PM — Generating solar power at night could be the next big thing

Good afternoon, wonderful people, and welcome to what we affectionately call almost-THURSDAY. The weekend is almost upon us — but it’s a mad rush to the finish line.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Egypt’s economy grew at a 5.4% clip in 3Q2021-2022 — its slowest pace yet this fiscal year, as fallout from the war in Ukraine begins to reflect on the economy, according to a cabinet statement. 9M figures show the economy growing 7.8%, bolstered by a solid 1H, which saw 9% growth. The government has now upped its growth forecast for the fiscal year to 6.2%, after having trimmed it in March to 5.7% from 6.4% due to the economic impact of the war in Ukraine.

^^We’ll have more on this story and others in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Yesterday’s mass shooting in a Texas elementary school is still topping headlines across much of the international press this afternoon.The Wall Street Journal is reporting further details on the incident as they have emerged, while Reuters takes note of US President Joe Biden’s renewed push to tighten gun laws in the country.

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

• Some foreign car manufacturers have suspended sales to Egypt after a change to how imports are paid for has left local dealers unable to purchase vehicles, industry sources say.
• Egypt hopes to finalize a fresh assistance program with the IMF “within two months,” Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly told lawmakers yesterday in an address focusing on the government’s response to what he said was the worst global crisis since the Second World War.
• Four miners have landed licenses to explore for gold in the Eastern Desert in the Madbouly government’s latest tender, including Ankh Resources, Sawiris-backed Akh Gold, Canadian miner Lotus Gold, and Marine Logistic.

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LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST ON WHAT AI CAN MEAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Last month, we explored how the government has made artificial intelligence a national priority. We spoke with the former ICT Ministry’s advisor for AI Sally Radwan about the government’s national AI strategy and how it is being implemented (Part 1 | Part 2).

In another of our podcast roundtables, we sat down with the companies building AI systems in Egypt to get a bird’s eye view on what’s happening in the sector: Who’s adopting it, how they’re going about it, and what challenges they’re facing.

You can catch the episode on our website here (listen, runtime: 44:01), or tune in via Apple Podcasts | Anghami | Google Podcasts | Spotify). Or you can read edited excerpts of our conversation here.

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The Madbouly government will hold public consultations on its privatization plans over three months, according to a cabinet statement out yesterday. “We as a government are ready to hear all opinions and approaches because our objective is the interest of the country and the advancement of the economy,” PM Moustafa Madbouly said at a Cabinet meeting.

We got our first look at its policy document last week: The government intends to fully withdraw from as many as 79 industries over the next three years as part of plans to restructure the economy in favor of the private sector, according to a draft copy of its state ownership policy document obtained by the local press last week. The final version of the document is expected to be published before the end of this month.

The Fin Expo Egypt is kicking off tomorrow and will run until Thursday at the Intercontinental Citystars. The expo will feature over 25 companies exhibiting their fintech products and services with 3k visitors expected.

El Gouna International Squash Open 2022 will kick off on Friday and run until the following Friday, 3 June. The competition will feature some of Egypt’s top seeds including world #1 Nouran Gohar and world #2 Ali Farag (who just earned the PSA squash championship cup). The prize pool for each of the men’s and women’s competitions is USD 180k.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect the mercury to inch up again tomorrow to a high of 36°C before cooling off to a low of 21°C in the evening.

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WE’RE LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE to help us build some very cool new things. Today, we run two daily publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a monthly newsletter designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of 200k readers by telling stories that matter.

We’re looking for editors who want to run publications and teams, editors to help reporters craft stories and talented reporters. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

Apply directly to jobs@enterprisemea.com and mention Patrick in your subject line.

Or hit this link for more information. It’s worth it — trust us.
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Pfizer will sell its entire portfolio of meds at cost to 45 low-income countries, the pharma giant said in a press release, in what Bloomberg is calling “one of the most comprehensive and ambitious drug-access programs ever announced.” Pfizer will at first offer 23 different meds and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers, and rare and inflammatory diseases in Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda. It will then expand the initiative to include all its current and future brand-name meds and vaccines. There will be no limit to the amount of meds Pfizer will provide — and the company could up manufacturing if demand exceeds supply, CEO Albert Bourla told Bloomberg.

More than just meds: Pfizer says it will also offer officials in the targeted countries help to improve their healthcare systems. “As we learned in the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supply is only the first step to helping patients,” Bourla said. “We will work closely with global health leaders to make improvements in diagnosis, education, infrastructure, storage and more.”

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Roman Abramovich has officially sold Chelsea FC for GBP 4.25 bn, the highest amount ever paid for a sports team — and the proceeds are going to Ukrainian war victims. Sanctioned Russian b’naire has sold the London club to a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly, the Guardian reports, after Abramovich agreed to UK government terms guaranteeing he would not benefit from the sale. The Premier League approved the takeover yesterday. Abramovich earned nothing from the sale of the club, which rose to become one of the most successful teams in Europe during his 19-year stretch as owner. Instead, the proceeds will go into a frozen account before going to an independent charity for victims of the war in Ukraine. “Given the sanctions we placed on those linked to Putin and the bloody invasion of Ukraine, the long-term future of the club can only be secured under a new owner,” British Sport Secretary Nadine Dorries said. “We are satisfied the proceeds of the sale will not benefit Roman Abramovich or other sanctioned individuals.”

