Good morning, friends, and welcome to an incredibly busy issue packed with news of SPACs, IPOs, new debut issuance and new investment. It’s a bit like drinking from a fire hose this morning, so let’s jump straight in after this public service announcement:

PSA- It looks like we’ll need to keep wrapping up warm until at least the end of the week as cold winds from Europe sweep across the country, potentially bringing snowfall in some parts of Sinai, the national weather service forecast yesterday. In the capital, the mercury won’t get higher than 17°C between today and Sunday, while lows will remain at 8°C — a range our favourite weather app’s long-range forecast says will largely prevail through 1 February.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY-

Consoleya will kick off its Startup Meet-up series today with a talk from Ayman Ashour, founder and principal at Newton International Management. The talk, titled Exits and Reset Dilemmas, will see Ashour discuss how to plan for your startup’s exit and the connections you’ll need along the way. Our friend Hossam Allam from Cairo Angels will moderate the discussion. The event will take place from 6-9pm — you can register using this link.

The World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda continues today: Davos 2022 may be canceled, but that hasn’t stopped the world’s political, corporate and intellectual powerbrokers from getting together for a chin-wag. The online five-day Davos Agenda (on until Friday) is seeing world leaders, business figures and scientists deliver speeches and participate in discussions on the challenges facing the world.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is getting most of the headlines on Day 1, which also saw Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and UN secretary-general António Guterres deliver speeches. In his statement, Xi pledged to provide another 1 bn covid vaccines to African nations and — in a not-so-subtle swipe at the US — called on countries to reject what he called “a Cold War mentality” and urged greater global cooperation.

Xi also had a message for the Federal Reserve as it prepares to hike interest rates: Please, dont. “If major economies slam on the brakes or take a U-turn in their monetary policies, there would be serious negative spillovers,” he said, warning that developing countries will “bear the brunt” of the economic fallout. This came as China’s central bank went against the international trend and lowered its key interest rate for the first time in almost two years.

On the agenda for today: Japanese prime minister Kishida Fumio and Israeli PM Naftali Bennett will address the event in the morning, followed by policy discussion panels on improving vaccine equity and the need to avoid social disruption caused by the pandemic, technological changes and the transition to green energy.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

A fourth Pfizer-BioNTech jab does little to protect against the spread of omicron, preliminary results from an Israel trial have shown. While a fourth shot of the Pfizer vaccine did raise antibodies above levels recorded following a third shot in the trial’s 154 participants, that did not translate into sufficient protection against omicron, though cases were mild or non-symptomatic. The early results suggest that existing vaccines are less effective against omicron than other variants — and put into question the Israeli government’s move to vaccinate 500k over-60s in the country in recent weeks in the first rollout of fourth doses of a covid-19 vaccine globally. The AP, Reuters and Bloomberg picked up the story.

FOR TOMORROW-

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is due in town from tomorrow until Friday, in what will be the first visit to Egypt by a South Korean president in 16 years. Moon will meet with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during a regional tour that will also see him swing through the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

National flag carrier EgyptAir will operate a flight from Casablanca to Cairo tomorrow to bring home Egyptian expats stranded in Morocco following border closures.

MARKET WATCH-

Brent futures traded yesterday near their highest intraday level since 2014, after posting their fourth weekly gain on Friday and holding at almost USD 87 / bbl on the back of easing omicron concerns and an intensifying winter in North America, Bloomberg reports. Prices slipped marginally yesterday, but futures are expected to rise even further in the mid-term amid signs of slowing Chinese economic growth and a tightening market, traders say.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Applications are open until 31 March to join the Femtech Accelerator Program run by Flat6Labs and women’s healthcare firm Organon. The four-month-long virtual accelerator will support women-led digital healthcare start-ups operating in MENA to build products, test market fit and improve business models. You can register at this link.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: Tires are a notoriously difficult product to dispose of: they’re non-biodegradable and full of chemicals that harm the environment whether burned or stacked up in landfills. Egypt, like many countries around the world, is inundated with mns of scrap tires every year. Yet, it doesn’t have a formal system to process the waste, nor a regulatory system that ensures that the network of informal dealers and workshops that recycle tires are following environmental and public health protocols.