PM — A Goldilocks news day

Happy Monday, wonderful people. We’re having one of those Goldilocks news days: It’s not like drinking out of a fire hose, but it’s not achingly slow, either. It’s just right, with enough big stories to keep us on our toes.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

#1- Mass transportation startup Swvl expects to receive final approvals on its IPO from the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today, with trading expected to begin before the month’s end, CFO Youssef Salem told Enterprise, confirming a report from Al Mal. Trading will follow a general assembly meeting on 30 March of US SPAC Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, with which Swvl expects to merge in the IPO.

#2- Remittances from Egyptians abroad rose 6.4% y-o-y in 2021 to reach USD 31.50 bn, the Central Bank of Egypt announced in a statement (pdf). Remittances also rose during the last month of the year, growing 3.4% y-o-y to USD 2.64 bn.

#3- The Supply Ministry is upping its local wheat purchase target to over 6 mn tons this harvest season, more than 500k tons above its previously announced target, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy said in a sit-down with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, according to a cabinet statement. The government will be introducing various mechanisms and incentives, including controls on wheat trading, to achieve the target, El Moselhy added. The government has already upped its local wheat purchase target once before, from 4 mn tons to 5.5 mn.

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

• We’re getting a temporary reprieve from Black Sea wheat blackout: Several cargoes totaling 189k tonnes of Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian wheat are on their way to Egypt even as the war in Ukraine continues to disrupt commercial shipping in the Black Sea.
• Misr Ins. appoints legal advisor for planned IPO: Misr Ins. Holding has tapped Zaki Hashem & Partners as legal advisors for the process of offering its subsidiary, Misr Life Ins., on the EGX, Chairman Basel El Hiny said in a press conference yesterday.
• Scatec to build green ammonia plant in Egypt + Lekela eyes green hydro, desal projects: Norwegian renewable energy giant Scatec plans to build a green ammonium plant in Egypt with an annual production capacity of 1 mn tons per year, potentially expandable to 3 mn tons. Meanwhile, renewables player Lekela Power is “actively exploring” potential green hydrogen and renewables-powered water desalination investment prospects with the government and the private sector.

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD

The fourth round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations are currently underway, with the two sides focusing on achieving a ceasefire, immediate troop withdrawal and security assurances for Ukraine, Ukrainian negotiators Mykhailo Podolyak said, according to Reuters. Previous rounds of talks have collapsed in the past weeks as conditions in besieged cities continued to worsen.

Towns near Kyiv are continuing to evacuate their civilians for a fifth consecutive day through 10 humanitarian corridors as a ceasefire in the region continues to hold, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said, according to Sky News.

MARKETS- The talks have given Europe’s gas market a breather as European natural gas prices extended last week’s fall over the possibility of an imminent agreement, Bloomberg reported. Oil also cooled off, with WTI futures for April falling 4.2% to USD 104.74 per barrel, while Brent crude futures for May delivery also fell 3.5% to USD 108.69 per barrel.

Big Brother is watching you: Russia has reportedly warned Western companies in the country against criticizing the government, threatening to arrest company leaders or seize assets from corporations that exit the country, Wall Street Journal reports, citing people they say are familiar with the matter. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, IBM, and KFC owner Yum Brands have all reportedly been on the receiving end of Moscow’s threats.

But please don’t use Facebook to egg on an assassination of Putin: Facebook owner Meta clarified that its relaxed content policy, only in Ukraine, does not allow “calls for the death of a head of state,” likely a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bloomberg reported, citing an internal note by head of META’s Global Affairs Nick Clegg.

Australia joins in Western punishment of Russia’s key businessmen, imposing fresh sanctions on 33 Russian oligarchs and businessmen, according to a statement from its Foreign Affairs Minister. The sanctions mainly target Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, who are among those who “amassed vast personal wealth and are of economic and strategic significance to Russia, including as a result of their connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

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FOR TOMORROW-

It’s Fed week: The Federal Reserve will meet to review interest rates tomorrow and Wednesday and is expected to kick off its long-signposted tightening cycle with a 25-bps hike. The market previously anticipated the central bank to go bigger and raise interest rates by 50 bps, but now expects the uncertainties triggered by the conflict in Ukraine to have changed its calculations.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Green energy forum: The German Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce is hosting the Egyptian German Green Energy Forum next Tuesday, 22 March. Planning Minister Hala El Said, Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk, and German Ambassador Frank Hartmann are among those slated to attend. The event runs 5:30-9pm CLT at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis.

