PM — Is Elon Musk saying what your boss is thinking?

Good afternoon, friends, and a happy Thursday to all. For those celebrating Thanksgiving today, we wish you a wonderful turkey-fuelled afternoon with plenty of weekend leftovers to spare.

THE BIG STORY TODAY- Qatar’s sovereign fund has chosen a port it wants: The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is reportedly in talks with the Egyptian government to develop and manage the port of Safaga under a 25-year contract, Bloomberg Asharq quotes two unidentified sources as saying. The talks come after the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and the QIA inked an agreement to cooperate on ports last September.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD– Another rate cut for Turkey: The country has cut its benchmark interest rate down to 9% — despite annual inflation of over 85% — in response to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call to bring rates down to the single digits before the end of the year. This is the fourth consecutive cut in a cycle of monetary easing as Turkey attempts to wrangle soaring inflation and keep a grip on its currency value. Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times all picked up the story.

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

• The Qatar Investment Authority’s talks with Telecom Egypt over a potential purchase of a 20% stake in Vodafone Egypt have “accelerated” and could close “very soon.”
• Some MPs are calling on ministers to reconsider their plans regarding a decision by the government to end the CBE’s role in providing funding for subsidized loans.
• ​​Japanese bank Nomura thinks that Egypt is the most vulnerable EM to a currency crisis over the next 12 months.

The Enterprise Climate X Forum is fast approaching, and we’re incredibly excited to meet with some of you in Cairo at the Grand Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, 6 December 2022. We get underway with a networking breakfast at 8am CLT.

What’s on the table? CEOs, execs, bankers and development finance folks will mull over a variety of topics, including:

• What’s this green hydrogen mumbo-jumbo you speak of?
• How are leaders building green businesses — from scratch, or as retrofits to decades-old family enterprises?
• How do we pay for it all?
• What do you really think of the green economy?

With that in mind, we’ll be dropping little notices in stories and topics we intend to explore more of at the forum. Study up if you’re coming.

Some of the biggest names in business and finance are on board — are you? If you’re a C-suite exec, business owner, climate professional, DFI staff, investor or banker, please email us at climatexrsvp@enterprisemea.com to signal your interest, letting us know your name, title and where you work. You can learn more on our conference website here.

*** YOU MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND by clicking the link on your registration email. Attendance is by invitation only. You’ll need a special QR code to gain access to the GEM on event day.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Payment and fintech conference Pafix will be held as part of Cairo ICT 2022 from Sunday, 27-30 November at the Egypt International Exhibition Centre in New Cairo.

The US and Russia will hold nuclear talks in Cairo next week: Washington and Moscow will discuss resuming mutual nuclear inspections during week-long talks from Tuesday, 29 November through to 6 December, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to CNN.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- There’s a possible chance of a rain shower tomorrow, with a daytime high of 24°C and nighttime low of 15°C, our favorite weather app tells us. Enjoy a partially cloudy Saturday with highs of 23°C before cooling off to a chilly 13°C in the evening.

Is Elon Musk saying what your boss is thinking? Managers may balk at the PR chaos the Tesla boss has unleashed since his whirlwind takeover of Twitter — but many of them are secret fans of his no-nonsense approach to setting standards for employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Musk’s insistence that employees at Twitter (the ones he didn’t fire) commit to being “extremely hardcore” and “working long hours at high intensity” is drawing admiration from senior execs who say the post-pandemic workforce has gone soft. “ “I think every successful CEO, including myself, is tired of all the whining,” Michael Friedman, New York investment firm First Level Capital’s chief exec, told the WSJ.

The Musk managerial style might only work for those with USD bns and a spaceship: The allure of working for the richest and arguably most famous businessman in the world means Musk can get away with the kind of strong-arming that others can't, Friedman concedes.

And even then, there’s only so much a workforce can take: While some 4k Twitter employees have been fired in recent weeks, another 1.2k have walked away. The social media company also disbanded its entire Brussels office today, sparking over whether the platform will be able to enforce the EU’s tough new online content rules.

