PM — Visual search, brought to you by JLo’s Versace dress

Good afternoon, wonderful people. That shocking news drought we were complaining about this morning appears to have disappeared itself in the span of just a few hours, replaced by a healthy flow of interesting stories.

*** You have just a few more days to tell us how you’re feeling about your business and the wider economy. We’ll have the results for mid-month — just in time to give you a sense of what everyone else is thinking heading into budget season. Make your voice heard in our Fall Reader Survey. It won’t take more than a few minutes to complete.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

#1- GCC sovereign funds have their eyes on TE’s stake in Vodafone Egypt: The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ are all eyeing state-owned landline monopoly Telecom Egypt’s stake in Vodafone Egypt, a source with knowledge of the matter told Enterprise. Bloomberg Asharq had reported earlier today that QIA is looking to acquire as much as 25% of Vodafone Egypt. Telecom Egypt's shares were up 15.8% at market close.

#2- PMI is still in contraction — but improving: Activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector remained in contraction territory in August, but improved on a monthly basis, according to S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (pdf). Our PMI reading rose to 47.6 last month, up from 46.4 in July, rising for the second consecutive month on the back of stronger orders and new orders.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss is the country’s next prime minister, after coming out on top in a Conservative Party leadership race. Truss will succeed Boris Johnson, who resigned in July after a string of scandals plagued his tenure in office, prompting an unprecedented mass resignation of at least 50 members of his government.

The story is on the front pages across the international business press this afternoon: The Financial Times | Reuters | CNBC | Wall Street Journal

HAPPENING NOW- The board overseeing the National Dialogue is currently meeting to choose rapporteurs for all of the committees and subcommittees of the social, political and economic tracks. It will also work on topics of discussion for the dialogue.

---

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

• Central bank officials + cabinet continue to discuss economic, monetary policy as IMF talks continue: Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hassan Abdalla and Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly were talking monetary and fiscal policy again yesterday at a meeting involving senior cabinet ministers and central bank officials.
• El Nasr Auto might finally be ready to finalize contracts for EV assembly: El Nasr Automotive expects to sign final contracts to produce electric vehicles with an unnamed Chinese company in mid-October.
• Supermarket chain Bim Egypt plans to invest USD 25 mn to open as many as 200 branches during the first half of 2023.

Subscribe to Enterprise

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce will commemorate 70 years of German-Egyptian business and economic ties with a gala celebration on 15 September.

Our monthly list of data points to keep your eye on over the next few days and weeks:

• Foreign reserves figures for August should be out during the first week of the month.
• Inflation figures: Inflation data for August from Capmas will land on Saturday, 10 September. Expect the Central Bank of Egypt to follow up on Sunday, 11 September with its inflation report.
• Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday, 22 September to review interest rates.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Expect the weather to remain on par with today, with a daytime high of 33°C and nighttime low of 25°C, according to our favorite weather app.

*** WE’RE LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE to help us build some very cool new things. Today, we run two daily publications, one regional publication, five weekly industry verticals, and a monthly newsletter designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

We have tons more in the pipeline — come help us build new publications. We offer the chance to work in a fast-paced newsroom on a broad range of topics and in a variety of formats. Our goal is simple: To create value for our growing community of >199k readers by telling stories that matter.

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.

Or hit this link for more information. It’s worth it — trust us.

Who needs to fly under the radar when you can just sail through it? GPS manipulation is the latest trick large ships are using to evade international law or sanctions, with ships wanting to conceal their real location using a VPN-style technology to send out fake coordinates and mislead authorities, the New York Times reports. Maritime data company Windward uncovered the latest maneuver stolen from advanced marines to cross the world’s oceans undetected, which is employed for an array of — equally alarming — reasons ranging from smuggling drugs and weapons to fishing in protected waters (think Chinese fleets). The growing underground economy also holds great promise for sanctioned countries like Russia who can continue to move goods —including stolen Ukrainian grain.

What’s next? The manipulation of automatic identification systems, or AIS, could soon spread to airplanes which use a similar technology, Windward suggests. This raises doubts about whether this type of surveillance technology has transcended its purpose and whether it can continue to keep us safe.

---

Could Portugal and Spain be a lifeline to Europe’s energy crisis? The Iberian Peninsula's hefty investments in renewable energy sources and its extensive network of gas imports from Africa and the US has now “suddenly poised” Spain and Portugal to help the EU resolve its energy crunch, the New York Times writes, citing researchers and policymakers. Disconnected from the supply of cheap Russian gas that powers much of Europe, the two countries have developed massive wind, solar and hydropower projects and were the first to build LNG terminals to import natural gas in liquefied form for processing.

The Iberian connection: Facing a full-blown energy crisis and rationing talks, European nations are looking to replace Russian gas with substitutes shipped by sea from the United States, North Africa and the Middle East. Strategically placed Portuguese LNG terminals and a pipeline into Spain from Algeria and Nigeria may be the answer. An underground natural gas pipeline across the Pyrenees connecting Spain and France was abandoned three years ago after regulators in both countries failed to reach an agreement, but Germany is now a loud backer in favor of resurrecting the proposal.

???? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

The inner workings of the feline mind: When it comes to pets, dogs are known to be expressive, constantly communicating their needs, while cats are more aloof, giving off an aura of mystery that gets them labeled as unpredictable. This perception is partially due to the fact that research on cats has lagged behind dog research by nearly 15 years. Netflix’s documentary Inside the Mind of a Cat calls upon cat experts to help better us understand the minds of our feline friends and demystify their behavior. The documentary breaks down why cats make various noises and why they meow at humans. Experts offer up some useful tips on training cats and explanations on how they are able to jump up so high. The documentary even goes into the cultural differences between cats raised in different parts of the world, finding that cats in the US were much more comfortable in new environments than cats in Japan that spend a lot more time at home. Altogether, it makes for perfect viewing for first time cat owners or anyone curious about the furry creatures.

