Day 4 - What's riskier, the Stock Market or Cairo Food?

Morning #4 started off with a stop at the Cairo Stock Exchange. Operating for the past 90 years or so, the stock market in Cairo was dormant during those pesky years of Socialism in Egypt, but is back in action now after upgrading to NASDAQ's trading technology and renovating their location in downtown Cairo.















So far Egypt seems to be very resilient to the global downturn, primarily because their strengths in low wage work and government subsidized land makes them a prime target for outsourcing and cost savings. Since reinvigorating the market in the 90's, new rules, regulations, and technologies have brought new investment opportunities. Looking for somewhere to invest? The last 4 years have seen record returns - more than twice the world's average.

Next we headed to the Social Fund for Development, but first a shot of Cairo University, one of the top 10 universities in all of Africa.

We arrived at the Social Fund for Development and were met with a panel of hosts who detailed a number of the program's features. From small business management to grass roots micro-loans, the Social Fund extends into everything that isn't a big company in Egypt. Over 9 billion pounds have been put into such businesses and individuals this decade, with special effort being made to support women, both in business and in rural settings.
Sorry for the rather lame picture, but it wasn't exactly the greatest photo-op during our lecture.

For dinner, we hit up the Cairo Tower for a marathon meal, barely making it out in time to check out the view from the top of the tower before it closed at midnight. The Cairo Tower is wrapped in lights that change both colors and patterns, and it's one of the most recognizable features of the Cairo skylines. Pictures below...


Those views were a pretty solid nightcap to the night, even if it was hard to get great pictures from the tower. Tomorrow we're back to the Smart Village...

(Oh, and the running tally so far is roughly 40% of our group has gone down to illness. We'll see what tomorrow brings... Yours truly is holding strong, for now. Not sure my plan to fully experience the food of Cairo will keep in the land of the healthy.)