PM — Tee up ⛳

Good afternoon, friends, and a very happy THURSDAY to us all. It’s been quite a marathon of a week with COP27 going strong in Sharm El Sheikh, where participants can look forward to a breather on Sunday.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- Inflation accelerates again in October: Urban consumer price inflation rose to 16.2% last month, from 15.0% in September, fueled largely by higher food and beverage costs, according to CAPMAS figures (pdf) released today. October’s inflation figure surpassed the four-year high reached in November 2018.

#2- Egypt is about to see its first-ever locally produced electric vehicle, courtesy of Al Mansour Automotive and General Motors, Al Borsa reports. We’ll be keeping an eye on the launch, which is set to happen today, for more details on the brand, size, and other specs of the EV.

#3- FROM COP LAND: International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat released the Sharm El Sheikh Guidebook for Just Financing (pdf), which covers the problem areas in climate financing and the prospects and proposed steps to ensure a more just framework moving forward.

EARNINGS WATCH-

Palm Hills Development reported a record-high net income after tax and minority interest of EGP 911 mn in 9M 2022, up 43% y-o-y, the developer said in its earnings release (pdf). The record bottom line comes on the back of revenues also reaching an all-time high during the nine-month period to EGP 9.5 bn, according to the earnings.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

There are two stories clamoring for attention in the international business press this afternoon: The first is the still-undetermined outcome of the US midterm elections, where the fate of the Senate is up in the air (Reuters | Wall Street Journal | CNBC), while the second is FTX’s impending collapse after the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, abandoned plans to acquire FTX (The Financial Times | Bloomberg).

HAPPENING NOW-

The first International Series Egypt golf tournament kicked off today at Madinaty Golf Club, with the tournament running through this coming Sunday, 13 November. Austrian golf champion Bernd Wiesberger makes his first appearance in the Asian Tour since 2019 today, according to a statement (pdf). The tour coming to Egypt is “planting a seed” and that it “makes total sense” for the tournament to be hosted here, considering there are nearly 80 golf courses in the country and there is “definitely a demand for professional tournaments,” Wiesberger said.

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

• Egypt is getting USD 15 bn for energy, food + water projects under NWFE: Egypt has signed a number of partnerships with international finance institutions and development partners to implement projects worth USD 15 bn under its Nexus on Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) program.
• The EGX yesterday announced it would set up Africa’s first voluntary carbon market on the sidelines of COP27.
• Another wind farm courtesy of OC: Orascom Construction’s (OC) consortium with Engie and Toyota Tsusho has signed up to build a fresh 3-GW wind farm here.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Five to seven agreements will be signed with companies to export renewable energy at the SCZone, Planning Minister Hala El Said told Bloomberg Asharq (watch, runtime: 1:36). The SCZone has long been expected to sign agreements with international companies to establish green hydrogen and ammonia plants at COP27. Initial agreements worth bns of USD have been signed this year, the most recent of which was with Maersk for a huge USD 15 bn facility capable of producing 3 mn tons of fuel a year.

PSA- If you’re self-employed, you have to register in the Tax Authority’s e-invoice system by 15 December. This includes self-employed doctors, engineers, lawyers, and artists, the Egyptian Tax Authority said in a statement. Only e-invoices will be considered for VAT deduction or refund as of 1 April, 2023.

What e-invoicing system? In late 2020, the Tax Authority launched a pilot program for B2B e-invoicing with 134 companies, before expanding the system to all large taxpayers in July 2021. All B2B and B2C invoices across the country should be fully automated by December. We have a primer on the system, its purpose, the timeline of implementation along with a list of phase one companies here.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury will rise to 26-27°C on Friday and Saturday while nighttime lows will be in the 15-16°C range during the weekend, our favorite weather app tells us.

Can gene editing be a solution to the rising cost of climate change? Climate change has already had a number of effects on agriculture, including in Europe, which is seeing smaller harvests and higher production costs. Dutch farmer Hendrik Jan ten Cate told the Financial Times he sees only one option if Europeans want to continue eating locally grown food: Gene-edited crops that can withstand higher temperatures and longer periods of drought. Europe’s food supply is in jeopardy, and farmers are unable to keep up with the pace at which climate change is occurring, he warned.

