A QUICK NOTE TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS

We publish the Enterprise Morning Edition in English and Arabic from Sunday through Thursday before 7am, with a focus on the business, economic and political news that will move markets each day. What you’re reading now is our Weekend Edition, which is light on news and heavy on stories to read, videos to watch, and podcasts to which you may want to listen on Friday and Saturday (that being the weekend for the vast majority of our readers). The Weekend Edition comes out each Friday between 9:00am and 9:30am CLT. We’re in beta and in English only right now.

Usually, the weekend edition tends toward mid-length. Sometimes, it’s short. Today is one of those days. We’re blaming an ear infection and some extra work launching Enterprise: The GCC Edition.

We’ll be back on Sunday at around 6:15am with our usual roundup. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

SPEED ROUND, THE WEEKEND EDITION

Feel a bit awkward at conferences and large gatherings? Wish you could network better? Listen to this. Venture capitalist and lifehacking author Tim Ferriss’ “How to build a world-class network in record time” is the ultimate guide to how to hobnob, whether it’s at a dinner party or an investor conference. (Listening time: one hour).

Architecture of a Cairo informal settlement on international display: Cairo’s Ard El Lewa informal settlement was featured prominently at the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen, China, under the section Radical Urbanism. Parts of the exhibit, presented by ETH Zurich’s MAS Urban Design, will be displayed at the Egyptian Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice in May 2016. MAS Urban Design is working “against the negative perception” associated with informal areas. “The exhibition consists of a red wall displaying the growth of the area, case studies of existing building and projects, along with a large 1:20 model of the studied urban area developed over agrarian land including three design proposals. The model displays remains of agrarian land, property lines and irrigation channels as the base for later urbanization, as well as the existing streetscape with established housing types of concrete frames and brick infill.” Charlotte Malterre Barthes explains on Cairobserver that informal development in Cairo is “radical because it alters conventional ownership structures and because it fundamentally questions the validity of formal planning … Persistent urban growth shows that, while lacking public services and infrastructures, informal settlements are nonetheless successful in generating dense and affordable housing for the popular classes.”

The OPEC of maple syrup: “It’s boom time for Canadian maple-syrup producer Ray Bonenberg, who is expanding sap output from his tree farm near Pembroke, Ontario. About three hours away in the province of Quebec — the Saudi Arabia of syrup — producers like Jim Dempsey can only watch in frustration,” Bloomberg writes in a piece about how the “OPEC of maple syrup” is coming under fire as farmers look to the black market. Dempsey’s output is capped by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, “a kind of government-sanctioned cartel” that accounts for 71% of world supply. And while the federation has succeeded in bringing price stability for the province’s 13,500 sap farmers, it has meant a cap on how much can be extracted and sole. “But Quebec growers are now demanding the shackles be loosened as they watch competitors in Canada and the northern U.S. boost supplies to meet rising demand.” Want more about the sticky stuff? The New York Times wrote about the Quebec federation last year. BusinessWeek has a nice feature-length piece “The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist,” which uses the theft of 6 mn pounds of maple syrup as a way into a deep dive into the industry. And the Atlantic asks why cheaper maple syrup tastes better.

The USD 5.3 tn currency market is getting harder for traders to make money in “as price changes that once took months or weeks now happen more quickly,” says Hugh Killen, Westpac Banking Corp.’s head of trading for foreign exchange, fixed income and commodities. The financial market veteran gives Bloomberg an interview in which he says, “Where it may have taken months or weeks for prices to adjust, it happens very quickly now … It’s these kinds of moves that are creating a bit of stress and whatever risk capital is being deployed can get wiped out very quickly.”

Vy govorite po-russki? Hezbollah is learning Russian, Alexander Corbeil writes for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In their intervention in Syria, Hezbollah learned that defensive tactics, which were often used against the Israeli army, are not suitable to face an insurgency. Instead, it “refined” its offensive capabilities, utilizing the cover of Russia as a powerful ally. Corbeil says claims that Russia supplied Hezbollah with advanced weaponry is in dispute, as Russia would not want to threaten its relationship with Israel. What Hezbollah is most likely learning from its involvement with the Russians is a refinement of military strategy, “how a world-class army gathers intelligence, makes plans, and executes operations.” He adds that Hezbollah forces are will also likely  “learn better surveillance and reconnaissance skills, employ special operations tactics, and learn more about upgraded equipment they will want to use in the future.” This is does not worry Israel, which expects Russia’s involvement with the group to restrain it. At home, however,  “Hezbollah’s enhanced capabilities will ensure that the group continues to have a comparative military advantage vis-à-vis the Lebanese army … the group will further push its agenda on crucial decisions regarding the Lebanese presidency, changes to parliamentary election practices, and security appointments.”

The most-clicked stories in Enterprise in the past week were:

• Leonardo DiCaprio encounters an Egyptian journalist. How do you think that turned out? (Video)
• Coffee with Magued Sherif, chief executive officer of SODIC (Enterprise)
• Baker & McKenzie’s IPO outlook for Africa says Egypt will lead the continent this year (Baker & McKenzie, infographic in pdf or their summary)
• Domty’s IPO material (intention to float and the price range announcement, both pdfs)
• Photographic evidence that Mobinil is rebranding as Orange (Facebook photo)

Welcome to the land that no country wants: “Bir Tawil is the last truly unclaimed land on earth: a tiny sliver of Africa ruled by no state, inhabited by no permanent residents and governed by no laws. … In June 2014, a 38-year-old farmer from Virginia named Jeremiah Heaton … [wended]  his way into the no man’s land of Bir Tawil and triumphantly planting a flag. ‘So be it proclaimed,’ Heaton wrote on his Facebook page, ‘that Bir Tawil shall be forever known as the Kingdom of North Sudan. The Kingdom is established as a sovereign monarchy with myself as the head of state; with Emily becoming an actual princess.’ There were two problems with Heaton’s argument. First, territories and borders can be delicate and volatile things, and tampering with them is rarely without unforeseen consequences. As Heaton learned from the public response to his self-declared kingdom, there is no neutral or harmless way to ‘claim a state, no matter how far away from anywhere else it appears to be. Second, Heaton was not the first well-intentioned, starry-eyed eccentric to travel all the way to Bir Tawil and plant a flag. Someone else got there first, and that someone was me.”

Solutions to “problems” we don’t have in Egypt (thank you, 24/7 home delivery services): Robert Ilijason, a resident of the small town of Viken in southern Sweden was scrambling to find a store open late at night to buy his son baby food and could only find an open store after driving to a nearby town. “Now the 39-year-old IT specialist runs a 24-hour shop with no cashier,” The AP says. “Customers simply use their cellphones to unlock the door with a swipe of the finger and scan their purchases. All they need to do is to register for the service and download an app. They get charged for their purchases in a monthly invoice. The shop has basics like milk, bread, sugar, canned food, diapers and other products that you expect to find in a small convenience store.”

And because we’re officially on the verge of becoming obsessed by the freakshow that is Donald Trump, a handful of stories on the man who could upend the world order by winning the White House this fall: Noting that Trump has effectively shattered the Republican party, Politico reports on a Wall Street effort to block The Donald from winning Florida. Better yet: Read the full transcript of Bain Capital co-founder and erstwhile presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s fiery speech on Trump (and Hilary Clinton) yesterday, which included: “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. Republican national security bosses have turned against the man. And the New York Times reports that the man in question may have deep roots in New York, but he has little real influence there.

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** Our GCC edition went into beta this week. We publish Sunday-Thursday at 5am Egypt / 6am UAE / 7am KSA and you can sign up here.