PM — Corporate culture lessons from Genghis Khan

Happy Monday, friends. We bring to you an unusually quiet afternoon on the news front, as the international press is squarely focused on Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the local press appears to be watching along as well.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

The bidding war for Alex Medical is back: UAE’s Yas Holding (formerly known as Emirates Advanced Investments) has adjusted the price for shares of Alexandria Medical to EGP 48.62 per share, the Financial Regulatory Authority said in a statement (pdf). The current share price values Alex Medical at EGP 757 mn, up 10.5% from their previous offer in June last year.

FROM THE DIPLOMACY WORLD-

The Israeli government approved plans to make the Negev summit an annual event, the office of the Israeli prime minister said yesterday, a move that will consolidate Tel Aviv’s diplomatic and security ties with its Arab allies. Senior officials from Egypt, Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and the US have met twice this year to discuss regional issues in what some commentators have framed as a major geopolitical realignment in the region. The six countries agreed in June to deepen ties in a range of areas including clean energy, education, food and water security and health, as well as regional security.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is dominating the front pages of the international press this afternoon: World leaders and foreign royals gathered in London today to bid Queen Elizabeth one last farewell. US president Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Emperor Naruhito of Japan are among the 500 world leaders attending the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey, which is currently ongoing. A crowd of one mn mourners are expected in central London for the funeral. The story is getting plenty of coverage in international press: Reuters | Financial Times | The Guardian | The Independent | the Washington Post

HAPPENING NOW-

Shoukry in New York for UN General Assembly session: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in New York to participate in the high-level meetings ahead of the UN General Assembly session. The general debate for the 2022 session will take place from Tuesday, 20 September to Monday, 26 September.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is in Cairo for a three-day visit focused on bolstering defense ties.

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

• The EGX is in “serious talks” with five or six private sector companies to list on the bourse, with the negotiations currently at an “advanced stage,” new EGX boss Ramy El Dokany said.
• Egyptian shares suffered their biggest single-day loss since early July yesterday amid growing investor concerns about global growth, driving the benchmark EGX30 index to fall 3.1% during trading, reaching its lowest level in seven weeks.

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The Central Bank of Egypt will meet to discuss interest rates on Thursday, and the signs are pointing towards a third hike of 2022. Six of seven analysts and economists surveyed in our regular poll expect the Monetary Policy Committee to raise rates as inflation rises and the EGP continues to weaken.

Make that seven of eight: HC Securities sees the central bank raising rates by 100 bps on Thursday and another 100 bps in the November meeting due to Egypt’s deteriorating external position and expectations for inflation to accelerate in the coming months.

Intellectual property strategy coming this week: Egypt will launch its intellectual property strategy on Wednesday. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director-General Daren Tang will make an appearance at a ceremony being put on to launch the program.

FURTHER AFIELD-

HSBC is hosting an energy transition webinar series next Tuesday-Thursday, 27-29 September. The series will look at the “latest climate analysis in relation to the global energy market and transition to net zero” in six different sessions covering energy security, what is required to ensure the success of COP27, financing and investment needs for the energy transition, and the scaling up of renewables in the region, among other topics. You can register for the series here.

WANT TO READ MORE about the region’s energy transition? Read HSBC’s Group Head, Centre of Sustainable Finance and Head of Climate Change Middle East, North Africa and Turkey Zoe Knight’s op-ed on the Middle East’s energy transition and the access to capital that’s needed to help drive that shift.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Temperatures in Cairo will hit 35°C tomorrow during the day before falling to 21°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.

Dior is bringing one of its shows to Egypt for the first time: The French luxury fashion house will unveil its upcoming men’s pre-fall collection against the backdrop of the Giza Pyramids on 3 December this year, according to a statement to WWD. “Designed by Kim Jones, the celestial collection celebrates a lifelong passion for travel,” the brand said in the statement. British fashion designer Kim Jones, who has served as artistic director of Dior Homme since 2018 has ties to Africa, having grown up in Botswana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana. Dior resumed its tradition of traveling men’s pre-fall collections with a show in London last year, after it was halted due to covid-19. Jones previously staged pre-fall runway shows in Miami and Tokyo.

From Mumbai to Manhattan, secret Russian diamond sales are threatening global markets: Russian diamonds are being secretly sold for USD hundreds of mns per month, splintering the worldwide market that spans from cutting factories in Mumbai to upscale luxury shops on Fifth Avenue in New York, Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian mining firm Alrosa — which accounts for about a third of the world's rough diamond supply — was slapped with US sanctions, leading many in the industry to refuse to do business with Russian gems. However, some buyers in India and Belgium are (quietly) snatching up substantial quantities at attractive prices, picking and choosing the diamonds as they please.

The Russian miner is luring buyers in with unusually attractive terms: While most banks in Europe and the Middle East have stopped financing purchases from Alrosa, the firm is providing benefits, such as uncommon flexibility, to those who are still prepared to purchase. Meanwhile, shops that are trying to avoid Russian jewels are worried about a shortage of diamonds, especially the little and inexpensive ones in which Alrosa — all of the Russian stones mined before the conflict have almost entirely been used up, according to Bloomberg’s sources. And boycott attempts would likely fail since it’s pretty difficult, if not impossible, to track stones once they enter the supply chain, as a diamond can be retraded and remixed numerous times before being used in an engagement ring or pendant.

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China’s robotic nation: China’s industrial robots installations in its factories last year were almost double the number of installations across factories in the Americas and Europe, as the nation pushes with efforts to fortify its manufacturing dominance amid a widening labor market gap, the Wall Street Journal reports. Data by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), seen by WSJ, showed industrial robots shipments up 45% last year to over 243k. The accelerating automation comes under China’s plan to adapt to a dwindling labor market, with economists saying that the populous country can no longer depend on a widening labor force to boost economic growth. “You can’t wait until you run out of people to start [reckoning] with it,” said Andrew Harris, deputy chief economist at Fathom Consulting in London.

