Tag: Egypt

Funding Entrepreneurship in Cairo

Although the Egyptian government has long been an enthusiastic promoter of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), up until recently, financing institutions did not have a unified definition of what makes an SME. According to Haytham Waguih, Head of Private Equity (PE) at the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) and board member at the Egyptian Private Equity Association (EPEA), the absence of a single unified definition for SME has meant that investment funds and banks across Egypt often use very different parameters. Last December, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) released a circular re-defining small, medium and micro-enterprises – a move that Waguih lauds as key to establishing a solid foundation for funding entrepreneurs moving forward.

In January of this year, the CBE launched a program to finance 350,000 SMEs for EGP 200 billion (US $22.5 billion) over the next four years, with a declining interest rate of 5% annually, and introduced a policy that will oblige banks to commit 20% of their total loan portfolio to SMEs. But in spite of these recent policies, the government still lacks a systematic and methodical approach to address entrepreneurship, which, according to Waguih, is one of the keys to fostering a climate for the growth of the sector. “There is urgency and pragmatism in terms of developing a methodology and mechanism on the ground that are still lacking,” he notes.

According to Ayman Ismail, Assistant Professor and Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of the American University in Cairo’s Venture Lab, reform of the macroeconomic environment is key to attracting more entrepreneurs and businesses to Egypt – although he prefers a more minimalist role when it comes to government. “There are two types of interventions by the government: one is doing things themselves and the other is creating the environment to help people start doing things. I believe that the government should be a catalyst for more private accelerators and incubators by supporting them and creating a conducive environment for startups,” he says. “The biggest thing the government can do for entrepreneurs is to clear the bureaucratic hurdles. This helps all companies, but more so the younger ones that are more vulnerable.”

(egyptianstreets.com)

November 5, 2016
3,800-Year-Old ‘Tableau’ of Egyptian Boats Discovered

More than 120 images of ancient Egyptian boats have been discovered adorning the inside of a building in Abydos, Egypt. The building dates back more than 3,800 years and was built near the tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III, archaeologists reported.

The tableau, as the series of images is called, would have looked upon a real wooden boat said Josef Wegner, a curator at the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the excavation. Only a few planks remain of the wooden boat, which would have been constructed at Abydos or dragged across the desert, Wegner said. In ancient Egypt, boats were sometimes buried near a pharaoh’s tomb. [In Photos: Tomb Painting Discovered Near Great Pyramid of Giza]

Etchings and a boat

Archaeologists found that the tableau was incised on the white plaster walls of the building.

The largest images are nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length and show “large, well-rendered boats depicted with masts, sails, rigging, deckhouses/cabins, rudders, oars and in some cases rowers,” wrote Wegner in an article published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. Some images are small and simple, the smallest reaching only about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in length, wrote Wegner.

Though 120 boat images survive today, there would have been more incised on the building walls in ancient times, Wegner wrote. In addition to the boats, the tableau contains incised images of gazelle, cattle and flowers, he noted.

Near the entranceway of the building — whose interior is about 68 feet by 13 feet (21 by 4 m) — archaeologists discovered more than 145 pottery vessels, many of which are buried with their necks facing toward the building’s entrance. “The vessels are necked, liquid-storage jars, usually termed ‘beer jars’ although probably used for storage and transport of a variety of liquids,” wrote Wegner in the journal article.The existence of the building was first noted in a 1904 report by an Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) team that worked at Abydos between 1901 and 1903. However, that team didn’t have time to excavate the building and didn’t know what was in it; “they came down on the very top of the boat building. They saw the vault of it but abandoned work,” Wegner said.

Many mysteries

The discoveries leave archaeologists with a series of mysteries that future excavations may help solve. [7 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries from Egypt]

The archaeologists don’t know who drew the tableau or why they created it. “We can’t conclusively answer that on the basis of what’s preserved,” Wegner told Live Science. However, the researchers think multiple people created the tableau within a short period of time, he added.

