PM — A quiet Monday to mourn our Afcon loss

It’s a relatively calm Monday afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, with no massive story here at home dominating the news cycle today.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY SO FAR-

#1- The retail component of Macro Group’s IPO closed today 102x oversubscribed, the EGX said in a bulletin at the end of today’s trading session. The company wrapped up its private placement to institutional investors, which was 1.8x oversubscribed, last Wednesday, and is expected to start trading shares “on or around” this Thursday under the stock ticker MCRO.CA.

#2- We’re not hedging against rising wheat prices (for now): Egypt isn’t looking at entering a contract to hedge against wheat prices, which are expected to cost us an additional EGP 12 bn this fiscal year alone, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told Enterprise. The wheat hedging contracts are now priced too high considering the ongoing threat of conflict in Ukraine and Russia considering higher export tariffs on the grain.

^^We’ll have more on these stories and others in tomorrow’s EnterpriseAM.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• Redcon revives IPO plans: Redcon Construction is looking to make its EGX debut in 4Q2023 or 1Q2024, Vice Chairman Ahmed Abdallah told Enterprise. The company had been eyeing an IPO in 2019.
• Water treatment company Metito wants to build floating desalination plants in Egypt, Metito Africa Karim Madwar said. The Emirati company is currently in talks with the Housing Ministry and has submitted its proposal.
• You can now short, buy on margin and day trade these EGX stocks: The EGX has shuffled its list of securities eligible for same-day trading, margin trading and short selling as part of its twice-yearly rebalancing.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD- It’s another afternoon of Ukraine updates, as French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Moscow in a bid to defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine that are increasingly threatening to spill over into open conflict. Macron’s shuttle diplomacy efforts are also taking center stage as part of France’s push to give itself a bigger diplomatic role on the global stage, with the president looking to recalibrate Russia’s political alignment away from being purely with China, the New York Times notes. Bloomberg and Reuters also have the story.

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FOR TOMORROW-

TOMORROW is your last day to apply- Women can now apply to join Fortune Global Women's Mentoring Program which will take place from 8-28 May 2022. The program aims to bring emerging women leaders from around the world to the US to meet and learn from the Fortune Most Powerful Women community, which includes executive women mentors from companies such as Accenture, Johnson & Johnson, and Aetna. The deadline to apply for the program is 8 February. You can begin your application by signing up here via our friends at the US Embassy in Egypt.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Inflation figures are due out this Thursday, 10 February. Annual urban inflation rose to 5.9% in December from 5.6% in November. Prices are expected to continue to rise in the short term due to an unfavorable base effect along with a global increase in consumer prices — but look set to stay within the central bank’s target range of 7% (±2%) by 4Q2022. The Central Bank of Egypt expects price stability in the medium term, it said last week following its monetary policy committee meeting. The government’s fuel pricing committee’s decision to raise fuel prices over the weekend is expected to have only a limited impact on inflation, analysts said.

The Finance Ministry has begun holding a public consultations on the draft budget for next fiscal year with the next round due to take place on Thursday, 10 February at 5pm CLT, Al Mal quoted Finance Minister Mohamed Maait as saying. Eight groups representing a cross-section of society are set to weigh in on the FY2022-23 budget, while the ministry is also calling on business associations to participate in the dialogue. The draft bill will go to the House of Representatives for discussion and approval following the public consultations.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- It’s going to be another nice, sunny day tomorrow, with a high of 24°C and a low of 10°C, our favorite weather app tells us.

There’s a huge mismatch between corporates’ headline net-zero pledges and what they’re actually committing to: Headline pledges from 25 major global firms to reach net-zero or carbon-neutral targets by 2030 are misleading, lacking clarity, or otherwise insufficient to stave off the worst consequences of climate change, according to research from the NewClimate Institute. Of the 25 companies studied, more than half are only really committing to cutting down emissions by 40% from their 2019 levels. “Collectively, the 25 companies specifically commit to reducing only less than 20% of their 2.7 GtCO2e emission footprint, by their respective headline target years,” the report says. These targets “fall well short” of what is needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals and avoid the worst of climate change, the institute says.

