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One big factor that contributed to the 2011 revolution in Egypt was the increasing sense of alienation and disempowerment felt by the country’s poor, who in Egypt tend to be concentrated in rural districts away from the main urban centres of Cairo and Alexandria. As a result, in recent years there has been a growing recognition of the role that...

Like many emerging markets, Egypt’s economic structure is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Estimates vary, but sources such as the OECD and Egypt’s General Authority for Investment (GAFI) assert that they account for between 80% and 90% of total businesses, and between 75% and 80% of total employment in the country.

The past few years have seen ebbs and flows in investor sentiment towards emerging market, but one of the consistently bright performers has been the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, a catch-all segment that encompasses food, beverage, cosmetic, apparel and household products. FMCG sales are driven almost wholly by domestic household...

Ongoing political uncertainty, muted GDP growth and the threat of reduced business volumes that these factors carry with them has resulted in a number of ratings agencies giving Egypt’s banking sector a negative outlook. However, Egypt’s largest banks have demonstrated a high degree of resilience to date, with their bottom lines supported by the...

Egypt has long served one of the world’s oldest transport hubs. For millennia, its position, straddling major trade routes between Asia, Africa and Europe, has made the country a commercial and cultural crossroads, and since 1879 it has been home to the Suez Canal, through which 10% of the world’s total trade volume passes.

The Egyptian economy has provided a wealth of opportunities to private equity (PE) firms, both domestic and foreign. The heady years leading up to the 2008 global economic crisis featured a number of significant deals that raised the profile of PE and helped to establish it as an alternative source of funding for Egypt’s corporations. Particularly...