PM — Gov’t addresses how Egypt will finance the policies needed for Vision 2030

Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to another relatively busy afternoon. We have a couple of stories developing today, but you’ll want to keep an eye on the USAID’s International Conference on Alternative Financing Opportunities in Egypt, where key members of government are discussing sustainable financing and how these tools fit into our Vision 2030 plans. We have a quick check-in from the conference in Happening Now, below, and will bring you more details in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Online used-car retailer Sylndr raised USD 12.6 mn in a pre-seed round led by Raed Ventures, with the funding earmarked for building the company’s operational capabilities, technology infrastructure and brand awareness, the startup said in a press release (pdf). Founded late last year by Omar El Defrawy and Amr Mazen, the startup aims to facilitate the process of buying, selling and financing the purchases of used cars.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

In a shift away from Ukraine-focused news: The global press is fixated this afternoon on US President Joe Biden saying Washington would intervene militarily to stop a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Speaking in Japan earlier today, Biden said the US’ position on recognizing China’s rulers “as the only legitimate government” remains unchanged, but stressed that China moving to take Taiwan “by force … would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.” The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, and the New York Times have the story.

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HAPPENING NOW- How will Egypt finance the policies needed for Vision 2030? That’s the question Planning Minister Hala El Said, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, IMF Executive Director and UN Special Envoy for Financing the 2030 Agenda Mahmoud Mohieldin, US Chargé d’Affaires Nicole Shampaine, and others have tried to answer at USAID’s International Conference on Alternative Financing Opportunities in Egypt: Towards Sustainable Financing for Development, which runs today and tomorrow. The conference gathers and other representatives of international organizations, to discuss sustainable financing in Egypt.

Egypt’s GDP growth will exceed 5% in 3Q2021-2022, El Said said during the conference, Reuters reports. Egypt had recently trimmed its growth forecast for the financial year to 5.7% from 6.4% due to the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, after recording 9% growth in 1H2021-2022.

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

• Surging food prices on the back of the crisis in Ukraine could put “mns” at risk around the world, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told the Financial Times in an interview in London.
• The Saudi sovereign wealth fund is reportedly considering making a bid to acquire United Bank, 99.9% of which is held by the Central Bank of Egypt.
• Egypt will merge seven or eight state-owned hotels into a single entity ahead of a listing on the EGX, which will be offered to investors in coordination with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt in the coming months, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik said.

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DID YOU MISS THIS WEEK’S WHAT’S NEXT? 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 virtual 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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???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Direct flights between Cairo and Dublin will launch starting 2 June, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement yesterday. EgyptAir will operate four flights a week between the two capitals.

Direct flights between Cairo and Sao Paulo will also be announced soon, Brazilian officials in Cairo were quoted as saying.

The Islamic Development Bank will hold its 2022 annual meetings in Sharm El Sheikh from 1-4 June under the slogan “post-pandemic recovery: resilience and sustainability,” according to a statement from the Planning Ministry. Several Egyptian ministries and representatives from the bank’s 57 member countries and other financial institutions are set to attend the meetings.

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

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect a daytime high of 35°C and a nighttime low of 19°C in the capital city tomorrow, our favorite weather app forecasts.

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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.

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Surprise: Crypto traders may have been playing dirty. Some crypto traders have seemingly been cashing in on insider knowledge to make major returns on market news, the Wall Street Journal reports citing analysis from software firm Argus, which offers companies tools to manage employee trading. One crypto wallet netted a USD 140k bottom line (marking a 40% return) by acquiring large sums of a digital coin in the days before it was listed on crypto exchange Binance, before selling again as soon as the token was listed. The wallet has done the same with at least three other tokens, according to the data. This comes as crypto exchanges face increased regulatory scrutiny over transparency, as retail users book major losses as markets are hit by a wider selloff.

The key to saving money in the digital age: Family plans. With the abundance of digital services that require monthly or annual subscriptions, the bills start to rack up and you can easily find yourself dedicating a big chunk of your spend on cloud storage and streaming services. That’s why you should opt for a family plan and share it with a number of friends who use the same products, argues Wall Street Journal personal tech columnist Nicole Nguyen. Although some services stipulate that all users under the same family plan must live in the same household — including Hulu, Netflix, and Spotify — some offer more flexibility. Apple’s Apple One, which includes subscriptions to Apple Music, TV, Arcade and iCloud, comes with a monthly EGP 128 price tag, but if you opt in for a family bundle shared with five others it’ll cost less than a cup of coffee at EGP 29/month.

