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CairoScene
11 hours ago
- Business
- CairoScene
Billboards Are the New Skyline – How Giant Ads Are Reshaping Cairo
At 9:14 AM, Cairo's Ring Road glows not with sunlight, but with 12 consecutive digital billboards advertising luxury compounds, soft drinks, and tuition fees that could rival Swiss universities. At one stretch, you're promised 'a home where harmony lives.' Two metres later: 'You Are Unique,' a validating sentiment that turns out to be an ad for a bank – a call to customise your mortgage, curate your credit score, and optimise your escape. It's the kind of affirmation that sells not just security, but a story: in a global economy where groceries feel aspirational, financial self-actualisation becomes the new moral high ground. (The joke's on us, of course. There is no exit plan that doesn't involve collective salvation. And as Donne warned, no man is an island – certainly not on the Ring Road.) In 2024, Egypt spent EGP 6.3 billion on out-of-home advertising, up 53% from the previous year. The country now supports one of the fastest-growing billboard markets in the Middle East. And the sector isn't done yet. According to AdMazad, Egypt's leading out-of-home (OOH) advertising performance measurement company, total impressions reached 154.2 billion last year, largely concentrated in Cairo's arterial roads and desert-ringed satellite cities. In some places, there is now more advertising space than visible sky. 'Billboards are a steady source of revenue,' Assem Memon, CEO of AdMazad, an Egyptian agency dedicated to tracking and analysing thousands of billboards across the country to measure their performance, tells CairoScene. 'Local authorities and municipalities rely on them to generate cashflow.' Egypt has turned its cities into a showroom, and its streets into a psychology experiment. But I'm here to make a case for – as well as against – the perpetual billboard. And that starts at the beginning. The idea for billboards began slowly in Egypt. First, as movie posters, as Nasserist propaganda promising Pan-Arabist heaven, cupping therapy offers, cure-all creams, and home exorcisms available – if you call now. Then as static signs hawking juice brands or local banks. Then came vinyl real estate giants along 6 October Bridge, animated LEDs near Nasr City, 3D billboards looming overhead. The number of OOH advertisers rose 23% year-on-year to 17,000, while the number of billboards increased 26.6% year-on-year to 40,000, according to Enterprise and AdMazad. It is clear that billboards in Egypt are more than visual noise, they're a critical financial artery for the country's urban fabric. Advertisers pay a concession fee just to rent the land, and when they build according to regulation, they also pay an annual licensing fee. 'As new roads open up, so do opportunities for billboard placements, Memon explains. 'But when it comes to premium visibility, 6th October and Tagamoa lead the pack. Today, renting a billboard in 6th October costs around 500,000 EGP per month, while the same space in Tagamoa can go for EGP 1 million.' But what's most striking, Memon notes, is Egypt's advertising imbalance. 'In other emerging markets like Pakistan, Morocco, or Malaysia, real estate usually ranks sixth or seventh in terms of billboard ad share.'In most countries, consumer goods, telecoms, banks, pharmacies, and cafés dominate OOH budgets. 'Here in Egypt,' Memon continues, 'real estate is number one—by far.' 'Real estate alone now accounts for 60% of OOH market share in Egypt, with advertising spend in the sector jumping 85% in a single year,' Engy Elmasry, Account Manager at Seven, tells CairoScene. These figures are based on AdMazad's audit of over 50,000 billboards across Egypt, reflecting the sector's dominance in the OOH advertising landscape. 'These aren't billboards,' Elmasry says. 'They're mood boards. We're selling escape, not space.' So why is Cairo's skyline a catalogue of gated compounds? 'It's partly economic,' Memon says. 'Currency devaluation has pushed real estate developers into a cycle of building fast, selling fast, and flipping fast. Most of them are small, fragmented players who want to build brand equity, so they flood the streets with ads to build credibility. Projects like 'Skies of Nation' or 'Jiran' want you to remember their name. The economic environment has changed real estate to an investment first product, and with the fragmentation among developers and entry of many first time developers, there is a need to create mass awareness.' This one-sector dominance has reshaped the OOH ecosystem. 