Cairo Scene

New regulations have been approved for Egypt’s 1448 AH/2027 tourist Hajj season, introducing binding service contracts, digital journey monitoring and tighter rules for accommodation, transport and pilgrim protections. Tourism companies must register pilgrims on the Rafiq app and create accounts for them when contracts are signed.

Saudi human resources technology platform ZenHR has raised $6 million in a round led by Impact46, a Riyadh-based venture capital firm, to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities and strengthen its HR management platform across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East and North Africa. ZenHR brings workforce intelligence, regulatory compliance, performance assessment and leave management into a single system.

A USD 100 million financing mechanism has been established to study and implement development projects, including dams, in southern Nile Basin countries, with priorities to be determined by participating states. The initiative was reviewed by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam during a meeting on relations with Nile Basin countries and coordination on regional and international water issues.

Leaning into a sun-soaked, Latin-tinged pop sound, Palestinian-Chilean sensation Elyanna returns with ‘BOSA’, a vibrant cut that completely subverts the usual rules of attraction. Released via SALXCO UAM and Virgin Music Group, the track marks her first music since sharing stadium stages with Coldplay and featuring on the official 2026 FIFA World Cup soundtrack alongside Jessie Reyez on ‘Illuminate’.

‘The Stories’ will begin streaming on Shahid from September 17th, bringing the historical family drama to the platform following its theatrical release in Egypt. The film - starring Nelly Karim, Amir El Masry and Valerie Pachner - follows aspiring Egyptian pianist Ahmed and his Austrian pen pal Liz as their relationship develops across the political and social upheavals of the late 1960s through the 1980s.

Equinox Hotels has opened its first property outside the United States, bringing Equinox Resort Amaala to Marina Village in Triple Bay on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. This is very much a hotel for people who like their downtime engineered. Rooms come with circadian lighting, acoustic insulation and climate control designed around better sleep, while the resort’s fitness spaces cover 704 sqm indoors and out.

Nearly EGP 37 billion has been allocated to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for fiscal year 2026/27 to upgrade and expand the national transmission network. The investment plan, approved by the company’s General Assembly, is intended to increase grid capacity as additional power generation comes online, including new renewable-energy projects.

Matcha has moved well beyond the latte, and Cairo’s dessert menus are making a very convincing case for keeping it there. Sep 04, 2026 Matcha has officially escaped the cup. It is now folded into brioche, whipped into cheesecake, poured over ice cream, hidden inside cookies, and generally behaving as though being a drink was only the beginning.

Growing up between the Tigris and Euphrates, the twin veins that pulsed through the heart of Mesopotamia, Mohammed Nabeel Al-Ruwaishdi inherited one of agriculture's oldest origin stories, where irrigation turned river silt into harvests, and harvests helped raise some of humanity's earliest cities. "That's the water I grew up on," he tells StartupScene, recalling land so rich in organic matter that crops needed little fertiliser to grow.

More at this Venue