PM — Mathematizing nature

Good afternoon, wonderful people. We have another day here in Omm El Donia dominated almost entirely by the Madbouly government’s economic conference, which is currently in its second and penultimate day.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Industrial development strategy to launch within three months? The Madbouly government wants to work with the private sector to establish an industrial development strategy within three months, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said during today’s session on the state ownership policy document at the government’s economic conference. The strategy would cover the next decade, he said, without disclosing further details.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Picking up where we left off this morning, former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s lead in the race to become the UK’s next prime minister is still leading the conversation in the international business press. Sunak’s lead is doing good things for markets, with the GBP rising earlier today and government bonds also staging a rally. The story is on the front pages of the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and CNBC.

HAPPENING NOW-

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) launched its promotional campaigns to drum up investment in the zone this morning ahead of COP27, according to a cabinet statement. The campaigns are designed to highlight how the zone differs from other economic zones, as well as its efforts to localize the green energy industry, the statement says. The domestic campaign’s slogan is “An Integrated Path — One Destination” while the international campaign’s slogan is “Green Energy Destination.”

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

• Policymakers set the table on the first day of the state’s economic conference: Policymakers — including President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Planning Minister Hala El Said, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, and CBE Governor Hassan Abdalla — ran us through a brief history of our economy as they laid the groundwork to talk solutions.
• Hassan Allam eyes renewables, desalination projects in Morocco: Our friends at Hassan Allam Holding are mulling investing in renewable energy and desalination projects in Morocco, and could deploy an initial USD 50-150 mn within the next year.
• Two local startups — one in real estate, the other in B2B services — announced six-figure funding rounds: Real estate startup Seqoon has secured USD 500k in a pre-seed round led by Banque Misr through the lender’s fintech-focused pilot program, while Egypt-based B2B services marketplace Unlock closed an undisclosed USD six-figure investment in its first funding round,

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Egypt is playing host to the annual Gas Exporting Countries Forum meetings: Ministers from the 19 member countries as well as eight observer nations are in Cairo until tomorrow for the annual meetings of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.

Why this matters: Egypt has been positioning itself for some years now as the premier energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean, serving as a hub for natural gas and electricity exports to Europe, the Levant, GCC, Sudan and North Africa. Throw in the energy war between Russia and Europe and things look very interesting right now.

PSA- The LRT has extended its hours: The new light rail transit system (LRT) has extended its operating hours to 7:30am – 9pm, operator RATP Dev said yesterday.

Egypt and the UAE will host a gathering marking 50 years of bilateral ties: The conference takes place Wednesday-Friday (26-28 October) and is being produced in association with the two governments. Day one is an economic forum featuring ministers, senior officials and business leaders from the two countries, while the following day will feature a cultural forum.

Davos in the Desert is this week: Saudi Arabia tomorrow kicks off this year’s edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII). The kingdom’s annual conference seeks to drum up foreign direct investment for its Vision 2030 plan, which hopes to future-proof the oil-dependent economy by investing in new sectors including tourism and tech. The event will run from Tuesday through Thursday this week.

⛈ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- You might need to bust out your umbrellas tomorrow, as our favorite weather app tells us to expect some thunderstorms, with a 72% chance of rain in the capital city. The daytime high will be 28°C and the nighttime low will be 19°C.

The world's oldest star map has been found in Egypt: Researchers discovered what is believed to be a fragment of the world’s oldest complete star map at St Catherine’s Monastery, science and tech journal Nature reports. The search for the map by the renowned astronomer Hipparchus has been ongoing for centuries. James Evans, an astronomy historian, said Hipparchus mapped the heavens centuries before any investigative attempts, and the discovery gives insight into a decisive moment when astronomers began to calculate and predict patterns in the sky. “It gives us a fascinating glimpse of what he actually did,” Evans says, by introducing the “mathematization of nature.”

Trouble in the metaverse? Almost a year after Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would rebrand as Meta Platforms and focus on developing the metaverse, the transition appears to have been anything but smooth, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing internal documents. Because technology has been flaky, users haven’t been able to get the most out of the metaverse, and many haven’t been interested in spending time in a virtual world. Even more worrisome is that it’s not clear what is needed for the metaverse to work at all.

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s flagship metaverse product, isn’t living up to internal expectations, the WSJ reports. The original goal was to secure 500k monthly active users by the end of the year, but in recent weeks this goal has shifted to a more realistic 280k. Internal documents indicate that the current count is less than 200k with most users not returning to Horizon after the first month. The number of users has been decreasing steadily since the spring, the documents reveal.

Problems across the board: Meta is facing increasing pressure on digital advertising aspects of the business, and competition from the popular app TikTok is fierce. The market value of the company has dropped by over USD 700 bn since its all-time high in September 2021 and shares have dropped by over 60% in the past year, the WSJ reports.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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Grab the tissues because This is Us pulls at the heartstrings: The American family drama premiered in 2016 tackling big issues and underlining the complexities of the human condition through the lives of Jack and Rebecca Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore) and their children. The series is constructed through three timelines — past, present and future — following the events that shape the lives of the Pearson family. The show opens on Jack and Rebecca expecting triplets and moving into a new house. Despite being triplets, each have distinct personalities and face individual challenges like eating disorders, addiction, racism, and mental health issues. Full of emotional highs and lows, the series is known for its tearjerker moments and meaningful speeches so be prepared with the Kleenex. All seasons are available on Amazon Prime.

⚽ It’s a relatively calm football day. Three Egyptian Premier League games are taking place today, starting with Ghazl El Mahalla and El Ismaily, which kicked off shortly before we hit dispatch at 3pm. Next up, El Ittihad El Sakandari is playing against El Dakhleya at 5pm, followed by Future v El Moqawloon Al Arab at 7pm.

There is only one game in the English Premier League. Gameweek 13 is set to conclude with West Ham v Bournemouth at 9pm.

And only one La Liga match: Celta Vigo v Getafe at 9pm.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
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Join Heal Your Inner Child workshop today at Lotus Yoga and Wellness at 7pm, to focus on meditation and connecting with your inner child.

Make sure not to miss the Cairo, Cultural Capital of the Islamic World exhibition at the Picasso Art Gallery, open everyday from 6-9 pm until 5 November.

Dance the night away at AfroLatin Night – Festival After Party, happening today at Sheraton Cairo Hotel at 8pm. Expect to hear the best Kizomba, Salsa, Bachata, and Zouk music.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

Star-crossed lovers in Heart Bones: Colleen Hoover’s page turning novel is full of prose, intriguing characters, and an exploration of the unbreakable bond of true love. Beyah’s difficult life and her will to forge her own path allows her to bring the life she wants for herself just within arm’s reach — until fate intervenes, forcing her to spend the summer with her estranged father in Texas. Confronted with an inescapable situation that is less than ideal, she intends to keep her head down as she waits for the summer to end, but her new neighbor Samson derails her plans. The two fall in love despite having different upbringings, discovering different versions of themselves along the way.

The EGX30 rose 0.6% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.2 bn (15.4% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is down 13.6% YTD.

In the green: Eastern Company (+4.6%), Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling (+3.7%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding-EGP (+3.1%).

In the red: Rameda Pharma (-5.2%), Telecom Egypt (-2.9%) and GB Auto (-2.6%).