'Product development in the ad industry now prioritises real estate,' Memon explains. 'It's all about targeting high-traffic highways like Mehwar and the Ring Road—not dense, lived-in neighbourhoods like Mohandiseen or Agouza.' The result? Billboards in older Cairo are vanishing, even though most Egyptians still live there. The consequences go beyond visibility. 'Imagine running a small shoe brand,' Memon says. 'You can't afford a single board in New Cairo or 6 October. The new outdoor inventory is primarily designed for real estate and mega advertisers. The unintended consequence of this is the limitation of advertising opportunities for smaller brands.' If billboard access were more equitable, Memon argues, it wouldn't just benefit small businesses—it would expand the industry as a whole. 'When different businesses at different maturity stages can access outdoor ads, you unlock new verticals. It's not about shrinking the real estate footprint—it's about sharing the skyline.' The challenge is ensuring that billboards don't morph into 'a visual zoo,' in Memon's words. His vision? 'Stronger regulation. One billboard every 500 metres. Limit the number of formats per zone. And for digital screens—especially at night—there needs to be serious scrutiny. They're beautiful, but they're also distracting.' In that sense, billboards don't just reflect Cairo. They define it. To understand Egypt's billboard boom is to understand the country's post-2011 psyche – fractured, aspirational, and fixated on visibility. The billboard has taken on a strange dual role, at once commercial and quasi-political. It is one of the loudest voices in the city. This is no accident. In 2020, Law 208 established a national authority to regulate billboard content, safety, and location. But its real function seems to be coordination, not restraint. Some areas, like the Ring Road and Sheikh Zayed, now show 94% and 91% billboard utilisation, respectively. In contrast, older districts like Maadi and Dokki are being bypassed – both literally and commercially. It's a visual map of power and capital. The old city is fading. The desert is the future. There is, however, a strong case for billboards – and it's not just aesthetic nihilism. Egypt's economy is in need of any growth sector that isn't tethered to global instability. 'Out-of-home advertising creates jobs, fuels creative industries, and, unlike many online ads, cannot be skipped or blocked,' Hana Amgad, Account Manager at Kijami, tells CairoScene. Studies show that 71% of drivers notice billboards, and nearly 50% of them engage with the content. For real estate developers, education providers, and telecom giants, billboards offer unmatched reach. More importantly, they offer permanence. In a digital world of disappearing stories and algorithmic noise, a giant, backlit promise by the highway still feels real. It occupies space. Over time, billboards have done more than advertise – they've embedded themselves into the semiotic structure of Cairo's urban life, anchoring the city's mental geography. Directions are given not by street names but by reference to giant LED screens: meet 'under the big Samsung,' turn 'at the Pepsi ad.' These aren't anomalies – they're a system. In a city marked by infrastructural fragmentation and visual overload, billboards offer a kind of consistency. Cairo orients itself through these billboards. They've become, in effect, part of the city's spatial memory – a hyper-commercial layer overlaid on top of a civic one. Yet for all their commercial appeal, Egypt's billboard culture has begun to swallow its cities. The deeper damage is psychological. These billboards offer not just commodities, but class identity. The images are consistent: manicured lawns, bilingual children. A villa in the desert with a golf course becomes not just a home, but a personality upgrade. The problem? Most people can't afford it. According to CAPMAS, the average Egyptian family in an urban centre spends 12.5% of their annual income on education alone. Meanwhile, kindergarten fees in many of the schools featured on roadside ads range between EGP 80,000 and EGP 160,000 a year. And that's before factoring in uniform fees, transport, and the subliminal cost of social conformity. The billboard is more than an ad. It is a border. It announces who belongs where. Architectural researcher Mohamad Abotera refers to this as a 'reproduction of space,' where the advertisers use visuals to redefine what Egypt looks like and who it is for. His study of real estate billboards in Cairo found that 79% featured elements of greenery, lakes, or imported nature. Many used European trees and landscapes foreign to Egyptian terrain. Some are even superimposed Los Angeles cityscapes. 