The time has come for innovative methods, agriculture experts say. Enter gene editing: Altering the genes of crops has been a hot topic for debate in the agriculture industry for many years. Gene editing is a process by which specific changes can be made to the DNA of an organism. Unlike traditional forms of genetic modification, gene editing does not involve the introduction of foreign DNA. These changes can be used to fix mutations that cause diseases or to add desirable traits, like being able to handle drought. Gene editing proponents say their method is just like traditional plant breeding, only faster and more precise. But that is not how it’s widely viewed in Europe, with EU regulations stacked against gene-editing

Environmentalists argue that agricultural companies are using climate change and world hunger as an excuse to sell new technologies that haven’t been tested yet. “There is no reason to deregulate gene editing,” says Mute Schimpf, food campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. “It is a new technology developed in the last 10 years. We don’t know how it might impact on nature, on agriculture and how the consumer interest will be affected.” But Europe is slowly becoming the only major economy that doesn’t like gene-edited crops, and some lawmakers are starting to think the benefits for farmers, the economy, and the environment outweigh the risks.

Oh, the irony of flying into a climate summit on dozens of private jets: Some 36 private planes flew into Sharm El Sheikh and another 64 landed in Cairo for COP27, according to data from FlightRadar24, which notes that there could have been more private jets that were not tracked due to limited coverage, the BBC reports. Private planes produce substantially more emissions per passenger than commercial flights. The Gulfstream G650, which was the model most flown into Egypt, uses about 1.9k liters of aviation fuel per hour. A flight from Amsterdam to Sharm El Sheikh uses up nearly 9k liters of fuel, producing 23.9 tons of CO2 and 45.3 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions when non-CO2 emissions that also have a warming effect are factored in.

It’s not the best look, but is it really that bad? Maybe not: Assuming the planes were at full capacity (15 passengers), each private plane passenger is responsible for 3 tons of emissions for the journey to COP27, which are “negligible compared to the impact of decisions and commitments made at these summits,” the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s international lead told the BBC.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
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Enola Holmes 2: The return of Sherlock’s younger sister: The charming Milie Bobby Brown plays the young sister of Sherlock Holmes in the sequel to the entertaining 2020 Netflix movie. Sherlock’s sister now runs her own detective agency, but clients who prefer to work with her famous brother quickly dismiss her. When a young girl arrives to ask for help in locating her adopted elder sister, Enola turns her head to face the camera, signaling that the game is back in play. There are multiple mysteries going on at the same time in the story that follows, as well as feminist themes, a working-class uprising, a love story, and a lot of new information about Sherlock Holmes. With a runtime of just over two hours, the film spends a significant amount of time laying the groundwork for another sequel, suggesting that Enola Holmes 3 is on the way.

Our verdict: This is a light, delightful, and easy watch, but it falls short of matching the charm of the first film (watch trailer, runtime 2:12)

⚽ Real Madrid tries to catch up with Barcelona tonight: Real Madrid will try to close the gap on league leaders Barcelona (5 points) when it hosts Cadiz in a match that kicks off at 10:30pm. Also in La Liga: Celta Vigo v Rayo Vallecano (8pm) and Valencia v Real Betis (9pm).

Man United faces Aston Villa at 10pm in the third round of the English Carabao Cup.

Friday Bundesliga action: Borussia Moenchengladbach v Borussia Dortmund kicks off at 9:30pm, marking the start of the 15th matchday of the Bundesliga.

Saturday: Gameweek 16 of the English Premier League kicks off. The action begins at 2:30pm with defending champs Manchester City hosting Brentford, followed by Liverpool hosting Southampton at 5pm, then Arsenal faces Wolverhampton at 9:45pm.

