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…
Author: Tamer Hafez
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…
Joseph Kamau in Kenya, Set Sar in Rhode Island in the United States and Adi Nagara from Jakarta, Indonesia, are workers with low- to mid-level skills who are capitalizing on the digitization of the global economy. Their employers are thousands of kilometers away, and communication and payments are made online. Kamau gets as many as 10 part-time jobs a week entering data for clients around the world, he told The Economist in January. Sar, who spoke to the World Economic Forum (WEF), gets paid to allow an artificial intelligence program to track his eye movements via his computer’s webcam. Meanwhile,…
As plans to coexist with COVID-19 set in, the “new normal” will bring many changes. One is that people may continue to use digital payment methods such as paying online, payment cards, and smartphones as they are convenient and limit close contact with others. Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, a consultancy, sees COVID-19 as a “once-in-a-generation boost” to digital payments. “Without question, this is a major turning point,” he told Raconteur, a special-interest publication. The shift away from face-to-face payments may require a new currency. Currently, when using a payment card between 1 percent and 5 percent of…
As summer approaches, Egypt, other MENA countries, European nations and the United States face lost foreign currency inflows from tourism’s high-season as COVID-19 fears persist. For Egypt that is a significant problem as the sector employs one-tenth of Egyptians, generating $13 billion last year and accounts for 5 percent of GDP, as reported by The Economist in May. That drought could last until there is a mass-produced COVID-19 vaccine. “I think it is important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away,” said Michael Ryan, executive…
“Designed in California. Assembled in China.” That phrase on the back of every iPhone shows just how integrated the world has become. An iconic American brand designed locally produced 11,500 kilometers (7,000 miles) away and shipped back to the United States is a testament to how the world has become a “small village.” However, the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns, particularly in China, has raised alarms — nowhere more so than in Egypt, where the CBE says Chinese goods accounted for 9.4 percent of all imports last fiscal year. That is making local experts and government officials look to…
In Africa, healthcare statistics generally paint a grim picture. According to Mathieux Lamieux, a healthcare consultant who has worked with 22 African governments, the continent carries 24 percent of the global disease burden and 54 percent of its infectious diseases. Yet, it accounts for 14 percent of the world’s population and 2 percent of the physicians, he said in a TED talk. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “It would take 300 years and 10 times the expenditure of a typical African economy to have the same access to doctors per capita as developed economies.” However, one advantage of…