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Season 5 of The Handmaid’s Tale brings us a world that’s bleaker than ever. The season premiere of the Hulu dystopian drama sees June and Serena Joy come to terms with the aftermath of the events that transpired in the season 4 finale. We see new sides of the characters now that the power dynamic between them has flipped and as they come to terms with their past actions. The show — which heavily focuses on reproductive rights, or lack thereof — has been increasingly resonating with viewers worried that life is beginning to imitate art after the landmark dissolution of Roe v. Wade, which revoked women in the US’ constitutional right to abortion and paved the way for states to enact abortion bans. The show has been being referenced at protests for abortion rights, with protesters donning the Handmaid’s red robes and white bonnets. In response, Margaret Atwood, author of the 1985 best-selling novel the show is based on, posted a photo on Instagram of herself holding a mug with the phrase, “I told you so.” Watch the season 5 trailer here (runtime 2:16).

⚽ No football today, folks.

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The Wannabe Comedians are returning to the Tap West’s stage tonight at 9pm, with Youssef Gallad MCing and this line up of hilarious Egyptian comedians: Mohamed Hamdy, Karim Ayman, Omar Al Hassan, Mark Fanous, and Mohamed Habib.

Alright, alright, alright — Matthew McConaughey fans head to Room Garden City tonight at 9pm for a screening of rom-com Fool’s Gold.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Unsure of how to create the company culture you want? Ben Horowitz (co-founder of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz) looks no further than to the past for tips on how to actively create and sustain your company culture in What You Do Is Who You Are. He turns to four unlikely historical figures for inspiration and lessons on leadership and culture building: Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture, who led the only successful slave revolution; the Samurai caste who ruled Japan for 700 years and cultivated codes that have largely shaped Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest empire in history; and criminal justice reformer Shaka Senghor Shaka Senghor, who spent 19 years in prison for murder and went on to transform prison culture. He also draws on lessons from companies from his VC firm’s portfolio. Horowitz highlights that culture dictates how employees make decisions and the importance of intentionally cultivating culture instead of ending up with an unintentional one.

The EGX30 rose 0.9% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 829.43 mn (12.8% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 17.5% YTD.

In the green: Rameda (+4.8%), Palm Hills (+3.1%) and Fawry (+2.7%).

In the red: Telecom Egypt (-2.0%), Mopco (-2.0%) and Orascom Construction (-0.6%).

Is it the year of satellite phone connectivity? A new push from satellite phone service companies looks set to drive a commercialization of satellite connectivity by making it increasingly within the reach of ordinary people — without having to rely on traditional satellite phone handsets. Traditionally used by people in highly sensitive lines of work, such as military personnel, ship operators with choppy network access, and those in disaster response situations, satellite phones have long been a niche product that has not entered the mass market.

Satellite phones are mobile phones that connect through orbiting satellites. Roughly the same size as cell phones, satphones are mostly used on trips to remote areas or by journalists and relief workers in disaster response situations. Satphones, which don’t rely on cell towers for coverage, can be used in most places on Earth, although some still have limited reception indoors and require a clear line of sight to satellites in the sky to operate effectively. Providing reach in dead spots and clear-as-a-landline service are just a couple of the advantages of satellite phones. Because of their near-universal connectivity, satphones are used in remote and desolate areas, including the desert, at sea and at high altitudes as well as in war zones.

Globalstar, Iridium, Thuraya and Inmarsat are all established satellite phone companies. Globalstar, Iridium and Starlink are all low-orbit satellite phone networks. Iridium has global coverage through its satellite network of 66 satellites, while Inmarsat relies on a “geostationary satellite network, with satellites over the equator.” This means Inmarsat’s coverage is less strong towards the north and south poles. Globalstar’s low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network covers the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and parts of Africa.

But satellite phones themselves aren’t widely used: Like 1980s-era cell phones, satphones continue to be pricey. Even though they’re becoming increasingly accessible as companies like Starlink and Iridium look to commercialize them, handsets continue to be pricey (and chunky) and the cost of call per minute steep.

Enter satellite networks you can connect to with your regular ol’ smartphone: A handful of phone manufacturers — including Apple and Huawei — are now teaming up with satellite network providers to bring satellite connectivity to regular smartphones.

Who’s getting in on it? Newcomers include Lynk Global and Elon Musk’s Starlink, which is building a massive (not to mention controversial) satellite network in low-Earth orbit, which promises users high speed, low-latency internet as well as the ability to take their network on the road. A recent move by Apple — which announced in early September a collaboration with Globalstar to include a satellite SOS feature for emergency responders and an option to use FindMy app to share users’ location via satellite latest upgrade — marks one of the first steps in commercializing satellite phones.

This progression is expected to drive growth in the satellite phone market: A report from Technavio expects the market to grow by some USD 135.1 mn by the end of 2023, according to Business Wire. “The manufacturing of the traditional large-size satellites and launching them requires a huge amount of investments, which simultaneously increases the cost of satellite-based Internet services,” Business Wire says. By comparison, low-cost satellite-based Internet services placed in low-Earth orbit (LEO) using nano and microsatellite-based infrastructure could “reduce the latency of the Internet service” in a more cost-efficient structure, the report suggests.

Lack of oversight makes satphones illegal in some places. Because satphones encrypt voice traffic, they have traditionally been considered one of the safest ways to communicate, evading wiretapping and censorship — although researchers have proven that they are interceptable. Countries like Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Libya, Myanmar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and North Korea forbid or restrict the possession and use of satellite phones.