H.E. Dr. Sahar Nasr

Minister of Investment & International Cooperation

H.E. Hesham Tawfik

Minister of Public Enterprise Sector

Dr. Ahmed Heikal

Founder & Chairman of Qalaa Holdings

Opening Speeches

This session discusses the envisaged scenarios of investing opportunities in non-banking financial sector in 2020 as interest rate has been reduced, and how investment banks view such opportunities. Moreover, the session addresses the coming phase challenges, and whether the year will witness changes in strategies, or the focus will remain on completing expansion in the newly offered non-banking financial services while, little by little, exiting conventional activities.
Points of Discussion:
- Will the stock market remain as the receptor of outward funds from banking sector after lowering interest rate, or are there other channels?&nbsp;
-&nbsp; Investment banks plans for 2020. Will the focus remain on completing non-banking financial services platforms? Are there any further ideas?
-&nbsp; Will 2020 be the year of implementing state-owned companies IPOS program, or will it be like 2019?
-Will the privately-owned companies IPOs be launched in 2020, or postponed by firms?
- Has the year 2019 witnessed genuine breakthrough in financial market and non-banking financial services?&nbsp;
- Has the attractiveness of the conventional activities of investment banks such as brokerage and assets management fallen apart?
-&nbsp; Will the borrowing rate of listed firms raise to finance expansions as interest rate has been lowered?
-&nbsp; Has direct investment contracted in Egypt, or has the nature of industry changed only?

Mr. Ayman Soliman

Chief Executive Officer - The Sovereign Fund of Egypt

Karim Awad

EFG Hermes Group CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee

Waleed Zaki

Chairman & CEO of PHC

Tariq Abdel Rahman

CEO of Palm Hills

Khaled Rashed

Vice Chairman & Group CEO of Prime Holding

Hazem Badran

Group Co-Chief Executive Officer of Cl Capital Holding

? Will the Non-Banking Financial Sector Expand

Coffee Break

This session discusses the gains and losses expected by insurance sector due to consecutive reduction of interest rate given the fact that insurance is one of the sectors that rely on minimizing macro-economic risks concurrently with facing challenges of competitive pricing, which has been compensated through returns on investment in debt instruments.&nbsp;
Insurance sector will have two choices: to adjust pricing policies to compensate the negative impact of lowering interest rate on the return on invested funds, mostly directed to bank deposits and secure channels, or to keep existing policies and sacrifice total profits.
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Points of Discussion:
- The gains and losses of insurance sector due to lowering interest rate.
- How can insurance market take advantage of cutting interest rate?
- Role of compulsory insurance in cushioning adverse effects of economic measures&nbsp;
- Importance of re-insurance in protecting the market from losses due to cutting interest rate
&nbsp;- Is it the time for amending investment proportions and increasing free investment portion?

Reda Fathy

Chairman & Managing Director of Mohandes Insurance Co.

Mr. Mohamed Mostafa Abdelrassoul

Managing Director Orient Takaful Insurance -Egypt

Hamed Mabrouk

Head of Egypt Hub of Willis Towers Watson

Ahmed Arfin

Managing Director of Egyptian Takaful Insurance Properties

Mr. Ahmed Khalifa

Managing Director and CEO at Sarwa insurance company

Dr. Adel Mounir

Secretary General of the Federation of Afro-Asian Insurers &  Reinsurers

Minimizing Insurance Risks after Lowering Interest Rate

Information and communications technology (ICT) has been an engine of growth for firms. ICT is gaining pertinence and has become a particular focus of attention for companies while designing future strategies and plans anchored in developing mobile phone applications and offering value-added services based on artificial intelligence, e-payment and the Internet of things.
Over the past period, many investment projects and technology-dependent firms have emerged. These firms have significantly achieved record growth, and some of them have shifted from operating according to local standards to international criteria. ICT firms have played a major role in implementing the government's strategy to build the information society and the digital economy based on financial inclusion principles. Further, privately-owned companies providing intelligent transportation services, e-payment and online services have emerged.
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Points of Discussion:
-&nbsp; Will existing firms embark on more expansions to provide their services?&nbsp;
- What are the technical and legal challenges impeding firms' expansion?
-&nbsp; Will the local market witness more innovative and technology-dependent projects? - Can we see the emergence of investing entities to finance start-ups? How much appetite will investors display for them?
-&nbsp; What are the plans of ICT sector's firms to keep up with digitalization in Egypt?