'These are not metaphors. They are market segmentation strategies,' Elmasry tells CairoScene. It would be comical if it weren't so costly. To create these promised utopias in the desert, developers divert water from already stretched resources. In New Cairo, the per capita access to green space in gated communities is 216 sqm. In social housing nearby, it's 26 sqm. In older Cairo districts like Shubra, it's less than 0.1 sqm. The simulation is relentless. Despite all this, billboards endure – for good reason. Ultimately, they're the most democratic form of elite messaging. Memon is far from bearish on billboards. 'Traditional advertising isn't dead. It's evolving.' He points to a Nielsen study that found combining billboards with digital ads boosts message amplification by 60%. 'When London banned candy ads on public transport, sales of those products dropped 60%. That's how powerful outdoor media still is.' 'You don't need a phone, a data plan, or an algorithm to be reached. You just need to exist in public,' Amgad explains. And in that sense, the billboard becomes a curious sort of civic document. It shows you what the state, or at least the market, thinks Egypt should look like. And for all their distortions, billboards can also inspire. A clever campaign. A moment of colour on a grey commute. A family glimpsing a different future – even if it's unattainable. Egypt is in the midst of an identity shift. The post-revolution euphoria has long faded, replaced by infrastructural overhauls, capital migration to the desert, and a public increasingly anxious about where it belongs. In this context, billboards are not the disease. They are the symptom – and sometimes, the distraction. They represent both Egypt's most sincere ambitions and its deepest contradictions. They are monuments to optimism and inequality. And they are built to last. The question is not whether the billboards will change. It's whether Cairo will – or whether it will continue to be a city that cannot see itself, only the version sold back to it at 1080p, three storeys high, and payable in 100 monthly installments.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Sarpanch threatened, 3.4cr extorted from him
Surat: A gang extorted Rs 3.4 crore from the sarpanch of Mandir village in Jalalpore taluka of Navsari district, by threatening to kill him and his two sons. Devang Desai (52) was shown firearms and threatened into paying the money, starting in Oct 2023. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Jalalpore police have booked three persons for extortion and criminal intimidation. Navsari superintendent of police Sushil Agrawal handed over the investigation to the local crime branch (LCB). According to the FIR, Desai is a farmer and has been sarpanch of Mandir village for three years. He lives with his mother, wife and two sons. In Oct 2023, he received a call from an Amalsad man, Rajesh alias Mohammad Isaq Memon, who expressed interest in buying Desai's land. When Desai went to meet him, Memon showed him a gun and told him that he had got a 'supari' (murder contract) to kill him and his sons, for Rs 20 lakh. Memon demanded Rs 60 lakh to not kill Desai and his sons. He later agreed to settle for Rs 40 lakh. Desai paid him the money within a month, after selling nine bighas of his land. Days later, Desai got a call from Memon, who told him to speak to his boss and handed over his phone. One 'Rajabhai from Mumbai' told Desai that he would save him and his sons and tell him who put out the murder contract when they met. A week later, Memon called Desai to the Ashapuri temple and from there took him to a deserted spot where a black car was parked. They got into the car and met 'Rajabhai' and one 'Sherabhai', who was holding a gun. Rajabhai threatened Desai, saying he would have to pay Rs 5 crore to not be killed. When Desai told them he did not have the money, they told him to pay Rs 3 crore. A few days later, Memon called Desai and told him that he had paid Rs 3 crore to Rajabhai and demanded the money. Desai had recently got Rs 1.7 crore from the sale of two land parcels, which he gave to Memon. He also borrowed Rs 42 lakh from Bank of Baroda by putting up gold as collateral and gave that money to Memon. He mortgaged his dairy land for Rs 34 lakh and borrowed Rs 42 lakh from relatives, paying a total of Rs 3 crore to Memon by Dec 2024. A few months later, he read a news article on people who had been cheated in Navsari and found the names similar to those who had extorted the money from him. He filed a complaint with police on Monday.