One possibility is that the people who built the boat also created the tableau, he said. Or, perhaps, a group of people taking part in a funerary ceremony after the death of pharaoh Senwosret III etched the images onto the building walls. Yet another possibility is that a group of people gained access to the building after the pharaoh died and created the tableau. Archaeologists found that a group of individuals entered the building at some point after the pharaoh’s death and took the boat apart, reusing the planks.

Archaeologists are also puzzled over the purpose of all the pottery found near the entrance of the building. It’s possible that those attending a funerary ceremony could have spilled liquid from the pots on the ground on purpose. “Potentially a massive decanting of liquid, likely predominantly water, at the entrance of the building was a way of magically floating the boat,” Wegner wrote in the paper. The boat would not have been literally floated if this ceremony took place.

Another possibility is that the wooden boat was transported on a wooden sledge across the desert. In that case, “water and other liquids may have been used to lubricate and solidify the ground along the path of the boat as it was pulled from the floodplain to its desert resting place,” wrote Wegner, adding that “the ceramic vessels used in this journey may themselves have taken on a ritual significance, and both boat and jars were then buried together as ceremonial interment of objects associated with royal mortuary rites.”

The team plans to carry out excavations in the future that may help solve the various mysteries, he said.

Wegner’s team, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of State for Antiquities, carried out the excavations of the building between 2014 and 2016.

(www.livescience.com)

November 5, 2016
Central Bank of Egypt Floats the Egyptian Pound

In a surprise morning announcement, the Central Bank of Egypt announced that it has floated the Egyptian pound against all foreign currencies.

“The CBE hereby announces its decision to move, with immediate effect, to a liberalized exchange rate regime in order to quell any distortions in the domestic foreign currency market,” the bank said in a statement.

Against the US dollar, the Egyptian pound was floated to EGP 13.00 per USD 1.00. Selling a US dollar, however, yields EGP 13.50. Prior to the devaluation, the US dollar’s official selling price was EGP 8.88, while the buying price stood at EGP 8.85. On the parallel market, however, the greenback reached an all-time high of EGP 18 earlier this week, before the pound strengthened amid calls for a boycott of the parallel market to drive down the rates.

Following the devaluation, the Commercial International Bank (CIB) has placed the USD buying rate at EGP 13.25 and the selling rate at EGP 14.3, while it place the rate for euros at EGP 14.661 for buying and EGP 15.913 for selling. Other banks have yet to update their websites with the new rates.

The Egyptian pound will be allowed to fluctuate (either positively or negatively) in value by 10 percent for a short period before it is set.

In a separate announcement, the Bank Misr and Al-Ahly announced that buying Egyptian pound certificates will provide customers with an interest rate between 16 and 20 percent, depending on the duration that the certificates are kept.

This story is developing.

(egyptianstreets.com)

November 5, 2016
Cyprus and Egypt reaffirm their will to further enhance their relations

Cyprus and Egypt have reaffirmed their will to further enhance their relations.
According to an official press release, House President, Demetris Syllouris, received on Tuesday the Ambassador the Arab Republic of Egypt in Cyprus, Hussein Mubarak. Syllouris reaffirmed close relations between Cyprus and Egypt at all levels, referring to the cooperation between the two countries at the bilateral level and in the framework of the Trilateral Cooperation among Egypt, Cyprus and Greece.
He reiterated his invitation to the President of the Egyptian Parliament, Ali Abdel Aal, for an official visit to Cyprus. Mubarak referred to the historic and friendly relations between Egypt and Cyprus, underlining the importance of the close cooperation between the two countries in various fields, as well as their joint support in the framework of international organisations.
The Egyptian Ambassador underlined that there is common will for further enhancement of the already close relations between the parliaments of Egypt and Cyprus and expressed the belief that these relations will be reinforced through more frequent exchange of visits.
Mubarak reiterated his country`s steadfast support to efforts to reach a Cyprus settlement, on the basis of UN Security Council relevant resolutions and the international law, and expressed hope that this aim will soon be achieved.
Syllouris and Mubarak also discussed issues of mutual interest in relation to the latest political developments in the region.

(famagusta-gazette.com)

November 2, 2016