off, the BIS believes that ETF providers handed over low-quality bonds to the APs. This does two things: not only does it dissuade the APs from redeeming more of their shares, but it also shores up confidence among investors by removing risky assets from the portfolio.

A shock absorber that comes at a price: Author of the report Karamfil Todorov describes this tactic as a “shock absorber” deployed by ETF providers during sell offs but warns that it also puts providers’ reputations at risk. Investors, seeing the provider short-changing the APs with junk bonds, may convince them to abandon the fund, he writes.

WANT MORE ON THE BASICS OF ARBITRAGE? Check this brief explainer brought to you by Khan Academy (watch, runtime: 2:50).

March: Potential visit to Cairo by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

8 March (Monday): The IDC Future of Work Egypt conference will be held virtually featuring experts from Egypt and Jordan.

9-11 March (Tuesday-Thursday): EduGate 2021 – Enter The Future conference, Kempinski Royal Maxim Hotel, Cairo, Egypt.

11-12 March (Thursday-Friday): Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok will arrive for a two-day visit to follow up on GERD talks.

11-13 March (Thursday-Saturday): Cairo Fashion & Tex trade show, Cairo International Convention Centre, Cairo, Egypt

11-14 March (Thursday-Sunday): First edition of Afaq Real Estate Expo, Tolip El Galaa Hotel, Cairo, Egypt.

11-15 March (Thursday – Monday): Al Bazaar fair for handicrafts and house decors, Cairo International Conference Centre, Cairo, Egypt.

11-20 March (Thursday-Saturday): Photopia’s Cairo Photo Week 2021 will take place with this year’s theme being Depth OFF Field.

18 March (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

23 March (Tuesday): The second edition of the Egypt Retail Summit takes place at the Nile Ritz Carlton hotel.

25-27 March (Thursday-Saturday): The Real Gate real estate exhibition, Egyptian International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29-30 March (Monday-Tuesday): Arab Federation of Exchanges Annual Conference 2021.

31 March (Wednesday): Deadline to visit the moroor and get an RFID sticker affixed to your car’s windshield — or run afoul of the Traffic Police.

1-3 April (Thursday-Saturday): HVAC-R Egypt Expo.

8-10 April (Thursday-Saturday): The TriFactory’s Endurance Festival at Somabay.

13 April (Monday): First day of Ramadan (TBC).

25 April (Sunday): Sinai Liberation Day.

29 April (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Sinai Liberation Day (TBC),

29 April (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

1 May (Saturday): Labor Day (national holiday).

2 May (Sunday): Easter Sunday.

3 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim.

13-15 May (Thursday-Saturday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

25-28 May (Tuesday-Friday): The World Economic Forum annual meeting, Singapore.

1 June (Tuesday): The IMF will conduct a second review of targets set under the USD 5.2 bn standby loan approved in June 2020 (proposed date).

7 June-9 June (Monday-Wednesday): Egypt Petroleum Show, Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo, Egypt.

17 June (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

24 June (Thursday): End of the 2020-2021 academic year (public schools).

26-29 June (Saturday-Tuesday): The Big 5 Construct Egypt, Cairo International Convention Center, Cairo, Egypt.

30 June (Wednesday): 30 June Revolution Day.

1 July: (Thursday): National holiday in observance of 30 June Revolution.

30 June- 15 July: National Book Fair.

1 July (Thursday): Large taxpayers that have not yet signed on on to the e-invoicing platform will suffer a host of penalties, including removal from large taxpayer classification, losing access to government services and business, and losing subsidies.

19 July (Monday): Arafat Day (national holiday).

20-23 July (Tuesday-Friday): Eid Al Adha (national holiday)

23 July (Friday): Revolution Day (national holiday).

5 August (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

9 August (Monday): Islamic New Year.

12 August (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Islamic New Year.

16 September (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

30 September-2 October (Thursday-Saturday): Egypt Projects 2021 expo, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, Egypt.

1 October (Friday): Expo 2020 Dubai opens.

6 October (Wednesday): Armed Forces Day.

7 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Armed Forces Day.

18 October (Monday): Prophet’s Birthday.

21 October (Thursday): National holiday in observance of the Prophet’s Birthday.

28 October (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

1-12 November (Monday-Friday): 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

13-17 December: United Nations Convention against Corruption, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

16 December (Thursday): The CBE’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet to review interest rates.

27 June – 3 July 2022 (Monday-Sunday): World University Squash Championships, New Giza.

Note to readers: Some national holidays may appear twice above. Since 2020, Egypt has observed most mid-week holidays on Thursdays regardless of the day on which they fall and may also move those days to Sundays. We distinguish below between the actual holiday and its observance.