The shift towards cleaner energy sources has revived interest in nuclear power — but countries still grapple with how to get rid of the waste: After the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl and the 2011 accident in Fukushima, numerous countries — including Germany and Belgium — vowed to decommission their nuclear power plants out of fear of the potential hazards that come with the technology. However, as the need for clean energy sources renewed interest in nuclear power is surging in countries like France, China, India, and the US, the Financial Times reports. While these countries are looking at nuclear energy for its low environmental impact, they continue to face a significant hurdle in how to safely and sustainably get rid of nuclear waste, the FT notes.

Different governments have tried different approaches, including continuing to maintain nuclear sites after they’ve been taken offline — which is a massive and extremely costly undertaking — while some have mulled the option of taking the waste to space. France, which is set to make an announcement in the coming weeks regarding the development of nuclear infrastructure, is now trying to replicate abandoned attempts from the US, Japan, and Germany to store the waste in “deep geological repositories” several hundred meters below ground.

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Meta could be forced to shut down Facebook + Instagram in Europe over server privacy regs: Facebook and Instagram might become obsolete in Europe if parent company Meta is unable to reach new agreements with the EU over its transatlantic data transfers this year, Meta said in its annual report (pdf). The company’s transfer of user data from Europe to US-based servers for processing is not compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which “includes operational requirements for companies that receive or process personal data” that are different from those previously in place, the report notes. “​If we are unable to transfer data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, or if we are restricted from sharing data among our products and services, it could affect our ability to provide our services.”

Dr Evil Jeff Bezos is getting a yacht so big, a historic bridge in Rotterdam needs to be temporarily dismantled to let it pass: Much to the chagrin of Rotterdam locals, the Dutch city is going to temporarily remove the middle section of the historic Koningshaven Bridge to make way for Jeff Bezos’ USD 500 mn superyacht to sail through it and make it out to sea, the BBC reports. Bezos’ specially-commissioned titanic vessel will be 127m long, making it the world’s largest yacht, and will be too tall to fit through the bridge, known by locals as “De Hef.” The Amazon CEO will be paying for the costs of taking the bridge apart and putting it back together, but officials had said back in 2017 it would not be dismantled again after going through a major overhaul.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

(all times CLT)

Hend Sabry tells the tale of a woman rediscovering herself after getting divorced in Finding Ola, Netflix’s latest Arabic original title. The six-episode “dramedy” delivers an insightful yet funny and heartwarming look at the intricacies of life after divorce in Egyptian society, focusing in particular on how men and women appear to differ both in how they cope with it and in how those around them approach the matter. Throughout the series, Ola (played by Sabry) navigates seemingly endless opining from her mother and mother-in-law, and eventually tries to find love again despite describing divorce as being a “solitary confinement” sentence for women. Watch the trailer here (runtime: 2:11)

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

(all times CLT)

It’s the last day of the Cairo International Book Fair at the Egypt International Exhibition Center.

Imagine Dragons tribute band and electronic musician and songwriter Semo Siam are performing at El Sawy Culturewheel in Zamalek at 7pm tonight. You can get your tickets here.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Setting up a structured system to address the day-to-day and big-picture issues getting in the way of your company’s growth: In his book, Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman lays out what he calls the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which covers the six key components of every business. These include having a vision, getting the right people in the right positions, relying on data for performance monitoring, and setting up a three-step approach to resolving issues that stand in the way of getting your business to where you want it to be. The system is meant to give business leaders and owners “simple yet powerful ways” to address the typical crop of challenges: Conflicts between employees, decisions getting made but not being implemented on the ground, or the business simply not gaining traction and clocking as much growth as you want.

The EGX30 fell 1.2% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 947 mn (11.4% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is down 3.35% YTD.

In the green: e-Finance (+4.1%), Telecom Egypt (+0.8%) and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (+0.7%).

