For anyone living in Cairo, moving from one neighborhood to another requires choosing the right time, the right route and some luck. On the flip side, a walk through the capital’s older sections is a treat to the senses with their cramped street vendors and food carts, crowded narrow footpaths, 100-year-old establishments spilling onto the street and local music booming through megaphones. Alexandria, Damietta and Assiut and other cities are similarly vibrant, as well as tourism-focused metropolises such as Hurghada, Aswan, and Luxor during their high season. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that vibrant cities are…
Author: Tamer Hafez
Unprecedented interconnections due to the explosion of media technologies in the 1960s led Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan to coin the term “global village.” In the 1990s, worldwide access to the internet added another layer of communication. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2013 said: “The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” As the world prepares for the third decade of the 21st century, that proverbial village is breaking up into hamlets with each seeking to reduce imports from one or more trade partners to balance its trade deficit. Accelerating this trend is the COVID-19 outbreak,…
For years, there has been debate over whether the dollar should remain the primary currency used in international commerce. In 1960, economist Robert Triffin wrote that America would only have current account deficits if other countries relied on the dollar, which would offset the benefits of zero exchange rate risks and heightened political clout. During the 2008 financial crisis, China said the dollar couldn’t continue as the global reserve currency because America’s lending and financial practices nearly caused a worldwide economic meltdown. When Donald Trump took office in 2017 with his “America First” agenda and ensuing trade wars (See story…
When the Egyptian government ended the lockdown on July 1, albeit with minor ongoing restrictions, companies were in no hurry to bring all their employees back to the office. An Enterprise website survey of 16 listed businesses found 11 “still relying almost entirely on remote work for anyone whose job could possibly be done from home.” Companies surveyed ranged from large manufacturers, such as Nestlé and Procter & Gamble, to the U.N. Development Programme and Arqam, a think tank, and other service providers. Having at least some employees work from home is a rising trend. Dell Computers said it would…
For months, the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, International Monetary Fund, think-tanks, and talking heads have agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike any crisis that has gone before it. From an economic perspective, it has caused a supply and demand crisis that spawned a global recession. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stressed that most analysts look at the COVID-19 crisis in the wrong way. “The biggest challenge [for] analysts [thinking of] the COVID-19 challenge is to look at it through the lens of the ‘natural world,’” he said during a July AmCham webinar. “That is a lens…
Like many countries globally, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in Egypt, some factories closed for weeks after employees tested positive for the virus. The list included local and multinational companies working in food and beverage, electronics, and auto assembly While all have reopened, their experience indicates the need to increase operational resiliency even though the worst of the outbreak in Egypt may be over. “Emerging trends to look for in a post-COVID world include more reliable and resilient [operations], not just more cost-effective ones,” said Romil Bahl, president and CEO of KORE Wireless, an automation firm, to IIoT…
As COVID-19 lockdowns ease, banks in Africa may suffer a liquidity crunch just as domestic companies look to them to finance their recoveries. “Africa needs its banks more than ever. Already they have been the primary conduit of aid during the crisis and will play a central role in the recovery,” wrote Francois Jurd de Girancourt, McKinsey & Company head of banking and insurance for Africa, in June. The main reason for that credit crunch is an unprecedented recession throughout the continent. “The pandemic is already radically worsening the economic outlook for Africa, with growth expected to collapse to a…
Driving home on a rainy night after a long day at work, you may decide to nap as your car navigates the traffic and treacherous conditions. Just before reaching home, the vehicle opens your garage door and turns on the lights. Meanwhile, your fridge notifies your smartphone it has ordered and paid for supermarket supplies that are running low. That could very well be a daily routine within 15 years. The key to realizing it is the deployment of the fifth generation of wireless communication (5G) networks. A more basic benefit of 5G is it would ensure enough capacity to…
Since 2008, Egypt’s GDP has grown despite a global financial crisis, two revolutions, and a structural reform program that caused the pound to lose more than half its value. Now, as COVID-19 recoveries outnumber new infections, the government expects the economy to grow 3.1 percent in fiscal year 2020/2021. That compares with a forecast of 3.5 percent before the pandemic, as reported by Reuters in July. However, long-term problems lurk. “We have enjoyed several years of growth, but on volatile pillars,” said Tarek Tawfik, vice chairman at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, during an AmCham webinar in July. “Building [the…
Adapting to changing consumer sentiments has always been critical for the success of any company. Nokia and Kodak, once pioneers in mobile phones and photography, failed to change with the times. Nokia is now a minor player in the digital communications industry, while Kodak filed for bankruptcy in January 2012. The COVID-19 outbreak has put many industries in a similar position to that of Nokia and Kodak when sentiment started shifting away from tried-and-true products. Yet few businesses are anticipating and acting on how consumer mindsets will change after the pandemic. “We’re going to have talks with psychologists and anthropologists…