Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. A light news day is just what the doctor ordered for a short work week in observance of the Prophet Muhammed’s birthday.

On that front, the EGX announced (pdf) that the bourse will be closed on Thursday in a statement out today. The nation’s banks will also be off on Thursday, the central bank said over the weekend.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY-

#1- e-Finance IPO retail offering is 61x oversubscribed: The quiet news day was pierced by the announcement at the end of trading from the EGX that the retail offering of the anticipated EGX debut of state-owned e-Finance were 61.4x oversubscribed. The subscription period for the retail portion of the IPO had ended today.

CORRECTION- An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that the IPO’s retail and institutional offerings were 61x oversubscribed.

e-Finance launches digital healthcare platform: Earlier in the day, e-finance announced that it partnered with Universal Health Ins. Authority (UHIA) to launch eHealth, a platform specialized in developing and operating digital solutions for healthcare sector services, according to a company statement (pdf).

#2- What incentives does FinMin have in store for the private sector? Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk tells us in the second part of our exclusive interview. From export subsidies to performance-based incentives for specific industries (including automotive), you don’t want to miss this one.

#3- From Startup Land: Egyptian construction tech startup Elmawkaa raised an undisclosed six-figure sum (pdf) in a seed round led by Flat6labs, which the company plans to use to onboard new suppliers and increase its transactions. Meanwhile, mobile security startup MagicCube — co-founded by Egyptians Nancy Zayed and Sam Shawki — raised USD 15 mn in a round led by Mosaik Partners, with the participation of Bold Capital, Epic Ventures, card-reader/POS hardware maker ID Tech along with unnamed individual investors, TechCrunch reported.

^^ We’ll have these stories and more in tomorrow morning’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

HAPPENING NOW-

The final day of the IMF / World Bank Fall Meetings is getting underway in Washington, DC as we hit “send” on this afternoon’s edition. The weeklong gathering was marked by a slew of reports and economic forecasts, including the IMF’s World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor Report, as well as the World Bank’s MENA economic update.

EBRD Vice President of Banking, Alain Pilloux, is in Egypt from today until this Wednesday for high-level meetings with government officials including Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and several cabinet ministers, according to an emailed statement (pdf). The visit comes ahead of the signing of the new country strategy between Egypt and the EBRD.

James Cleverly, the British MP responsible for MENA affairs, landed in Cairo yesterday for his first official visit to Egypt, Cleverly said on Twitter. He said his “packed agenda” would include talks on “climate change, [potential] UK investment and regional issues.” He’s set to meet Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at some point today, according to MENA.

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

• Egypt’s balance of payments flipped to a surplus of USD 1.9 bn in FY2020-2021, while a “noticeable drop in tourism revenues” led to our current account deficit widening by USD 7.2 bn in the state fiscal year.
• Egypt signs MoUs with Greece, Cyprus to link electricity grids: The USD 4 bn EuroAfrica Interconnector project, which will connect the electrical grids of Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus, got a huge boost over the weekend after the three countries signed MoUs to build an undersea cable connecting their grids.
• Egytrans walks away from HAUH takeover bid: A potential reverse merger between Egytrans and Hassan Allam Utilities Holdings subsidiary Hassan Allam Utilities BV appears to have fallen through after the two sides failed to agree on a fair value.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The global supply chain crunch is not looking good: Buyers waiting on goods from Chinese exporters may have to wait a little bit longer than usual as the country’s energy shortfall forces factories to cut down their operations, when demand for Chinese exports is at an all-time high, the Financial Times reports. Electricity prices in the country rose by 20% after the government decreed sweeping market reforms, forcing coal-fired power generators to sell into the wholesale market. This hike in energy prices is expected to quickly force some manufacturers to cut production, with one factory owner saying the power cuts have already pushed down production by 20-30%.

Compounding the pre-Christmas supply chain gridlock: A typhoon in Asia over the weekend worsened a container ship pileup in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, where the number of ships is now higher than records reached in May during a fresh covid-19 outbreak, Bloomberg reports. The ripple effect of global trade means that even when the Asia bottleneck is resolved, the congestion will likely just move to destination ports, particularly in the US and Europe, which are already overwhelmed and unable to offload shipments to trucks fast enough. The shipping crunch coincides with resurging consumer demand, especially ahead of the Christmas shopping season — which could mean a serious blow to retail sales.

Earnings season rolls on in the US — and it’s mostly looking good. Tesla, Netflix, P&G, and J&J are among the big players set to publish earnings reports in the week ahead, with reports also coming from railroads, airlines, health care, tech, financial firms, and energy and consumer product companies. The financial sector has already performed remarkably well, with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley posting good Q3 results last week and the energy sector is expected to boast the biggest gains. But a patchy earnings season that only sees some groups doing well “could be a risk for the market,” Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse tells CNBC.

FOR TOMORROW-

i-Sheep PSA: A Mac revamp and new AirPods are among new tech expected to be unveiled at Apple’s launch event tomorrow. You can catch a livestream here; it kicks off tomorrow at 10 am PDT, or 7 pm CLT for the folks tuning in from home.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Four days to go until the Cairo International Furniture Show, Le Marche. The four-day event runs from this Thursday, 21 October until next Sunday, 24 October. It is the first and largest furniture, material and home accessories exhibition in the region.

Fall conference season is still going strong. Among the exhibitions and business events here and throughout the region:

• The GITEX Global at the Dubai World Trade Center kicks off today and runs through this Thursday. The event brings together players in Big Tech to discuss what’s next in areas such as AI, cloud, 5G, cybersecurity, blockchain, and more.
• Cairo Water Week begins next Sunday, 24 October. The annual event will wrap next Thursday, 28 October.
• The two-day Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference takes place next Wednesday and Thursday, 27 and 28 October.
• Later this month: The Middle East Angel Investment Network is hosting its Angel Oasis in El Gouna on 27-29 October, with separate pricing for in-person and virtual attendance.

MENA’s largest innovation and entrepreneurship summit, RiseUp, will take place from 25-27 November. This year’s event will be held at the Giza Pyramids. Applications will be opening soon, but you can go ahead and RSVP through the event’s LinkedIn page.

Calling all entrepreneurs in Egypt: You have one month to apply for the acceleration exchange program Meet Silicon Valley, which will take a group of entrepreneurs to California for a 10-day program to meet with tech executives and investors. The program is being implemented by Injaz Egypt and TechWadi with the support of the US Embassy in Egypt. Startup founders must be between the ages of 23 and 35 to be eligible for the program. The deadline for applications is 15 November, and you can check out the full criteria and program details here.

(Much) further down the road: A conference and exhibition on MENA healthcare is coming to Egypt in June 2022, head of the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement Bahaa El Din Zidan said last week, according to Ahram Online.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- It should start to feel slightly more like fall as the week progresses, with highs of 29°C tomorrow and on Tuesday, following a hot weekend. Nights will be chillier too, with lows of 18-19°C, our favorite weather app tells us.