[Nile TV] What Egyptian Business Owners Can do about Devaluation of EGP

[Nile TV] What Egyptian Business Owners Can do about Devaluation of EGP

welcome back eddie viewers in this segment we are going to talk about the performance of the egyptian economy and how can business leaders how can business owners deal with the changes in exchange rate how can they adopt a new strategies to develop their business and work and to shed more light on this issue i joined here in the studio with their mr abdul maggie he is a business strategy coach good morning good morning good morning mr magdy sir how do you see the changes that occurred on the egyptian market after the liberalization of the egyptian pound and to what extent that could have an impact on the prices of commodities yeah of course i think all of us are witnessing in egypt the uh as you mentioned the devaluation of the egyptian pound as a result of like the free float that we have witnessed have affected most businesses and individuals when we look at businesses we can see that in a transportation sector in the um all sectors actually but all those relying on transportation and relying on machinery that’s being imported uh from abroad all these sectors are affected and of course as a result of the devaluation we’re expecting regular gradual increase in prices and accordingly it becomes challenging for both individuals and businesses yes so how can business owners deal with this yeah i think like um this is what we call disruption in the markets and i think for the egyptian economy we can look this on the long run from a positively positive standpoint like if the the macro economics go well as a result of the like a liberation of the egyptian pound as we mentioned like if we if business owners are able to sustain themselves and rebuild their businesses during this transition most likely economy is expected to improve in the future so the best options for the business owners right now is to revisit their strategy and to assess what they should like what is what is best for them to add to kind of reflect to this uh devaluation in egyptian pounds like some of the highlights of that and some of the actually good news for someone for some of the business owners in egypt are those who are already targeting the international market so for those who are already selling their products and services to the global market which is very active in the knowledge and the technology sector so those who have clients who are bringing already in the us dollar so um these type of businesses like they can view this as as a positive like um from the same point of the currency part and i think what could happen in the uh for egyptian businesses is to think how can we target the global markets so for all businesses across all sectors to think about first how can i sell globally because like the uh the free float means that we are closer to the global markets and we’re more competitive when it comes to the global market so whatever sector i’m at right now how can i expand my business geographically and also like in terms of the market size like for for for a business owner going through this transition it might be shocking to a lot of extent when they look to the numbers but what is advice is for them to actually look at what matters so it’s always advised to cut to the chase look at the bottom line of your business like the the volume of the business that i’m having is usually is a result of the number of clients that i’m having yes the average a sale and the frequency of sale so that’s basically by the end of the by the end of the year that’s how i calculate my profits and my revenues so as a business or owner it is if as a result of this devaluation i’m going to have to lose some clients probably i should start thinking about increasing the volume of sales that i’m having or the frequency of sales these clients are approaching me so doing the balance with these with all these variables is vital for business owners and like one of the usually highly advised exercises during these times is to visit the strategy of business owners and there are lots of tools and templates and way of thinking when it comes to how they can approach the strategy exercise and they can come up with a new strategy of their company to to be uh dealing with the new challenges and the new changes that’s happening in the market uh mr mati we have to mention here that during the past three days akhbar yum was holding its conference its economic conference with the challenge uh to face the challenges that egypt are facing concerning the economy the way to the future the breakthroughs and challenges at what extent uh this uh conference could be tackling the main problems that the egyptian economy is facing yeah i think like lots of uh conferences and events i think it’s uh it’s a very good investment of time for business owners to be part of such conferences and events because like the biggest threat for business owners during a time like that is for them to kind of uh look at things uh internally try to analyze things from sources like what’s being said the hive so going to these events and actually knowing what experts are saying and knowing also the options that they have that’s is a very positive action for business owners to take and usually during these conferences there’s lots of actual numbers and statistics being shared which actually makes the decision the decisions taken by business owners uh more to the point and and most likely to come up with better results for their business so to atex and the imf fund will uh give the egyptian economy a boost at this stage yeah i think like when we look at it from the the finances standpoint from a macroeconomic perspective we would say that this is a positive sign so egypt was able to attract external funding uh from imf which gives other investors the confidence to start economic activities in egypt so we can look at it as a positive uh like point on the short and medium term and hopefully um like that’s that’s quite a work when it when it comes to macroeconomics we hope it’s going to be like a shock for the economy to recover and as i said it becomes the rule of the private sector to rework their strategies and to find the best ways and the most efficient ways for them to run their business i think right now is a time for efficiency so in order for businesses to survive and flourish we have to work internally of how to like focus on what matters to them choose what to do what what to do and what not to do probably they might choose to close parts of their business or be new ones so it’s uh it’s time for change that requires lots of focused studies and some quite hard decisions as well uh mr mcd to what extent it’s time now to encourage the young entrepreneurs to enter the market of uh egypt yeah i think it’s not just for those who kind of call themselves entrepreneurs already and i think right now is an interesting time for everyone who’s looking to increase their income to look for other ways for them to increase their income and i think what had been happening around the world in the past 10 years is that lots of people have been moving to running virtual businesses so starting businesses on the internet around something they are proficient at getting that to other people coaching them