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Budget 26: Govt looking to boost export of ‘made in Pakistan' mobile phones, say assemblers
Pakistan's mobile phone assemblers claim the federal and provincial governments will announce a policy in the upcoming budget 2025-26 aiming to boost phone exports. This is to maintain the balance of trade which is likely to widen in the wake of surge in imports from the US in the aftermath of trade talks between Islamabad and Washington, according to several experts that Business Recorder spoke to. One leading domestic mobile phone assembler told Business Recorder on the condition of anonymity that the government is working to announce a rebate on export of mobile phones in the upcoming budget, scheduled to be announced on June 10. More luxury items set to attract sales tax in upcoming Pakistan budget Separately, Muhammad Idrees Memon, a former president of Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA), told Business Recorder that the federal and provincial governments are designing a policy similar to the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) which will incentivise the export of 'made in Pakistan' mobile phones. Both federal and provincial governments were approached to confirm the development. They were yet to reply by the time of filing this story. Memon, who is also a former president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said the Sindh government and KCCI are currently in talks about removing or reducing the Infrastructure Development Cess (IDC) on the import of mobile parts (CKD/completely knocked down) for those manufacturers who want to export their products. The IDC is being collected in the range of 1.81% to 1.85% on imports at the provincial level. He also said the Sindh government will finish working on the export package for mobile phone exporters 'over the next two to three days (by Wednesday)' and announce it in the budget. 'The Punjab government has already agreed to a similar export package. The ministry of finance, ministry of commerce, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Engineering Development Board (EDB) all are supporting us,' he said. He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, and PPP ministers and members of the provincial assembly including Mukash Kumar Chawla and Dharejo are working with KCCI leadership to design an EFS-like product to promote and support the phone exports to help partially controlling the likely increase in balance of trade. He added that Pakistan is considering increasing imports of products including cotton and edible oil from the US to avoid President Trump's proposal to double tariff to 29% on imports from Pakistan. Once the provincial government finalizes its tax incentives for exports then the federal government will also join the export package in the making, Memon said. 'There is huge potential and Pakistan can earn a significant amount of foreign exchange through exporting 'made in Pakistan' phones,' Memon said. He said Pakistan is already exporting mobile phones to Middle Eastern countries including Dubai, but the volume of the trade is insignificant. Almost all the Chinese phones - about two dozen brands - available in the country are being assembled locally. Memon said Pakistan is importing 100% raw material (parts/CKD) for mobile assembling in the country at present. The removal of IDC on imports would enable manufacturers to add value to the products and earn a handsome amount on their exports. In addition to this, this would also help create a new employment generation and promote 'made in Pakistan' products across the globe. China looking to move export base to Pakistan Meanwhile, Aamir Allawala, CEO, Transsion Tecno Electronics, said that Chinese companies are interested in moving their export base to Pakistan due to availability of labour at a lower cost and to mitigate its risk associated with global trade war. 'Pakistan labour cost is only $140 per month compared with $800 in China,' he told Business Recorder. Almost all leading Chinese brands have already set up their factories in Pakistan including Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Tecno, Infinix, Itel, realme, Redmi and ZTE. 'Pakistan can become a hub of export of Chinese brands to markets in Africa, Central Asia and Middle East. 'There is a huge potential on the table. The government should sit together with the local industry and chart a five year forward to take advantage of the changing global trends,' he said. Pakistan is now assembling almost all global brands of mobile phones locally, increasing the 'made in Pakistan' production to 95% of the local demand, while the share of imported phones (finished products) has reduced to merely 5%. The domestic production is saving around 15-20% in foreign exchange, as local assemblers are still importing almost all mobile phone parts from foreign manufacturers. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' (PBS) data, the import of mobile phones (CKD/CBU) dropped 14% to $1.2 5 billion in the first 10 months of FY25 compared to $1.46 billion in the same period of the last year.