Surprisingly, Neanderthals were foodies: A discovery by a research team from Liverpool John Moores University has unearthed the earliest prepared food dating back 70k years and there’s evidence of complex flavor palates, The Guardian reports. The leftovers — found in an Iraqi cave north of Baghdad — show evidence of multiple steps of preparation to prepare foods with flavor, providing proof that prehistoric humans enjoyed cooking and even had diverse diets. With the absence of pots, the Nenderthals warmed up food in animal skin and pounded seeds with rocks to unleash more flavor to add to their dishes. Other research has shown others skipping the cooking and preferred eating wild nuts, various grasses and seeds like lentils and wild mustard.

The Japanese touch: Japan’s football fans stuck around to tidy up the stadium after the country’s memorable World Cup victory over Germany showing viewers worldwide what civic duty looks like, Bloomberg reports. After their 2-1 defeat, German fans exited the stadium while Japanese spectators started cleaning up, collecting trash into bags and making sure the space was as clean as they found it. The cleanliness extended indoors, with Japan’s team tidying up their changing room, neatly lining up water bottles and food containers into piles and leaving 11 origami cranes behind with a “thank you" note written in Japanese and Arabic.

The EGX30 rose 1.4% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.95 bn (37.5% above the 90-day average). International investors were net sellers. The index is up 7.0% YTD.

In the green: GB Auto (+6.9%), Alexandria Containers and Cargo Handling (+3.9%) and Elsewedy Electric (+3.9%).

In the red: QNB Alahli (-1.8%), Orascom Construction (-1.4%) and EKH Holding – EGP (-1.3%).

What are Egyptian businesses looking for in L&D services? A core pillar of any business is the learning and development (L&D) of its employees — from the junior to the executive level. Globally, most university-based executive education programs work with corporate clients — as opposed to Egypt, where individuals are investing a lot in their own L&D for better job prospects, associate dean of Executive Education at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Ghada Howaidy tells us. But even when companies actively seek L&D options for their employees, the local market falls short in providing them with what they need.

There are a few driving factors causing companies to seek L&D: Some 51% of training needs are decided by L&D heads within companies, Howaidy explains. Strategic vision and management-driven objectives account for 11%, according to a recent AUC School of Business report (pdf) that surveyed 30 companies in Egypt across 12 different sectors to map the L&D landscape from a corporate perspective. “When you are in a time of crisis or a merger and acquisition for example, the strategy needs to take priority and competencies need to be aligned. Training should then be there to meet those competencies,” Howaidy adds.

Companies often want tailored programs: For technical skills, standardized programs can do the trick, but customized programs based on the organization’s actual needs, culture and applications take it one step further. Some 87% of surveyed companies want the training provider to tailor programs based on the client’s needs, according to the report.

But those come at a high cost: Some 71% of surveyed companies say they are unable to realistically evaluate the training needs for their employees and preparing tailored L&D programs requires pre- and post-program assessments not widely available in the local landscape, the report states. For training providers to wear the hats of actual “solution providers”, they may need to reshape their business model into a more customer-centric one resulting in a higher price point.

The extent of that increase depends on the level of customization needed and the needed outcomes of the training program, cofounder and director of Newton Education Services Nelly El Zayat tells us. Newton Education Services brought the Chicago Booth Executive Program to Gouna. The application deadline for its March program ends on 4 December, according to the company’s LinkedIn page.

Practical and applicable solutions are crucial: Some 81% of respondents said there was a rising need for L&D processes that allow for practical implementation. Many corporates find training solutions lacking in relevant local case studies, and the ones offered lack a connection to the client’s situational needs, the report says. This is especially true for oil and gas, real estate, ICT, and agribusiness companies. Training providers also need to incorporate digital solutions. Some 48% of respondents were unhappy about the limited use of digital technologies from training providers during L&D processes.

So what should companies do to get the most out of their L&D strategy? “Companies need to reflect on their purpose for L&D: is it an employee benefit for the person’s own growth or is it aligned with the purpose of the organization and job requirements?” Howaidy explains. Additionally, if companies want a customized program tailored to their needs, they need to understand that it comes with a price tag, she adds. Lastly, both parties need to align from the beginning on what “success” looks like and what is needed for a satisfying return of investment.