Out of the 998 projects financed by foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa last year, Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco were responsible for the greatest share, according to a recent report by fDi Intelligence.

Egypt replaced South Africa as the top ranked destination by projects in the region, experiencing a 60% increase from 85 to 136 projects in 2019, the report said.

Along with a $12bn IMF-mandated reform programme, the government has embarked on massive infrastructure spending in sectors ranging from energy to construction.

South Africa follows Egypt at 123 projects, though it easily outdoes all other African countries in terms of the number of projects it financed outside its own territory last year.

fDi Intelligence, a product of the Financial Times, found that South Africa invested in 81 projects outside the rainbow nation in 2019 compared to just 29 in Morocco, the second most out of any African country.

Morocco had 102 projects financed by FDI last year, making it the third largest on the continent. Other countries with large numbers of externally financed projects include Kenya (87), Nigeria (73), and Ghana (42).

In fact, Nigeria and Ghana each attracted more FDI by capital investment than South Africa, but the investments were spread among fewer projects. Egypt topped the list both in terms of the number of projects and amount invested.Ghana entered the top 10 destinations by the number of FDI projects in the Middle East and Africa.

It saw a 56% increase on 2018 figures, equivalent to 15 additional projects.Ghana also saw capital investment growth of 479%, an increase to $4.8bn.

This was driven by projects such as a $2.8bn production facility being developed by Sweden-based Greenland Resources as part of a public-private partnership with the government of Ghana.

Other large projects in Africa last year included the establishment of a $2bn phosphate fertiliser plant in Togo by the Dangote Group.

The Egyptian government also established a $848m phosphoric acid plant in the New Valley Governorate as part of a joint venture with several Chinese companies and the Egypt-based Phosphate Misr.

source: africanbusinessmagazine

Egypt continues to be Africa’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in 2019, marking a 10.7% hike, despite the slump in FDI inflows to the entire continent to USD 45 bn (EGP 727.2 bn), Invest-Gate reports.

“FDI inflows to North Africa decreased by 11% to USD 14 bn (EGP 226.2 bn), with reduced inflows in all countries except Egypt,” read the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) “Global Investment Trends Monitor 2019” report, noting that Egypt posted USD 9 bn (EGP 145.4 bn) in FDIs last year.

UNCTAD highlighted that economic reforms undertaken by the Egyptian government have improved macroeconomic stability and boosted investor confidence in the country. Although FDIs were still driven by the oil and gas industry, investment in the non-oil economy was also taking place.

According to the report, communications, consumer goods, and real estate sectors have seen significant investments in 2019.

“Egypt ranked first in Africa in re-investing the profits of foreign companies by 41%, where the reinvested profits for multinational companies represent a remarkable share of foreign direct investment inflows to the economies of the countries of the continent,” it confirmed, pointing out that lowering profit expectations will have a tangible impact on investment flows to Africa in 2020.

UNCTAD revealed that global FDI flows are forecast to drop by as much as 40% in 2020, from USD 1.54 trn (EGP 24.9 trn) in 2019, bringing FDIs below USD 1 trn (EGP 16.2 trn) for the first time since 2005.

In addition, FDIs are set to decline by a further to 10% in 2021; and to initiate a recovery in 2022, the report concluded.

source: invest-gate

Contributions would be considered as logistical support for Takaful insurance activity.

From medical consultations to free services, local startups become more agile in light of crisis

More startups and entrepreneurship stakeholders have started to adapt and enhance their services in light of the COVID-19 - known as the “coronavirus” - spread, in an aim to help customers and partners get through this phase safely and healthy.

Highlights from the ecosystem:

• The Cairo Angels seeks solutions for “We’ve got your back” initiative with EGP 100,000

Angel investment network The Cairo Angels is supporting the #احنا_في_ضهرك (“We’ve got your back”) initiative with EGP 100,000, which aims at helping elderly or vulnerable people living alone complete their shopping and errands.

The network is seeking to establish a secure and updated database for volunteers, whose identity can be verified through social media accounts and ID cards, with the inclusion of reviews.

Hence, existing startups and/or startup founders are needed to develop the product and launch it within one week. Applications are accepted until March 25th, 2020.

• Taskty offers sanitization services for companies, factories

Home improvement website Taskty built teams to offer sanitization services for companies and factories alike at cheap prices, following the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Additionally, Taskty is conducting phone training with the cleaners, technicians and workers that are registered on their website on how to best keep themselves and their customers safe.

• estshara launches “Salamet Masr” initiative

Medical consultation platform estshara launched the Salamet Masr initiative to help fight COVID-19, by providing free medical consultations on the coronavirus through its application by consulting a doctor via a voice call or text chat.