The rest of the matches:

Tottenham v Leeds United (5pm)

West Ham v Leicester City (5pm)

Bournemouth v Everton (5pm)

Nottingham v Crystal Palace (5pm)

Newcastle v Chelsea (7:30pm)

The biggest Bundesliga and Serie A matches on Saturday:

Napoli v Udinese (4pm)

Schalke v Bayern Munich (7:30pm)

???? EAT THIS TONIGHT-

Always forget to meal prep? Body Blocks has you covered with their tailored meal programs. They offer calorie counted nutritious meal programs based on your food dietary meals ranging from keto diets, intermittent fasting, bulking programs and different programs for teenagers based on their health goals. You can pick the calorie range and the frequency of how many days you want your order delivered — between 7-21 days — and the meals are delivered straight to you the night before so you can easily take them to work or pack them for your children’s school lunch. You can also get a personalized program if you want something specifically tailored to your needs. If you don’t want to commit to a full program, they also have all sorts of individual options such as carrot cake oats, ful mixes, granola bars, and smoothies available that you can order separately.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
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Munich-based DJ Yubik is bringing his sound to Cairo Jazz 610 tonight, followed by Italian DJ Undercatt who will serve up his innovative blend of melody and groove beats. FarahH will kick off the night at 8pm.

Opeth tribute band Bleak is performing tonight at Room Art Space at 9pm.

Iconic jazz band The Riff Band is celebrating their 20th anniversary at CJC 610 tomorrow night at 9pm. Sara Moullablad will get the night started, and DJunkie will take over after to keep the crowd dancing.

Improv standup crew Irtigalia will perform at Rawabet Art Space on Saturday at 8pm.

Standup comedy troupe Squadra take the stage at El Sawy Culturewheel on Saturday at 7pm, with this lineup of comedians: Abdelrahman Mohamed, Fekry Tarek, Gamal Ramzy, Islam Amin, Mohamed el Sharnouby, Khaled el Shoky, and Pola Samuel.

Reem Ezzeldin, former contestant on The Voice MENA: Ahla Sawt, is performing cover songs at Room Art Space Garden City on Saturday at 9pm.

???? EARS TO THE GROUND-

Fans can be friends too: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend is a comedy podcast that can get a little serious from time to time. After spending more than 25 years in the entertainment industry, Conan realized he’s never had a truly meaningful friendship. In fact, the only guests at his events are those he works with. To fix this problem, Conan kick-started this podcast as a chance to get to know people beyond the formalities and professional settings, making way for conversations that are as raw as they can get. Similar to the classic “The Talk” show, Conan focuses in his interviews on human-interest stories as well as current events and the latest headlines every once in a while. Our favorite episode so far is with Amir From Iran, who tells his firsthand experience about the situation in Tehran and what listeners can do to help.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

What would happen if we succeed in building a superhuman machine intelligence? In his book, Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control, artificial intelligence expert Stuart Russell argues that current approaches to AI are dangerously misguided and proposes a new, more humane direction for the field. Russell advocates for what he calls “safe intelligent systems,” which are designed not just to be intelligent but also to be safe and beneficial for humanity. He suggests a number of rules for making these kinds of systems, such as giving AI systems access to a wide range of information about the world and humans’ place in it, making them so that they always ask humans what to do when they don’t know what to do, and giving them human-like social skills so that they can communicate and work well with humans.

The EGX30 fell 0.2% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.28 bn (13.6% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net buyers. The index is down 1.6% YTD.

In the green: Credit Agricole Egypt (+6.9%), Rameda Pharma (+5.0%) and Ezz Steel (+4.8%).

In the red: CIB (-4.7%) and Eastern Company (-4.2%).

Do all social media platforms eventually go south? Once titans of the social media age, Twitter, Facebook and even Netflix have recently been hemorrhaging users. Since their early 2000s launches, these platforms have grown to become nearly synonymous with the internet and have drawn bns of users around the world to bicker with strangers and connect with loved ones. Now with massive user bases and dozens of new features, these giants of the social media age — and their ad-based business models — might be coming up against an existential breaking point.

At Twitter, for example, there’s a lot of shouting but only a handful of voices: Some 90% of all tweets on Twitter come from a measly 10% of users known as “heavy tweeters.” These are people who log in to Twitter almost everyday and tweet about three to four times every week. This same sort of lopsided engagement is on Facebook too.

Engaged users have been central to these companies’ success: These very same “heavy tweeters” are also Twitter’s primary revenue generators — accounting for about half of the company’s global revenue, according to Reuters.