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Irreverent Canadian dramedy Workin' Moms is back with a binge-worthy sixth season on Netflix. The series star and creator is Catherine Reitman, who plays Kate Foster, a new mom struggling to maintain her successful but demanding career in public relations. The show follows themes of motherhood against the backdrop of a Mommy and Me group, and much like your favorite toddler’s temperament, it has the ability to bounce from cheerful to dark to awkward to messy and back, all within the span of a 20-minute episode. There is an appealing rawness to Workin’ Moms and while — a lot like motherhood — the show isn’t perfect, it’s one of the most accurate depictions of the peculiar situations parents in the workforce often go through. If you’ve ever felt the pressure to parent like you don’t have a job and work like you don’t have children, then you’ll definitely relate to these workin’ moms.

⚽ It’s the Europa Conference League final: Italy’s Roma and the Netherland’s Feyenoord will face-off in the inaugural final tonight at 9pm.

IN OTHER FOOTBALL NEWS- Egyptian midfielder Mohamed ElNeny has renewed his contract with Arsenal. “Almost seven years with Arsenal but they don’t seem to be enough ???? I’m still learning, I’m still growing, and I want to do so much more for the team and the club I love,” said ElNeny.

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Breaking Walls Festival kicks off tonight at the Italian Cultural Institute at 7:15pm. Exploring arts in the age of climate change, the program includes a live performance and a panel discussion featuring Sarah Rifaat, theater performer and environmental educator, Alaaedeen Tawfik, brand manager of Greenish, and Hazem Header, the artistic director of NÜT Dance Company and Breaking Walls Festival.

After a long hiatus, rapper Marwan Paplo is taking over Cairo Jazz Club 610 tonight at 9pm. Rising stars Flex & Husayn will set the stage with a performance ahead of the grand return of the hip-hop pioneer.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Elif Batuman brings back the elation and existentialism of undergraduate life in the charming Either/Or, a sequel to her first novel The Idiot, which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. Selin, the overachieving daughter of Turkish immigrants, is on a path to find out if a person should spend their brief time on Earth in the pursuit of pleasure, or on the path of morality and responsibility? As she grapples with her sophomore year at Harvard in the 90s, Selin observes the absurdities of the rules and beliefs that seem to govern contemporary behavior, and starts to question the fundamentals of love, life, and literature — and the lyrics of Alanis Morissette.

The EGX30 fell 1.6% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 694 mn (18.3% below the 90-day average). Arab investors were net buyers. The index is down 14.2% YTD.

In the red: GB Auto (-10.7%), MM Group (-7.9%) and Ibn Sina Pharma (-6.5%).

Could we soon be seeing solar power generation at night? A recent breakthrough (pdf) by a team of researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) could pave the way to a new form of energy generation that uses heat emitted from the Earth’s surface. Using a similar process to how solar cells convert sunlight into electricity, it could allow us to produce energy at night.

Solar panels use visible light produced by the sun: PV cells rely on silicon semiconductors that absorb the photons beamed down by the sun, and convert the thermal energy into electricity.

But this technology uses photons from a different source: The researchers used a device called a thermoradiative diode to instead capture energy produced by infrared light that is released by the Earth’s surface at night.

Solar energy minus the sun: This is still technically a form of solar energy. The infrared light is energy produced by the solar radiation that heats up the planet during the day. At night, these infrared photons are released, and can be captured using the device deployed by the UNSW scientists.

The technology is still in its infancy: The device was only able to generate 2.26 MW per square meter of electricity at 1.8% efficiency, which one of the study’s authors admits is “relatively very low power.” By comparison most commercial solar panels range between 15-20% efficiency. The team anticipates it could increase to some 19.4 MW per square meter or about “a tenth of the power of a solar cell,” under different conditions, one of the study’s co-authors said.

This isn’t the only option for night-time solar: Over on the other side of the Pacific, researchers at Stanford University have outfitted regular solar panels with thermoelectric generators to absorb infrared photons, says New Scientist. Though the amount of power the researchers have been able to generate has been small — 50 milliwatts per square meter or 0.04 percent of the output of an ordinary solar panel during the daytime — the technology could eventually be useful tools in powering small devices in remote regions.

This discovery could become a helpful supplement to solar power generation but not a substitute: There’s still a long way to go for this technology to be applied at scale and reach a point of higher efficiency but there are already some potential applications researchers have pointed to. Applying these same thermoelectric principles to biomedical devices could eliminate the need for batteries in artificial hearts by harnessing the power of body heat. Another example could include recharging or doing away with batteries on personal devices entirely.

But this is where private industry can really step in to help bolster uses for this technology: Similar to how the solar industry was supported by a huge boost in private investment, thermoradiative electricity could benefit from the same kind of attention. “ There's still about a decade of university research work to be done here. And then it needs industry to pick it up. If industry can see this is a valuable technology for them, then progress can be extremely fast,” Associate Professor and co-author of the study Ned Ekins-Daukes said.