DEVELOPMENT FINANCE-

IFC, Tadamun to boost women-led micro firms: The International Financial Corporation (IFC) has agreed to assist Tadamun Microfinance Foundation in digitizing and expanding its services, it said in a press release (pdf) last week. Tadamun is a local social enterprise focused on providing women micro entrepreneurs with access to finance and technical expertise. The project is being financed by the World Bank's Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) facility, and will see the IFC design and pilot a program to help the lender expand its reach to the smallest women-run businesses across the country.

BANKING-

French cloud and managed security outfit Atos is stumping for more business in Egypt, with Egypt GM Ahmad Elharany quoted as telling Al Mal that the company is talking with National Bank of Egypt, CIB and aiBank about potential work. Atos is working on a digital banking project with Banque Misr, as we’ve previously reported.

COMMODITIES-

GASC announces int’l corn + veg oil tenders: State grains buyer GASC is seeking its second ever shipment of corn from overseas, it said in a statement, without specifying the amount it is looking to buy. Bid should be submitted on Wednesday, 1 February for delivery between 20 February and 10 March, with the shipment funded by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation. The authority is also seeking 30k tons of soybean oil and 10k tons of sunflower oil in an international tender tomorrow, for arrival from 25 February to 20 March, it said in a statement picked up by state-run MENA news agency.

INFRASTRUCTURE –

Qatari state utility company Kahramaa has awarded Elsewedy Cables Qatar a QAR 1.2 bn (USD 329.6 mn), 30-month contract to establish a new underground transmission line, Elsewedy Cables Qatar shareholder Aamal announced in a statement last week. Elsewedy Cables Qatar is 73.4% owned by Qatari industrial group Senyar Industries Qatar Holding, which is 50% owned by Aamal.

INVESTMENT WATCH-

Indian seed producer to boost Egypt ops: Indian seed producer Hytech Seed wants to expand its North African exports this year by upping production at its Egyptian facility Misr Hytech, Al Mal reports. This came following President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to India last week, during which he met with business leaders to discuss increasing investment in Egypt.

PHARMA-

Sandoz partners with Ibnsina Pharma to distribute OTC products: Ibnsina Pharma will distribute and market Sandoz’s over-the-counter pharma products in Egypt under a new agreement between the two firms, Ibnsina said in a statement (pdf). Sandoz is a division of Swiss pharma giant Novartis that sells generic pharma products and biosimilars.

TELECOMS-

Sawiris’ Italian webmail service provider suffers outage: Naguib Sawiris-majority owned Italian web firm ItaliaOnline suffered an outage last week, affecting 9 mn users, Reuters reports. The company resolved the issue and mailboxes were restored on Thursday, it said in a press release, but Italian authorities are still after answers over the outage.

M&A Watch? Orascom TMT Investments — a company whose majority owner is Naguib Sawiris — currently owns 72.5% of ItaliaOnline, and was reported last year to be considering selling its stake in the company.