The Great Resignation has made its way to the UK, suggests an analysis from jobs site Adzuna picked up by Bloomberg. London was at the core of the great resignation, with over 500k vacancies available in the city and surrounding areas, with an average advertised salary of GBP 45k. The resignations are also taking place in commuter towns as the pandemic has made Brits want to work closer to home… or even better, at home. The return-to-office push is a big factor contributing to the high movement between jobs and companies that offer flexibility or fully remote positions are “coming out on top.”

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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Derry Girls is a coming-of-age story of four girls against the backdrop of war and political turmoil: The Irish sitcom follows Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle, and their male accomplice, James, as they go to high school during the Troubles — a period of conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years. The four girls are keen to cause trouble as they venture through crushes, concerts, detention, gossip, and cliques. The show is hilarious and its wit transcends across different cultures, with viewers not needing any background on the Irish conflict to enjoy the show. The historical aspect actually gives the show an added edge and storyline while playing a constant indirect role in the girl’s character development. The first two seasons are out on Netflix, but the third season wasn’t added to the streaming site.

???? Egyptian champions Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini (both World #2s) walked away with the PSA squash championship cups yesterday following two all-Egyptian final matches at the CIB-sponsored event. Farag eked out a victory against compatriot Mohamed ElShorbagy (World #3) to take the title with three games to two, while El Sherbini upset World #1 Nouran Gohar to claim the championship with three games to one. El Sherbini and Farag each walked away with a USD 550k prize — the largest purse on record for a squash championship.

⚽ The major European leagues came to a close yesterday, ending a difficult and interesting football season: There was a lot of excitement in England yesterday as Manchester City seemed like it would lose to Aston Villa who were ahead by two goals. It wasn’t until the end of the match that City made a comeback, putting in three goals in less than 10 minutes and snagging the EPL trophy.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Milan was named the champion in Serie A yesterday after a 3-0 match against Sassuolo. Tears were shed and flags were waved as Milan finally took home its 19th league title after 11 years of not reaching the top.

The European season is over but the Egyptian Premier League is still ongoing, with Pharco playing against El Gouna at 6:30pm.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
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Downtown’s Noir is hosting an open jam tonight where musicians and singers can come together to enjoy each other’s music and collaborate. The jam is taking place today at 8pm.

The 19th edition of the Alwan Festival is taking place tomorrow at 5pm at Galal El Sharkawy Theatre. The festival will feature numerous workshops that participants can attend revolving around art, storytelling, and videography.

Join the Greek Campus’ workshop titled “Introduction to Sales in the Modern World” today from 6-9pm. The workshop will be led by Jonathon Kendall, co-founder and executive partner of Virtual Worker Now and aims to teach “insights and best practices to prospect, manage and develop accounts to maximize revenues for your business.”

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

A family divided as their community faces gentrification: Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera follows a Dominican family living in a New York neighborhood that is slowly being gentrified. The parents, Eusebia and Vladimir, have a very different reaction to the character of the neighborhood being erased than their daughter Luz who is in fact dating one of the developers that wants to put up luxury apartments. This puts mother and daughter at opposite ends of the spectrum where Eusebia is leading a protest movement against the development while Luz strives to live a more upscale lifestyle while working at a top Manhattan law firm. The novel is a multi-layered exploration of immigration, community, and survival that Natera deftly unfolds in a place under threat.

EARNINGS WATCH-

Amer Group’s bottom line fell 81.2% y-o-y in 1Q2022 to EGP 39.44 mn, according to the company’s financials (pdf). Revenues also fell during the quarter, recording EGP 618.15 mn, a nearly 40% y-o-y decline.

MARKET ROUNDUP-

The EGX30 rose 0.5% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 586 mn (31.4% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is down 12.0% YTD.

In the green: Madinet Nasr Housing (+2.7%), Mopco (+1.9%) and Housing and Development Bank (+1.9%).