Mohamed Masoud

Digital Transformation Officer at the Ministry of Public Business Sector

Ahmed Rasekh

Founder & CEO of Gatjed

Ahmed Fayed

Regional Manager (Egypt & Libya) of Avaya International

Ashraf Sabry

Chairman of Fawry

Wael Aboul Ela

President of Careem Egypt

Walid El Saadany

Chairman of Otlob.com

Harnessing Technology to Service Business

Dr. Mohamed Maait

Minister of Finance

Eng. Osama Bishai

CEO of Orascom Construction

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is adopting a monetary-easing-policy manifested in cutting key interest rates by 250 basis points over the past period. As a result, a wave of great optimism is ridden by business community to bring down the cost of new investments, promote economic growth and create more jobs. This would lead to expanding banks' lending activity in favor of firms and individuals. The session discusses the great opportunities offered to banks by low interest rate in terms of expanding financings and attracting new customer segments, which would boost financial inclusion.
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Points of Discussion:
-&nbsp; &nbsp;How can banks control cost of funds amid the current monetary easing?
-&nbsp; &nbsp;What are the opportunities offered to banks by low interest rate?
-&nbsp; Will banks expand financing small and medium-sized enterprises as interest rate is going down?
-&nbsp; Map of increasingly attractive financing sectors in post-high-interest-rate phase.
-&nbsp; Shift from debt financing to projects financing and how to be managed.&nbsp;
-&nbsp; How can low interest rate help banks to attract new customer segments within financial inclusion?&nbsp;
-&nbsp; How does low interest rate impact banking sector profitability?&nbsp;
- Is lowering interest rate a golden opportunity for customers with non-performing loans?

Mohamed Abbas Fayed

CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank - Egypt

Mohamed Ozalp

Managing Director & CEO of Blom Bank Egypt

Tarek Fayed

Chairman & CEO of Banque Du Caire

Omayma Farahat

Chairman & Managing Director of Arab Investment Bank

Mr. Hussein Refaie

Chairman and Managing Director Suez Canal Bank

Lowering Interest Rate is a great opportunity for banks and customers

This session discusses the business community's assessment of the central bank's measures relating to lowering interest rate, and whether financing cost has become appropriate to launch new projects, or more reduction is needed.
The session explores the impact of latest measures taken by the government to stimulate industry including bringing down energy price for certain sectors, giving preferential treatment to industrialists when property tax is calculated, and providing a detailed map of land for industrial enterprises as well as offering serviced land at cost.
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Points of Discussion:
-&nbsp; Has interest rate become reasonable, or is it still high?&nbsp;
-&nbsp; Resolving the problem of property tax on factories and its impact on facilitating expansions or embarking new ones.
-&nbsp; Does slashing energy price promote expansion, or is it a means of survival?
-&nbsp; Is providing serviced land at cost better than offering non-serviced land?&nbsp;
- What does the private sector need to compete in the local and foreign markets?

Eng. Hossam Farid

Managing Director of Allweiler - Farid Pumps

Eng. Sherif Afifi

Chairman of Ceramica Prima

Dr. Menass Ibrahim

CEO & Managing Director of EG-GATE

Amr Helal

CEO & regional director Renaissance capital for MENA Region

Mr. Ahmed Atta

CEO of the Saudi Industrial Investments Company

Investment prospects under new developments

Construction companies topped entities that benefited most from launching several national projects by the government in the local market, irrespective of difference in their activities including housing and infrastructure - particularly roads and bridges.
Over the past period, the volume of work in process of local construction firms (state-owned and privately-owned) has risen substantially, The Egyptian market has received much attention from multinational firms operating in Europe, Asia and North American through competing for tenders issued to implement mega projects.
Given the positive developments relating to interest rate reduction and exchange rate stabilization, construction firms' capacity to compete has increased. Further, international funders are endeavoring to provide facilitated loans to finance schemes. Not only do construction firms pay attention to government projects but also to the private sector's projects in various spheres.
Points of Discussion:
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- Challenges facing Egypt's construction sector
- Foreign firms demand for implementing projects in the local market
-&nbsp; Water challenges would create opportunities for construction firms given plans for building desalination plants
-&nbsp; Renewable energy projects. A snapshot of what was implemented and what remains.
-&nbsp; Given the government's plan for developing ports, to what extent is transport sector included in contractors' plans?
- Opportunities and challenges of power sector in Egypt
- Is arranging financing for national mega-projects easier than ever before?&nbsp;
- The role of National Health Insurance Act in creating new opportunities in constructing hospitals.

Mohamed Tarek Kamel

•	Area Managing Director, North Africa Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC)

Eng. Sabry Salama

Managing Director of El Saeed Contracting

Eng. Shams El Din Youssef

Chairman of El Shams or Contracting & Engineering Works

Hisham Abu Al-Atta

Chairman of the Holding Company for Construction and Development

Construction Sector Reaps the Benefits of Reform

The sixth "CEOS Thoughts 2019" conference brings together the leaders of large corporations operating in 6 major sectors influencing the Egyptian economy namely financial market, banking, insurance, manufacturing, construction and e-payment. The conference examines opportunities and challenges of 2020 as the government has put in place economic reforms, and the central bank has been reducing interest rate. With the participation of 300 firms operating in 10 key sectors, the conference reveals the 6th annual report of confidence index of CEOs in the Egyptian economy, and the indicators of the private sector investments and their implications on the economy in terms of inflation, exchange rate, sales and costs as well as target growth projections of these businesses in 2020.
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Challenges of Low-Interest-Rates Economy

The 6th CEOS Thoughts Conference 2019