Moreover, the app spreads awareness and educates the community about the symptoms and methods of preventing the disease.

Users can access the free consultations by entering the Promocode “freedoc” in the estshara application, available until March 31, 2020. estshara is a platform that provides online healthcare consultations, aiming to make healthcare services accessible to everyone in the MENA region.

• WideBotbuilds free Arabic-speaking chatbots for businesses

Arabic chatbot company WideBot is offering three months of bot building for free on their platform, so that businesses can completely shift their communication with other brands, employees and customers online. Using the Promocode “BeSafe” allows interested businesses and startups to set up their chatbots, and thus, reduce face-to-face interactions. Widebot is the first Arabic-focused bot-builder platform, which does not require coding and uses AI to maximize conversions and increase loyalty.

• TakeStep offers free sessions, launches COVID-19 symptom-checker with Al-Tibbi

Egyptian healthcare startup TakeStep now offers startups and their families free psychiatric sessions in order to help them cope with the psychological impact of the COVID-19 spread worldwide. Psychologists are coining the term “corona phobia” to describe how people are affected by the panic and fear that comes along with the virus-spread. This could include anxiety, depression, as well as severe fear of germs. Additionally, TakeStep partnered with Al-Tibbi to launch a free symptom-checker for the coronavirus, in which website visitors can enter the symptoms they feel, and be diagnosed either positive or negative for COVID-19.

• Brainy Squad launches free online consultations for businesses

Creative agency Brainy Squad launched free online consultation sessions to support businesses facing economic consequences of the spread of COVID-19.

These sessions provide expertise to help businesses adopt the best digital transformation tactics to ensure continuity and growth under the current conditions. Brainy Squad is a creative one-stop-shop for businesses’ digital and creative needs.

• Breadfast waives delivery fees, adds more products for customers’ convenience

Online native grocery application Breadfast added more commodities to its offering at their customers’ convenience, in support of the ''stay at home'' safety measures.

These products include fruits, vegetables, groceries, hand sanitizers and face masks. Additionally, the company applied special safety standards at all stages of production, packaging, and delivery, while customers can leave a note to have their order left at the door.

Breadfast also waived all delivery fees until the end of the month in support of customers’ circumstances during the current times.

Breadfast is an online grocery application that produces fresh bakeries using products like eggs and flour also produced by Breadfast, in addition to providing other groceries delivered daily to their customers’ doorstep.

source: zawya

Elmenus, the Egyptian startup that is fast-becoming a leader in the food discovery, ordering, and delivery sector, has secured USD 8 Mn in funding in a Series B round co-led by UAE-based VC fund, Global Ventures, and Egypt’s Algebra Ventures.

Founded in 2011 by CEO Amir Allam, and having previously raised USD 1.5 Mn in Series A funding from Algebra Ventures in 2017, Elmenus has achieved rapid success.

Since its founding, the startup has launched online ordering operations and, more recently, its own fleet service while also scaling from 20 to 200 employees, attracting top-tier talent, experiencing double-digit growth monthly, and eliminating that “What to eat today” concern for many people.

“We are incredibly excited to announce Global Ventures’ investment in a leading food-tech startup such as Elmenus, and look forward to working closely with the team in terms of driving further value creation opportunities that result in continued growth,” states Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures. 

With its foundation of loyal users built via a comprehensive platform targeted to enable users to discover and order food online (app and website), elmenus has grown rapidly within the Egyptian market.

The startup claims to have onboarded over 8,000 restaurants and while serving approximately 1.2 million monthly active users in a short period. And this would have had a bearing on the Series B raise.

“With their first raise of USD 1.5 Mn, Elmenus proved our original investment thesis that a strong local player with a broader offering can have disproportionate achievement. The company has unique efficiencies and this round could be enough to secure its leadership in the rapidly growing digital market in Egypt.”, says Ziad Mokhtar, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures.

The latest funding round also drew participation from Tarek Sakr and Hamad Al Homaizi, who are both prominent entrepreneurs most notable for having partially exited 4Sale, the leading Kuwait-based classifieds platform to NBK Capital last year.

The duo would be hoping to profit off of what is fast-becoming the leading food-tech startup in Egypt with a focus on personalizing food recommendations to users at the dish-level through digitized restaurant menus, reviews, and photos via its online food discovery and ordering platform.