In the red: GB Auto (-2.8%), Fawry (-2.3%) and Ezz Steel (-1.6%).

Egypt has the second-highest amount of private wealth in Africa with some USD 307 bn in private holdings, according to a new report (pdf) from investment firm Henley and Partners. This puts the country second only to South Africa, which dominates the list with almost double the amount of private wealth as Egypt and the highest number of high net worth individuals (those with a net worth above USD 1 mn), multi-mn’aires (those with over USD 10 mn) and centi-mn’aires (those with upwards of USD 100 mn).

Egypt is also home to the largest number of bn’aires on the continent, with seven of the continent’s 21 included in the group’s report. Most of these bn’aires (four) live in Cairo, which ranks as the third-richest city on the continent and holds some USD 128 bn (c.42%) of the country’s private wealth. Some 8.2k HNWIs, 440 multi-mn’aires, and 29 centi-mn’aires also call Cairo home. Alexandria, meanwhile, ranks as the 13th-richest city in Africa with some USD 23 bn in private wealth and where 1.7k HNWIs, 100 multi-mn’aires, 8 centi-mn’aires and 1 bn’aire reside.

These figures all pretty much fall in line with the findings of prior reports with a similar focus. A 2020 report prepared by Frank Knight found that Egypt held the second highest number of ultra-high net-worth individuals in Africa (UHNWI) — those with a net worth above USD 30 mn — after South Africa and above Nigeria. A separate 2018 report by AfrAsia Bank also concluded that Egypt was the second-wealthiest country in Africa by total wealth, but a distant sixth in wealth per capita.

Private wealth on the continent is expected to grow 38% and reach USD 3 tn over the next decade, which is most likely going to be driven by growth in technology and professional services. “We expect especially strong growth in the centi-mn’aire wealth band,” Andrew Amoils, head of research at the South Africa-based wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth — from which the entirety of the report’s data originates — told Bloomberg.

But overall, privately held wealth has actually been on the decline since 2011 across the continent: Total African wealth, which is currently worth some USD 2.1 tn, has seen a 7% decline in the 10 years between 2011 and 2021. This is primarily the cause of “poor returns” in South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, the report says. Egypt alone has experienced a 23% decline in privately held wealth in the past decade. The story is much the same for Nigeria and South Africa, which saw reductions of 27% and 12% in their respective private wealth holdings over the same period.

2020 was an especially trying year for African wealth which saw the number of high net-worth individuals fall from 138k in 2019 down to 125k in 2020 — the sharpest single-year decline tracked in the past decade.

Poorer countries on the other hand have seen growing wealth during this period: Mauritius, whose total private wealth of some USD 44 bn is considerably lower than Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa’s saw a 74% increase in private wealth in the past ten years. Rwanda, which ranked dead last in the report’s rankings, with only USD 11 bn in private wealth, saw a 60% increase in its holdings over the same period.

When it comes to per capita wealth, some of the top performers lose their edge: Along with this measure, which is probably a better indicator of how concentrated wealth is in many of these places, Mauritius seems to outperform every other country on the continent by a long shot with some USD 34.5k in wealth per capita. Egypt falls to 6th place with some USD 3k per capita, and Nigeria — which ranked third after Egypt in private wealth holdings — sinks to the 11th spot with some USD 1.1k per capita.

How does the math work? Ease of doing business in the country, safety, and a growing financial services sector were among the reasons posited by Henley as contributing to Mauritius’ performance. But it could also be that Mauritius has a tiny population of 1.26 mn compared to South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria and a decent number of HNWIs that are obscuring the actual degree of inequality.

Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda are expected to be driving growth in wealth markets, which could reach some 60% over the next decade, the report suggests. Other countries on the list can expect to see more moderate growth in the ballpark of 20%-40% over the same period.

With all that in mind, it is still difficult to ignore the reality of inequality that plagues much of the continent: In South Africa, the country with the highest degree of income inequality on the continent, the richest 10% of the population own more than 85% of household wealth and some 3.5k adults own more than the poorest 32 mn people in the country. In Egypt, the country’s poverty rate rose to 32.5% in FY2017-2018, up from an estimated 27.8% in 2015 and the top 10% of income earners hold 49.9% of national income.