For decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been a major investment hub for companies seeking access to Asia, Europe, and Africa. “The smart money is going into the GCC,” Mohamed Yakout, senior analyst at Scope Markets, a trading solutions provider, said in November. “The Gulf is becoming one of the world’s most compelling investment theaters.” However, the ongoing Middle East conflict that began in February is changing that perception, especially after Iran blocked nearly all freight through the Hormuz Strait, which handles 20% of the world’s oil exports and most of the GCC’s imports, including food and water. One…
Author: Tamer Hafez
Iran’s partial blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil supplies pass, to gain leverage in the ongoing war with Iran, has driven global Brent oil prices up nearly 80% per barrel to a four-year high. In response, the United States, the world’s largest oil producer and importer, and third-largest exporter as of 2026, according to data aggregator World Population Review, is taking actions (and floating radical ideas) to stabilize, if not reduce, oil prices. For developing countries that are net oil importers, the effectiveness of these efforts will be crucial to their respective budget plans…
For decades, local and foreign investors have faced two major issues — corruption and bureaucracy. In December 2025, Transparency International, an NGO, ranked Egypt 130th out of 180 countries, down from 94 in 2014. In March, the World Bank report measuring “Government Effectiveness: Percentile Rank” placed the country in the top 42% of nations, down from the top 25% in 2014. The government has long-term plans to address these problems. It is currently in the third phase of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (2023-2030) and is accelerating the digitization of its services and payments to bypass existing bureaucratic barriers. In December…
In the past 16 months, “seismic changes have moved the world,” said the “Where to Invest in Africa 2025/26” report by RMB. The main factor influencing investment prospects across the continent is “the change in U.S. trade policy,” the report said. “Record-high reciprocal tariffs across many economies are transforming global trade in a way that will potentially outlast the current U.S. administration. This is not business as usual.” For Egyptian companies planning to invest in Africa, understanding which nations have the greatest potential and the least business, geopolitical and geoeconomic risks is crucial for success. Aid, politics,…
Egypt’s economy has faced significant geopolitical risks. Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, a key source of grain, oil, and tourists, Egypt’s inflation surged sharply, rising from 7.3% to an all-time high of 38% in September 2023. The pound lost half its value in the official market, and an informal market emerged as foreign portfolio investors withdrew amid concerns about the economic fallout from the conflict. In 2023, Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted commercial freight entering the Red Sea, sharply reducing cargo traffic through the Suez Canal and, in turn, decreasing dollar inflows to Egypt…
For years, the government has promoted doing business in Sub‑Saharan Africa. With new volatility emerging in the Middle East, Egyptian companies now have even more reason to look south. Encouraging local companies to trade and invest in Africa has long been a government priority. Last May, Hossam Heiba, then chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, said, “The Egyptian government is currently developing sustainable strategies to facilitate investment flows and trade across the continent and to establish integrated partnerships among key African stakeholders. The goal is to boost intra-African investment and trade.” Meanwhile, the ongoing geopolitical conflict…
As a store of value during volatile times, few assets can match gold. Its advantage stems from outright ownership. “It is not a claim against a third party, as is the case with shares or bonds,” according to a note from the Austrian National Bank. “Physical gold … has no counterparty risk. Physical gold carries no entrepreneurial risk and can never become worthless.” Additionally, its value is stable because “the existing quantity of gold cannot be expanded in an inflationary manner over a short period,” the note said. However, in the past two years, gold prices have soared, rising 144%…
For any company to sell successfully, it must target specific consumer segments. This partitioning shapes how marketers design products and services, set prices, strategically position offerings and develop promotional strategies. Conventionally, segmentation is based on geography, demographics, psychographics and consumer behavior. This year, marketers should revisit long-standing segmentation criteria and processes. “2026 isn’t the year segmentation suddenly becomes important,” said Richard Walker of Mustard Market Research. “It’s the year when the gap between static audience models and real-world behavior becomes too wide to ignore.” Widening the gap is “artificial intelligence (AI) and automation … accelerating faster than most audience strategies…
Being perceived as the definitive choice in a product or service category has long been the ultimate goal of many companies. “In an increasingly competitive market, developing a valuable brand is what makes you memorable, helps build trust and sets you apart from the competition,” said Huddle Creative, a branding consultancy, in September. Branding “is not just a logo or a catchy tagline; it’s the entire experience people have with your work, your values, and your vision,” Huddle Creative stressed. “It helps build a loyal community [that] resonates with what you stand for. This connection can transform casual followers into…
This year and next, Egypt’s GDP growth should match and surpass its record highs. According to the IMF, the country’s economy will grow 4.7% in fiscal year (FY) 2025/2026, matching the pre-2008 global financial crisis all-time high. For FY 2026/2027, GDP should rise 5.4%, a new record. Such unprecedented growth inevitably “requires more resources, raw materials, energy and water, generating more waste,” according to the Pollution Sustainability Directory (PSD), a research platform. “Many of our current production processes are linear, following a ‘take-make-dispose’ model that extracts resources, transforms them into products and then discards them after use,” PSD noted. For Egypt to sustain such a…