“We believe our success as a startup is a combination of innovatively solving the right user problems, great team, and laser-focused execution. We have been able to grow the market in Egypt and accomplish great milestones very efficiently, we are excited about what we will do with this additional funding and the support of Global Ventures coming on board as we continue to scale across Egypt and help millions of more users to discover and order the food they will love,” states Amir Allam, Founder of Elmenus.

Egypt’s food discovery/ordering/delivery scene appears to be one of the most active on the African continent with a number of vibrant players including Uber Eats, Carriage, and Otlob.

With the latest investment, Elmenus seems to be strengthening its grip on a market that recently lost one of its bigger players in Glovo.

source: weetracker

The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees

The Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El Said, has discussed with the General Manager of Uber Egypt, Ahmed Khalil, expanding the services of the ride-hailing application to the New Administrative Capital.

The Egyptian government is working to move its entities to the new capital, and wants to provide adequate transportation services to the public sector employees, the minister further noted.

El Said vowed to provide a suitable environment for Uber’s expansion plan, referring to the success of the Uber Bus services that launched for the first time in the world from Cairo.

The minister further stressed the need for creating a feature for frequent passengers to cater to the needs of students and employees.

Uber launched in Egypt in 2014, according to Khalil, who noted that the company now has more than 130,000 drivers.

The company is planning an Uber for Government service for public sector employees in the new capital, he further indicated, with studies to introduce the Uber Intercity programme across all governorates.

soruce: zawya

Egypt, with a GDP growth of around 6%, continues to lead growth in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in 2020, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) expectations for 2020.

As the new year is approaching, the IIF’s economic experts revealed their 2020 outlook for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA) regions.

Regarding the MENA region, Garbis Iradian, chief economist for MENA, stated that given the projected lower oil prices of an average of $60/pb in 2020, the region’s authorities will need to strike the right balance between resuming fiscal consolidation and sustaining the current modest non-oil growth.

Fortunately, he mentioned, the monetary policy in the region is easing as the Fed is expected to reduce further US interest rates, which would support private credit and non-oil growth.

He noted that Egypt continues to lead growth in the MENA region, while in other oil importers, progress from recent reforms and de-escalation of conflicts in the region may support a gradual recovery. However, the pace of growth will still be insufficient to significantly reduce the high unemployment rates.

“The MENA medium-term outlook hinges on sustained reform implementation and de-escalation of tensions in the region to create an enabling environment for higher private investment and growth,” he stated.

He assured that some progress has been made, but the region needs to pursue deeper reforms to strengthen the business climate, improve competitiveness, and foster diversification and job creation.

Moreover, Ugras Ulku, head of CEEMEA Research, stated that for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the key theme for 2020 will be a growth slowdown.

He added that weakness in the German manufacturing sector, if sustained, will feed through supply chain links into weaker industrial activity in the CEE region (and has already started to do so).

“Additionally, uncertainty related to trade tensions between the US and the EU, especially with regard to the automotive sector, and to Brexit will continue to weigh on business sentiment in CEE. However, growth in the region will remain robust and allow for further convergence,” Ulku continued.

Regarding South Africa, he expected that the key theme for 2020 will be public debt sustainability.

He explained that the government has to present a credible plan in the February 2020 budget to reduce the fiscal deficit in order to stabilize debt, which is the key determinant of whether or not Moody’s downgrades South Africa to sub-investment grade, triggering increased volatility in the prices of South African assets.

“It remains to be seen if political will emerges and if the government is able to convince large public sector labour unions to agree to reduce the public sector wage bill, given that this is the key determinant as of potential debt stabilisation,” he further explained.

“For Turkey, the key theme for 2020 will be the authorities’ ability to use the credit channel to boost growth without intensifying Turkey’s macro vulnerabilities. Further credit impulse could lead to a sharp reversal of current account surplus in 2019 to a sizable deficit in 2020 and intensify demand pressures on inflation dynamics,” head of CEEMEA Research, forecasted.

source: dailynewssegypt

beltone Financial Investment bank expects the real estate sector to decelerate in 2020 as real estate sales have lost pace or are coming flat, driven by continued oversupply risks in upper middle and high-end project offerings, and slower price increases due to slower inflation readings and stabilisation in the cost base.

Beltone analysts continue to list tier-1 developers, namely TMG Holding (TMGH), Palm Hills Developments (PHDC), Emaar Misr (EMFD), Orascom Development (ORHD), Sodic (OCDI), and Madinet Nasr Housing (MNHD), as they capitalise on their names and track record to drive new sales versus the small and medium sized new entrants.

These tier-1 developers also deliver 7k-10k units per annum combined, which is relatively low compared to the target client segment, representing 2%-3% of Egypt’s growing population as well as the number of marriages of up to 900k per annum.

