Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to hump day. Get through Tuesday and we’ll slide into the weekend together over the next couple of days.

*** CATCH UP QUICK from yesterday’s edition of EnterprisePM — it was a big news day:

• Saudi’s Public Investment Fund is taking leading offshore outfit Ades International private
• Banque Misr won’t hike its offer price for CI Capital
• Turkey’s FM says Ankara really wants to patch things up with Cairo

No single story dominates the news cycle this morning after a heavy news day yesterday, but we as a nation made a big thing out of international women’s day yesterday, starting with coverage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s call for more women to be admitted to the ranks of the nation’s prosecution service and other arms of the state judicial apparatus. We have more on that in this morning’s news well, below.

STATISTIC OF THE DAY- Zero. That’s Egypt’s score on the marriage and pay indicators in the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law report, which looks at “laws and regulations affecting women’s economic inclusion.” The report points to the lack of legislation ensuring women’s rights to equal pay as well as to work in the same industries and types of jobs as men. Egypt also currently lacks legislation that addresses domestic violence, does not allow women the same rights to divorce as men, and as you might expect, the Personal Status Act comes in for criticism for a multiplicity of failings. You can find the Egypt snapshot here (pdf).

On the bright side: Egypt has relatively good scores on the workplace and entrepreneurship indicators, as there is currently legislation in place prohibiting workplace [redacted] harassment and discrimination in employment based on gender. Women are also able to access lines of credit and sign contracts as much as men are, which clears the path for entrepreneurship. Egypt also gets a perfect score on the pensions indicator, thanks to men and women getting the same pension benefits and having the same retirement age.

We would also tip our hat at the Financial Regulatory Authority, which ordered last year that all publicly traded companies have at least one woman member of their board of directors by this year. By our math, barely 50% of companies have so far complied.

Women will now have an easier time opening bank accounts and getting credit cards with CIB under a financial inclusion initiative that will run until the end of March, the bank said in a statement. Details in the link.

Eyeing something with a designer label? You might be able to do good while you get that dopamine fix: Online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter launched a community-first campaign, #PowerToChange, in partnership with Women for Women International, which focuses on helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. The campaign introduces a capsule collection of 13 exclusive pieces that vary from custom t-shirts to jewelry, the Financial Times reports.

One of the standouts: Egyptian homeware startup Malaika, which is taking part with a new collection of linens — handcrafted with Egyptian cotton — that will see all proceeds donated to Threads of Hope initiative — a Cairo-based embroidery school dedicated to empowering women out of poverty. Tap or click here to check out the full collection.

THERE’S NO DOMINANT STORY ABROAD, with at least three pieces of news worth knowing about as you start your workday:

The biggest of them: The Nasdaq is in correction territory — defined as a 10% drop from a recent peak — as tech stocks fell again yesterday. The Dow advanced 1%, while the S&P shed 0.5%. The Wall Street Journal says analysts think “investors [believe] that the largest media, communications and online-shopping companies will log a slower pace of growth as pandemic lockdowns end.”

Don’t panic just yet: Futures at dispatch time suggest Wall Street — including Nasdaq — will open in the green later today, as will just about all major European indices. Asian markets are mixed this morning, with the Nikkei and Hang Seng in the green while Shanghai and Korea’s Kospi are both slightly in the red.

ALSO: Bloomberg worries that USD 70 oil threatens the global economic recovery, even if it gives a boost to our allies in the GCC. And Apollo Global Management is merging with life ins. outfit Athene Holding, “transforming the alternative asset manager into a financial conglomerate with a market capitalisation worth almost USD 30 bn,” the Financial Times writes.

PSA- Mmm, warm dust. Moderate winds are set to blow dust over much of Egypt, with the sandy conditions due to last until tomorrow morning, according to the national weather service. Look for a high today of 30°C with the mercury rising to 35°C tomorrow.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

It’s the final day of the EFG Hermes Virtual Investor Conference. The conference is headlined as “Frontier Emerging Markets Regaining Momentum” and brings together executives from 197 companies and more than 700 investors from 253 global institutions to exchange insights on the current state of frontier and emerging markets.

Oil Minister Tarek El Molla will discuss the government’s strategy to attract investment to Egypt’s mining sector at an event hosted by AmCham on Thursday, 11 March.

Business tech expert and TEDx speaker Patrick Schwerdtfeger will explain how entrepreneurs, businesses and investors can harness disruptive tech at a webinar hosted by AmCham on Tuesday, 16 March. The two-hour event will see Schwerdtfeger talk block chain, AI and crypto, and discuss how the business community can reposition in a world undergoing rapid technological change.

Key data points in the coming days and weeks:

• Inflation data will drop on Wednesday, 10 March.
• The Central Bank of Egypt will discuss interest rates on Thursday, 18 March.

You have until the end of the month to file your personal taxes: Individual taxpayers must file their income tax and property tax returns through the electronic filing system before 31 March. Property taxes can be paid online or at any tax office. D-day for corporations is the end of April.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.