But even these hyperactive users are starting to ditch the site: Since the start of the pandemic, these so-called heavy tweeters have reportedly been in “absolute decline,” Reuters reports a Twitter researcher as saying in a document not disclosed to the public.

Some are citing the rise of a more hostile online culture on these platforms: Harassment and bullying are reportedly becoming more pervasive on Twitter, especially for marginalized groups. But even for those not directly affected, the growth of “inappropriate” content is causing some to reconsider their use of the site.

Which coincides with Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter: Former Tesla CEO and space-loving bn’aire Elon Musk’s USD 44 bn acquisition of Twitter is partially responsible for reigniting debate around how the platform is run. One of Musk’s main rationales for purchasing the platform is supposedly scale back rule on content moderation — which has been met with mixed reactions.

A similar trend has been unfolding at Facebook: The social media giant — which on average has about 2 bn daily users — lost half a mn of these users in 4Q2021. Even though Facebook later recouped these losses, the trend is still troubling and the underlying causes behind the dip are still very much present. The platform’s mother company, Meta, is now pushing through with mass layoffs following weak 3Q 2022 earnings.

The platform could be nearing peak size: Facebook is struggling to attract young users who are more interested in engaging with visual social media platforms like TikTok than they are into being bombarded by their estranged uncle’s conspiracy theories. This same growth problem has a geographic element to it as well. The platform has expanded well into nearly every country on the planet and could be approaching a moment where it no longer has any room left to grow its user base.

There’s the problem of widespread misinformation on the site: It's no secret that Facebook can often be filled with inaccurate and misleading information that goes viral. The problem with misinformation first reached a breaking point back in 2016 during the US presidential elections, when more fake news circulated on the platform than real news. The same problem plagued the platform again in 2020 with the outbreak of the pandemic and the subsequent barrage of unfounded health advice.

And a growing awareness of their mental health consequences: Psychologists have long warned about the mental health risk posed by Facebook and other social media use, especially among adolescents. Some studies have even looked at the effect of being off social media has on people’s lives. The outcome was fairly predictable: Improved mood, satisfaction and more time with loved ones, according to the 2019 study (pdf).

There’s an actual price tag on this: Platforms like Facebook and Twitter are tightly bound to their users' engagement. That’s because how engaged their users are determines how attractive of a destination it is for advertisers. English speaking users who tweet about things like news, sports and entertainment are the most attractive advertising target group for example — but interest in these topics is also waning. The report described the numerical loss of interest in fashion and celebrity news as a “devastating” figure.

In their place is the expansion of less revenue-generating content: Heavy users’ interest in NSFW and crypto-related content was on the rise — both of which advertisers tend to shy away from to avoid brushing up against controversy.

At the center of this problem is how these platforms are monetized by ads. The fact that these companies are beholden to ad-revenue means they need to rely on so-called vanity metrics like the number of clicks tracked on a certain page rather than, say, time spent thoughtfully engaging with a new post or person, so that they can drive growth and ask advertisers for more.

And a problem with how large these spaces eventually become: There’s something to be said for how early online communities can become a safe haven for users looking to connect with likeminded people or those already in their IRL network. Though elitist in this specific form, this was part of what made Facebook so appealing in its early days when the site required users to be Harvard students or have a .edu email address to sign up — people could gather around a shared interest, lifestyle or goal.

But the fastest rising platform isn’t exactly going for mindfulness either: With some 500 mn users, most of whom are young Gen Zers, TikTok is arguably the top contender for the hottest new social media platform in the world right now. The fact that it blurs the line between observing and creating—it allows users to easily recreate or put a spin on a video template—in these bite-size and seemingly endless ways

There could be a better way forward: Relying on metrics like engaged time and returning readers could help kickoff the shift away from the obsession with page clicks, according to the Harvard Business Review. Maybe also placing caps on the amount of information users are permitted to circulate on the platform on a given day could help reduce clutter and force people to be more considerate of what they post. Applications to a community based platform could help weed out who actually cares and who doesn't. Or a good old subscription model could maybe up the stakes and filter out those who don’t really find value in being there.