Real estate sales grew by 2% year over year (YoY) during 1H19 to EGP 31.7bn, compared to 53%  YoY growth in the first half of 2018 (1H18) versus 1H17, which looks to be the only slight growth due to existing projects nearing completion, thus slowng down tier-1 developers YoY from launching new real estate. However, Beltone analysts expect 2H19 to be stronger, driven by new project launches toward the end of the year, reaching total sales of EGP 67.2bn, higher by 18% y-o-y.

Throughout 2019, the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut interest by 650 basis points , followed by another expected 300 bps cut in 2020, according to Beltone analysts’ expectation.

This led tier-1 to extend payment schemes to reach an average of eight years in 2H19, up from seven years in 2018, to fuel new sales, maintain current growth, and avoid lower prices YoY.

Most importantly, Beltone analysts believe that lower interest rates will push the resale market out of stagnation, which has been pressured by lower disposable income since the Egyptian pounds floatation. The plan is to offer affordable mortgage products for real homebuyers who intend to buy delivered homes in cash.

Beltone analysts added that reviving the resale market therefore should stabilise the local real estate market by attracting new buyers for the primary market.

They also positively view that the latest joint venture including TMGH, EFG Hermes (HRHO), and GB Capital (AUTO) to fund ready-for-sale units in TMGH’s Madinty and Al Rehab Projects, to be followed by funding units in other projects with target sales of EGP 450m-EGP 500m in 2020, to capitalise on lower interest rates and offer a new product to the market.

They also believe that, the beneficiaries from interest rates cuts in 2H19 and 2020 based on size of debt on their balance sheet are PHDC, TMGH, ORAS, OCDI, HELI, MNHD, ORHD, and PORT.

On the other hand, EFG Hermes Investment Bank expected real estate stocks to have underperformed in the general market indices in Egypt.

Market conditions have been challenging, with companies facing difficulties to increase their contracted sales, selling prices, with developers offering extended payment terms, if possible, to encourage sales along with new product offerings across various projects.

They added that a number of macro initiatives failed to reflect positively on the sector’s activity and in turn respective stock prices.

In Egypt, a series of interest rate cuts did not encourage more activity or demand on new launches, given the insignificance of the mortgage activity in the sector’s performance.

Moreover, there have been extended payment terms for new projects across most developers, with a minimal positive impact seen.

They expect real estate stocks in general to underperform the general market index in Egypt 2020, with a few expectations that they will relatively outperform their peers.

Although they have a cautious outlook on the real estate sector and think the stocks will reflect the operating environment, they think that there will be some outperformers and underperformers, on a relative basis in 2020.

They prefer exposures to companies with solid recurring income stream asset bases and strong balance sheets, with a significant debt and local obligation dues. Their key ideas for the year are Orascom Development Egypt and Emaar Misr Egypt.

Moreover, Pharos Holding expect a decline in sales with 10% increase in cost and 5% increase in prices, which lead to lower margins.

They believe that there is no further extension of installment scheduled or an increase in debt.

Pharos analysts hope that, interest rate cuts to sustain demand, stability in costs in light of weaker commodity prices, and a rise in consumer demand on the back of suburban migration.

While they fear deacceleration or decline in demand due to affordability issues, further extension of installments schedule, significant jump in prices, and emergence of installment schedules in the resale market and compete with development companies. They prefer ORHD and TMGH.

source: dailynewssegypt

Egypt’s economy grew 5.6% YTD

The unemployment rate in Egypt recording its lowest level in 30 years during the second quarter of 2019, recording 7.5%, according to data released by the Egyptian Cabinet’s media centre.

The decline in the unemployment rate resulted by the launch of 9,039 projects between July 2014 and December 2018 with a total cost of EGP 2.1 trillion, the cabinet’s data revealed.

Egypt’s economy grew 5.6% year-to-date, compared to 5.3% in 2018. Inflation reached 4.8% in September, against 14.4% in 2018.

source: zawya

the bank is considering financing the purchase of an airliner and a cargo ship in consideration of $43.35mln

The Egyptian Arab Land Bank is planning to arrange EGP 1.7 billion finance in the healthcare and aviation sectors, the bank’s deputy chairman Amr Gadallah told Mubasher.

The bank is currently arranging EGP 1 billion syndicated loan for the healthcare sector which will be used to fund a private company, Gadallah added, noting that the loan will be granted by four banks.

The top official revealed that the bank is considering financing the purchase of an airliner and a cargo ship in consideration of EGP 700 million.

source: zawya