In the red: Fawry (-5.7%), MM Group (-5.2%) and Heliopolis Housing and Development (-3.1%).

How to save your marriage from your startup (and your startup from your marriage), according to entrepreneurs: The oscillation between “can’t get enough of family time” and “can’t wait to escape to my work routine” is a familiar scene for many. It’s often the case for the average workaholic, but perhaps even more so when you’re a founder of your own business — that work-life balance becomes difficult to strike, and likely ends up being a delicate setup that’s hard to maintain.

So, how do people do it? We’ve talked to entrepreneurs who recommend always having a business partner to share the burden with and others who have told us that their morning routines went straight out of the window when they decided to forge their own paths. We have for you here some words of wisdom on how to keep your marriage intact through the highs and lows of building your own business. It goes without saying that these tips are just as applicable to the average workaholic as they are to a startup founder.

It seems counterintuitive, but clock in your “me” time: Entrepreneurs report that taking time alone helps counter burnout and puts less pressure on all their relationships, not just their romantic ones. Even in peak pandemic, you were likely hyper connected all the time, which can really take a toll on you and by extension, your relationships. Add to that the pressure that you must make time for your significant other, and you likely find that you have no time left for yourself. So take time at least 10 minutes each day to decompress alone so that you have the energy to give to your meaningful relationships. Solitude is also a good way to tap into your intuition, helping you to be a better person and entrepreneur. It is proven to boost creativity and productivity, gives you time to plan without distractions and improves your psychological well-being.

Don’t negotiate on together time: As important as it is to spend time alone, entrepreneurs are also some of the loneliest people, which can give birth to a host of mental illnesses. So don’t take your partner for granted and make sure you don’t negotiate on date nights. Nawah’s Omar Shoukry told us the same thing last year when he reported that one of his solutions to workaholism was to give as much importance to family time as he did to work meetings, treating family obligations much as he would business ones. In fact, Trish Harp, founder of California’s Harp Family Institute, recommends scheduling weekly meetings to check in with your spouse, just as you would with your business partners.

Be clear about financial risks and timelines: Entrepreneurs make huge personal investments that can drastically affect their family’s finances long-term into their businesses. Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, author of For Better or For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families, encourages entrepreneurs to be honest with their partners about financial risks and timelines for reaching / passing each stage. Again, make sure that you know what you are — and are not — willing to negotiate on.

Your life partner might be your best business partner: Elves’ co-founders and couple Karim El Sahy and Abeer El Sisi told us in one of our very first episodes of our podcast, Making It, that being married for 20 years actually made it easier for them to work together because there was more understanding built into the relationship. And while it might not work for everyone, for others, it is a great way to make sure that you stay connected to your partner. But even El Sahy and El Sisi told us that, on tough days, they make a point to take an hour between work and home to decompress so that they can appreciate being together again.

Ask your partner for help when you need it: LIfe and work don’t have to be church and state. Sometimes, allowing your partner to see you in a professional setting and even to help out when their skills are complementary can help you appreciate each other all over again. Even if you don’t grow apart while you’re busy working, there are likely sides to your partner that you haven’t seen in years — if ever — if you’re both consumed by work. This is also true when you need a little perspective. Your partner might be your best BS-proofer, if there ever was one, so don’t hesitate to involve them when you’re squeezed.

Give your partner the support they need when they’re going through a crunch: It sounds redundant, but put yourself in your partner’s shoes and go out of your way to show support when you can. Understand that rough patches are inevitable and that your partner will appreciate your efforts to make things easier on them during those times. This could mean checking in with your partner with a text or leaving them a note on a crunch day, or just making an effort to show that you care in whatever way you know matters to them most.

But remember, it’s the little things that matter: Sure, romantic gestures and special times are important, but it’s the little things that add up to a day-to-day relationship. You don’t want to spend times when you overlap childcare or when your morning routines line up squabbling over petty issues. Make sure that you are gentle with yourself and with your partner at these times above all else, because, not only do they set the tone for your days, but they are the times that you will likely appreciate the most when you’re on the clock.