ITIDA’s Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center is organizing the first Metaverse Hackathon, according to a press release (pdf). The hackathon will see young Egyptians across different governorates creating innovative solutions, by employing and developing Metaverse applications in a series of competitions. The hackathon began on 15 February and will run until 15 June.

Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will hold its next monetary policy meeting on Thursday, 24 March.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Definitely windy, cold, and possibly rainy: Expect a windy 17°C during the day tomorrow before the mercury falls to 6°C at night, according to our favorite weather app. There’s also a chance of rain, so grab your coats and your umbrella, just in case.

Women are embracing remote work more than men in the US, saying they were twice as likely as men (26% versus 13%) to seek work from home in a survey done by ZipReccruiter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Companies are increasingly using remote and hybrid work as an incentive to attract workers, with increased flexibility in work modes expected to help boost women’s participation in the workforce, following a decline early on in the pandemic.

This is particularly the case for moms: Around 7% of women with children under the age of 18 said they would resign from their job if asked to go back to the office full-time and instead look for another job they could do remotely. Meanwhile, 40% said they would go back to work but immediately start looking for other options.

However, this preference could lead to less career growth for women: Workers who do not come back to the physical office face the threat of isolating themselves and lowering the potential of career progression, economists told the WSJ. Being less noticed puts these women workers at the back of management’s mind when it comes to raises and the like.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-

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Netflix’s new anthology series explores love across the Arab world in creative ways: Love, Life, and Everything in Between consists of eight episodes, each its own unique story from somewhere in the Arab world, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine. Our favorite episode was the very first one, featuring Egypt’s Ahmed Ezz who plays Diab, a modest man living in rural Egypt alongside his little brother Faris, who has Down Syndrome. In the end, it’s Faris and his ingenious plans that bring love into Diab’s life. Another episode out of Egypt features Asser Yassin in a dystopian Egypt where love and any form of its expression is banned. The Palestinian episode is also a must-watch, following a wedding that turns into a funeral and then back to a wedding. We were really impressed by the creativity of each director in portraying a new perspective on love and Valentine’s Day in a way that fits the cultural context of each filming location.

⚽ As usual, the Monday before the Champions Nights is almost empty. Today we have a single match in each of the English Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A.

Man City is playing an important match away from home against Crystal Palace, in its venture to expand the point difference again with Liverpool. City leads the English Premier League with 69 points while the Reds are chasing closely behind with 66 points, with only 10 games away from the end of the race. The match starts at 10pm.

La Liga + Serie A: Real Madrid will meet Real Mallorca at 10pm in the Spanish League while Lazio plays against Venezia in the Italian league at 9:45pm.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-

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Al Faluja Palestinian Folklore Troupe and the Housh Qadam Band will perform Palestinian Folklore: Dabka vs. Apartheid. The event will take place at 7pm in AUC’s Malak Gabr theater and is open to the public.

TAM Gallery is hosting the solo exhibition Fades Away by Walid Taher until 9 April. Taher seamlessly bridges the separate realms of visual art and the written word, by visually exploring the verses of poetry by renowned poet Wadie Saadeh.

The Sinatras are performing today at The Room New Cairo at 8:30pm, featuring Youssef Gabriel as lead vocals.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Be the first to read The Bond King as it gets released tomorrow. The subtitle summarizes it all: “How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All.” The book follows the story of Bill Gross, an American investor known for founding Pimco, one of today’s most cutthroat investment firms which helped to reshape the financial system in the aftermath of the Great Recession… to his own advantage, of course. Gross decided to enroll in business school after success in Vegas’ casinos. He took that same mentality to the bond market and played the high-risk, high-reward game in the same way. Author Mary Childs adds more than just Gross’ story to the book, also taking the time to explore the rise of the modern bond market. However, as the bond market matured, Gross’s former strategies began to fail him and the financial market’s history begins to intertwine with the investor’s downfall.

The EGX30 fell 0.6% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 771 mn (16.5% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 12.8% YTD.

In the green: MM Group (+1.8%), Egypt Kuwait Holding-EGP (+1.3%) and Madinet Nasr Housing (+1.2%).