and providing different types of like consulting coaching and probably uh speaking services so we think this model fits lots of expediency professionals in egypt and we have seen lots of people who are not like addressing themselves entrepreneurs moving into offering products and services online which i think that’s going to be a very interesting trend because for them also they are able to access global markets and like for this category of people who are who do have a focus to scale or or talent in something specifically that they can either educated online or coach other people um i think they have to benchmark themselves according to the global standards so they have to look at who’s best in the world in this matter to learn from them but not locally so they have to be thinking globally when it comes to benchmarking their scale because by the end of the day that’s going to be their markets and also they have to think intelligently when it comes to marketing and innovation so like relying heavily on digital marketing and also having lots of innovation in the way they package their products and services so it’s a very interesting time for those who are jumping into targeting global markets as entrepreneurs this might be challenging times for those addressing the local markets uh but i think it’s an interesting time for existing businesses to move into the global markets and also for those who are regularly probably employed to start like a side project also targeting the global market and what’s your advice to egyptian citizens at this stage yeah i think for egyptian citizens i think what’s happening right now is that we’re moving we’re becoming more open to to the world and i think the world um things according to a concept of individual capitalism which i think this is something that needs to be uh spread and educated for young egyptians specifically yes and um like individual capitalism is that an individual looks to themselves as an asset so myself the way i speak even my face my skills and abilities these are assets that i should monetize in the market so it doesn’t become that i’m searching for an employment opportunity but rather i’m investing in my knowledge on my skills and my abilities in order to be able to solve problems and then using myself my assets as the way for me to make money in the world so looking at yourself from this perspective i think it’s challenging according to the culture because like we we always like like look up to employment and multinational companies but i think we need to be talking to younger egyptians that it’s time for you to consider individual capitalism is to analyze your skills your abilities and to think that i’m going to monetize these abilities maybe sometimes by employment maybe sometimes through working as a consultant maybe sometime through starting an online business yes so it becomes you have to be more creative exactly it’s about innovation and creativity and also the way of thinking that i’m not searching for a job yes but rather i’m developing my skills in order to be able to solve problems that’s going to help someone else so i’m going to be driving economic value as a participant in a global economy and strata would take it from here not searching for a job because unfortunately many youngsters many people are complaining because of the unemployment and yet they are uh sitting at home just sending it to their cvs and waiting for the job i think the the the world market has changed now people are uh do uh have their own ideas young entrepreneurs entering the market so how can we change that concept of just sitting at home waiting for the job opportunity to come yeah i think some of the things that i personally was witnessing in the past years and i think also if we take a tour around egyptian universities we’re going to see lots of student organizations and student activities that’s promoting the concept of entrepreneurship and like matching the students with the knowledge and abilities and access to equip themselves incubators in order to help the the young entrepreneurs to enter the market exactly that’s that’s an extra step for them to be providing systemic programs to help them to start their businesses i think the culture plays a major role which is which becomes also the responsibility of the media and also for universities to start focusing beside the academic component and to spreading the concept of entrepreneurship and opening up to global markets and getting people to think about what can we do to monetize even during the time their studies so having more like market oriented education system i think um all that might provide better economic opportunities for egypt because the challenge economically and the value of the egyptian pounds by the end of the day depends on the level of productivity in the economy and the contribution of egyptians in the economy and we’re soon having 100 million egyptians and if we think that they’re going to become like a combatant globally and they will be able to provide products and services online that’s going to be a huge economic contribution and accordingly we can see the egyptian pounds uh increasing in value in in relation to other currencies so um do you think that the egyptian market is now more attractive to investors than before i think from one angle i can say yes so uh with the devaluation of the egyptian pounds it becomes cheap so current code cheap it’s uh actually actually it’s it’s not cheap the egyptian that do you mean the dollar the egyptian pound yeah i mean if i if i used to if i’m investing like a million dollars so it’s an incentive yeah for things to to a lot of extent it’s an incentive for them because uh like um i mean the chief becomes the labor and yeah yeah with the evaluation of the currency it becomes cheaper for those so one side and also we don’t have two parallel markets which is uh more important we don’t have two markets for the dollars it’s only the bank now yeah i think like um like the more this like dollars become available in the banks i think the more it becomes more attractive to um like investors and businesses to operate and give them confidence in the direction of the economy yes so definitely it becomes egypt egypt becomes attractive to uh foreign investors with the imf loan and also with other economic activities that uh that’s starting to show up but becomes a responsibility also for individuals and i think like um if individuals are able to understand this properly and to work with it by offering products and services globally i think that’s uh that’s a way to recovery for the egyptian economy do you expect now investors would start to come to the egypt more after the liberalization of the uh there are there are other important variables but possibly yes in comparison to before the decision after the decision it’s more likely for them to consider that given some of the variables yeah indeed mr abdul maddy business strategy coach thank you very much sir for your precious interest thank you thanks a lot thank you mr mcd and now dear viewers uh we come to the end of today’s edition of the breakfast church i’d like to thank my dear friend majesty robia and thank you very much our view viewers tomorrow we will be back with another crew with the breakfast show till then um [Music]

Leave a Reply