⚽ The new season of the Champions League starts tomorrow, while competition in the Enterprise Fantasy League is heating up. Click on this link and enter this code: 8o4sut to get in on the action.

La Liga: Real Valladoid take on Almeria at 9pm tonight.

Serie A: Tonight at 6:30pm Monza faces off against Atalanta, while Salernitana plays against Empoli and later at 8:30pm Torino faces Lecce.

???? OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

Egyptian pop star Yasser Ayoub will be performing at Room Art Space New Cairo at 9pm tonight.

AUC is hosting Special Representative to the COP27 President, ambassador Wael Aboulmagd, to discuss climate policies and inclusive development in the run up to COP27 beyond at the Tahrir Campus at 6:30pm. AUC President Ahmad Dallal will deliver the opening speech, and political science professor Rabab El Mahdi will moderate the discussion.

Catch the final night of My Bedroom, an interactive theater performance portraying four short stories based on true events. The show, produced by Namat, is on tonight at 8:30pm at Dawar Arts.

Poet Majdi Osama is performing tonight at El Sawy Culturewheel tonight at 7pm in Al Nahr Hall.

Not into poetry? Head to the Tap West where the Squadra squad will take the stage tonight at 9pm for a night of standup comedy featuring this lineup of comedians: Gamal Ramzy, Paula Samuel, Khaled Elshoky, Abdelrahman Mohamed, Mohamed Elsharnouby, Isalm Amin and Fekry Tarek.

???? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

How the history of textiles is really the history of civilization: Awardwinning journalist and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Virginia Postrel explores the history of textiles in The Fabric of Civilization, diving into all the ways innovation in textiles undergirds so much of human technological innovation across the board. She sheds light on how the textile trade extended far beyond fabric, noting its contribution to the spread of double entry bookkeeping and new applications of mathematics that better allowed merchants to calculate net income and losses. She recounts the role textiles played in pushing chemical research forward, delving into why chemical dyes overtook natural dyes and how synthetic fabrics began being used instead of woven fabrics. Relying heavily on expert explanations the book gets overly technical at times but Postrel’s witty commentary keeps it entertaining. Postrel argues that “the story of textiles encompasses beauty and genius, excess and cruelty, social hierarchies and subtle workarounds, peaceful trade and savage wars.”

The EGX30 rose 1.8% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 1.63 bn (46.4% above the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is down 14.8% YTD.

In the green: Telecom Egypt (+15.8%), Ezz Steel (+8.6%) and Citadel Capital (+6.9%).

In the red: Egyptian Kuwaiti Holding-EGP (-1.4%), Abu Qir Fertilizers (-0.7%) and GB Auto (-0.5%).

Remember when you had to comb through pages of results to track down where to buy that coveted pair of Nikes In Egypt? Now all you need is a picture. The transition of words to visuals is nothing new, but now search engines and retail businesses are tapping into the power of visual search. Jennifer Lopez’s famous Versace dress — which she wore to the 2000 Grammys Award ceremony — launched the invention of Google Images that year. Since then AI has enabled us to ask Siri or Alexa what tomorrow’s weather will be or track down a killer tune played on TV using Shazam. But are retailers at a risk of falling behind if they don’t jump onto the image-dominant eCommerce future?

We’re visual creatures, and the data backs it up. Our minds can identify images in as little as 13 milliseconds and 90% of information transmitted to our brains is visual. A whopping 85% of consumers place more importance on visuals when shopping online, and 62% of millennials and Gen Z’ers want more visual search capabilities to quickly discover and track down products on their phones.

So while the concept of visual searching isn't new, recent developments have opened up new avenues that can benefit online sellers and boost sales. Google Lens and Multisearch allows users to snap a photo, find a look-a-like then refine searches by color, brand and other visual attributes with a few keywords. Snapchat's Scan helps identify anything from plants to shoes spotted on a walk in the neighborhood. Apple’s Visual Look Up, launched this year, identifies and provides information about anything from popular landmarks to famous art found inside your photos.

All these advances turn the world around us into a purchase-driven search engine, opening up more discoverability for retailers and the ability to tap into new customer bases. Retail giants like Amazon and ASOS have been using visual search for years to help shoppers discover new products and trends as well as sift through their massive inventory faster. Marketing experts say leveraging and optimizing the power of visual search is essential for online shopping because 47% of potential customers give up on a product search after a single attempt. Visual search engines rely heavily on pattern recognition, detailed text tags, and sufficient data for efficient matching to queries.

Ready to optimize your retail website? Obviously, the images are the heroes. To facilitate a high functioning visual search engine scan, retail websites should compile a large bank of images of their inventory and add it to their site map. Offer multiple photos of the same product from different angles. This ensures that customers will find it regardless of which angle they uploaded in visual search. Only use and upload clear, high-resolution images for more efficient matching with visual search engine crawlers. Finally, don’t ignore proper, short descriptive file names and alt tags. These are necessary to identify your inventory, because search engines scan for keywords in those as well as body text, meta description, and page titles. Last but not least, curate your online storefront to entice buyers. Some 90% of Pinterest users use the platform to make decisions about what to buy because it’s a visual platform. Create a content strategy for your social media presence that involves a consistent color and style aesthetic linked with product tagging for online purchases and alt text for search engine optimization.