The ongoing anti-terrorism military operation in Sinai was still the most popular topic on the airwaves last night.

Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi deviated from that path to promote the new season of her startup competition Hona Al Shabab, which kicks off on Wednesday with sponsorship from our friends at CIB. Lamees hosted Amr El Ganainy, CIB’s CEO for institutional banking, who noted that the bank’s deep-rooted interest in financial inclusion and fintech was the motivation behind its sponsorship (watch, runtime 3:06).

Separately, El Ganainy touched on CI Capital’s intended IPO, the timing of which he said has yet to be determined. He also discussed CIB’s intention to continue expanding its banking activities following the sale of part of its stake in CI Capital (watch, runtime 1:58).

Telecom Egypt CEO Ahmed El Beheiry also came on to talk about the competition, which the fixed-line monopoly is sponsoring along with CIB. El Beheiry also said that TE is willing to help turn any ICT projects on the show into a real business (watch, runtime 16:05).

Lamees also brought on the judges of Hona Al Shabab to outline their assessment criteria. Endeavor Egypt Chairman Ayman Ismail said he wants to focus on companies’ growth trajectories (watch, runtime 1:43), Marketing Mix Founder Randa Abdo said she will assess the contestants’ competitive edge, their “marketing mix,” and their ability to cope with failure (watch, runtime 0:58), while our friend Khaled Ismail, the noted angel investor, will have an eye on the attainability of contestants’ goals (watch, runtime 2:22).

ICT Minister Yasser El Kady phoned in to note that the top three contestants will be eligible for a one-year stint at one of the ministry’s creative centers (watch, runtime 4:15).

The host also had a brief chat with Center for Strategic and Political Studies head Saad El Zant about US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Egypt, which El Zant expects will see talks on the Palestinian issue (watch, runtime 5:44). Lamees also prophesied that Tillerson will discuss US-Egyptian military cooperation and Egypt’s human rights record (watch, runtime 1:38).

Pivoting to the developments in Sinai, security analyst Gen. Samir Farag pointed out to Lamees that the operations saw the inaugural use of Egypt’s Mistral ships, which were deployed to protect the Zohr field and other areas of the country’s maritime territory (watch, runtime 4:31). Gen. Mohamed El Ghobary told Lamees that the operation does not have an expiry date and that it will eventually bring an end to overt terrorist operations (watch, runtime 3:09).

Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary got insider details on the situation in the peninsula from head of Sinai’s tribal leaders Abdallah Gahama, who reaffirmed that there is a heavy security presence as the military presses ahead in its efforts to weed out the militant insurgency (watch, runtime 4:41).

North Sinai MP Jazy Saad spoke to Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer about the importance of the military campaign in restoring peace to the restive region, and expressed his hopes that it would begin to bear fruit in one month’s time (watch, runtime 10:00).

Kol Youm’s Amr Adib set up shop in Dubai to report on the World Government Summit, but still grabbed the opportunity to commend the Armed Forces for sending a strong message with the Sinai operation (watch, runtime 3:05).

Over on Al Hayah Al Youm, Tamer Amin hosted Al Wafd Party member Yasser Koura and Conference Party Secretary General Hamed El Shenawy to discuss their parties’ efforts to mobilize voters for the upcoming presidential elections through a campaign dubbed “Egypt First.” Koura and El Shenawy both said their parties are supporting President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s re-election bid (watch, runtime 18:12).