In the red: Rameda (-5.5%), Ibnsina Pharma (-5.3%) and TMG Holding (-3.6%).

WHAT’S NEXT- Egyptians venture further into the metaverse and NFTs: As more people live out their lives in the virtual reality space that is the metaverse, we’re seeing everything from fashion and art to music and entertainment take on a digital form. The trend has been ongoing for the past couple of years and Egyptians are jumping on board, taking their creations and brands to the metaverse and immersing themselves in the futuristic commercial space.

Not sure what we’re talking about? Hit up our explainers on NFTs and the metaverse (here and here) before jumping back into this story.

Egypt’s Christine Massarany Designs is participating in the inaugural Metaverse Fashion Week (MVFW), marking the first Egyptian brand and Middle Eastern startup to attend the virtual affair, according to a press release (pdf). Christine Massarany Designs (CM Designs) is a luxury, semi-couture fashion brand out of Egypt created by wife and husband co-founders Christine Massarany and Rami Ashraf, with Massarany acting as the creative and design force behind the brand. The label will sell their designs as physical clothing pieces as well as NFTs which would allow avatars to wear them in the digital world.

What will Metaverse Fashion Week look like? MVFW is set to kick off on 24 March in metaverse platform Decentraland, with dozens of global brands and thousands of visitors able to virtually experience fashion shows, attend live music sessions at branded after parties, and buy and wear digital clothing directly from catwalk avatars. There will also be showrooms, stores, talks and events during the four-day virtual event. Since the project was announced in late December, more brands have expressed interest than Decentraland has capacity to host, according to Vogue Business.

How did they manage to do it? After keeping track of everything happening in the NFT space, Ashraf decided that he wanted to be the first fashion brand from Egypt to venture into the metaverse, he told Enterprise. After emailing several people from the NFT scene he found from articles, he came across MVFW. CM Designs teamed up with Boson Protocol, a decentralized e-commerce network to turn their designs into digital assets and help with all the other tech aspects that need to be taken care of, including creating 3D items and creating a payment system.

CM Designs will have a store in the metaverse where shoppers can explore the items and buy either the digital or physical clothing. Physical pieces will be delivered to buyers’ doorsteps while other designs will only be available as NFTs. The store — which is part of Boson’s land plots in Decentraland — will be kept open for a couple of months after the MVFW finishes, Ashraf told us.

The price tag isn’t too steep, but it isn’t cheap either, Ashraf said, but declined to give us an exact price. Still, Ashraf believes that the venture is worth it, telling us that he believes that the metaverse is “the future of retail.” Participating in such an event would also be an investment in the brand and its ability to harness the current technological trends.

The timing seems right as the NFT fashion space is booming: In general, NFT trading grew 21k% in 2021 to reach a value of USD 17.6 bn. Over the next few years, 10-15% of our wardrobes could become digital, industry experts have suggested, as people spend more time in digital worlds. There is also a benefit in moving away from the environmental impact that comes with overproduction in the physical fashion industry as keeping clothes in the metaverse eliminates the need to produce fabric, run factories or ship materials all over the world. Forever21 and Nike are among the brands that are piling into digital retail, creating multi-storey virtual world stores that you can visit with your avatar to buy digital clothing with virtual currency.

While CM Designs is a pioneer in fashion, Egyptian artists have already dipped their toes into NFTs in recent months: The first NFT project out of Egypt that was widely covered was Aya Tarek’s exhibition, Token. The exhibit saw the digital artwork sold on NFT marketplace NFTY Arabia.

And more has been happening… Myth of the 99 is the latest NFT project to land in our inboxes. Created by Egyptian contemporary artist Dina Fahmy El Rouby, Myth of the 99 includes 99 paintings that correspond to the 99 horses that appear in Greek Mythology, according to a press release (pdf). Each piece is unique with its own name and story, and will be sold as a separate NFT that includes the digital artwork. Myth of the 99 will also take place through a physical solo exhibition in May at CLEG Gallery in Cairo, with informative talks on the topic of NFTs and how the regional art community can dive into the world of Web 3.0.

CORRECTION- An earlier version of this story incorrectly state that NFTY Arabia is based in the UAE and backed by NIFTY Souq. This story was updated on 13 October, 2022 to remove the incorrect information.