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Budget 26: Govt looking to boost mobile phone export, say assemblers
Pakistan's mobile phone assemblers claim the federal and provincial governments will announce a policy in the upcoming budget 2025-26 aiming to boost phone exports. This is to maintain the balance of trade which is likely to widen in the wake of surge in imports from the US in the aftermath of trade talks between Islamabad and Washington, according to several experts that Business Recorder spoke to. A leading domestic mobile phone assembler told Business Recorder on the condition of anonymity that the government is working to announce a rebate on export of mobile phones in the upcoming budget, scheduled to be announced on June 10. More luxury items set to attract sales tax in upcoming Pakistan budget Separately, Muhammad Idrees Memon, a former president of Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA), told Business Recorder that the federal and provincial governments are designing a policy similar to the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) which will incentivise the export of 'made in Pakistan' mobile phones. Both federal and provincial governments were approached to confirm the development. They were yet to reply by the time of filing this story. Memon, who is also a former president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said the Sindh government and KCCI are currently in talks about removing or reducing the Infrastructure Development Cess (IDC) on the import of mobile parts (CKD/completely knocked down) for those manufacturers who want to export their products. The IDC is being collected in the range of 1.81% to 1.85% on imports at the provincial level. He also said the Sindh government will finish working on the export package for mobile phone exporters 'over the next two to three days (by Wednesday)' and announce it in the budget. 'The Punjab government has already agreed to a similar export package. The ministry of finance, ministry of commerce, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Engineering Development Board (EDB) all are supporting us,' he said. He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, and PPP ministers and members of the provincial assembly including Mukash Kumar Chawla and Dharejo are working with KCCI leadership to design an EFS-like product to promote and support the phone exports to help partially controlling the likely increase in balance of trade. He added that Pakistan is considering increasing imports of products including cotton and edible oil from the US to avoid President Trump's proposal to double tariff to 29% on imports from Pakistan. Once the provincial government finalizes its tax incentives for exports then the federal government will also join the export package in the making, Memon said. 'There is huge potential and Pakistan can earn a significant amount of foreign exchange through exporting 'made in Pakistan' phones,' Memon said. He said Pakistan is already exporting mobile phones to Middle Eastern countries including Dubai, but the volume of the trade is insignificant. Almost all the Chinese phones - about two dozen brands - available in the country are being assembled locally. Memon said Pakistan is importing 100% raw material (parts/CKD) for mobile assembling in the country at present. The removal of IDC on imports would enable manufacturers to add value to the products and earn a handsome amount on their exports. In addition to this, this would also help create a new employment generation and promote 'made in Pakistan' products across the globe. Meanwhile, Aamir Allawala, CEO, Transsion Tecno Electronics, said that Chinese companies are interested in moving their export base to Pakistan due to availability of labour at a lower cost and to mitigate its risk associated with global trade war. 'Pakistan labour cost is only $140 per month compared with $800 in China,' he told Business Recorder. Almost all leading Chinese brands have already set up their factories in Pakistan including Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Tecno, Infinix, Itel, realme, Redmi and ZTE. 'Pakistan can become a hub of export of Chinese brands to markets in Africa, Central Asia and Middle East. 'There is a huge potential on the table. The government should sit together with the local industry and chart a five year forward to take advantage of the changing global trends,' he said. To recall,Pakistan is now assembling almost all global brands of mobile phones locally, increasing the 'Made in Pakistan' production to 95% of the local demand, while the share of imported phones (finished products) has reduced to merely 5%. The domestic production is saving around 15-20% in foreign exchange, as local assemblers are still importing almost all mobile phone parts from foreign manufacturers. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics' (PBS) data, the import of mobile phones (CKD/CBU) dropped 14% to $1.2 5 billion in the first 10 months of FY25 compared to $1.46 billion in the same period of the last year.
Hindustan Times
28-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Karjat farmhouse leased for ‘goat farming' turns out to be MD factory
MUMBAI: The RCF police on Monday busted a drug manufacturing factory at a farmhouse in Karjat, which was leased by at least four people on the pretext of goat farming, officers said. Following a tip-off, the police raided the farmhouse and seized 5.5 kg of mephedrone (MD), along with raw material worth ₹12 crore. They also arrested a man, identified as Arkam Memon, who was allegedly involved in manufacturing the drugs. Memon and three of his associates had allegedly rented the farmhouse two months ago for ₹50,000 per month, telling the owner they were goat farmers. The four men had earlier rented another farmhouse in the area for a similar purpose, said a police officer. Following his arrest on Monday, Memon was produced in court and remanded in police custody till June 2, said the officer. The police have launched a search for his three associates. According to the police, Memon is part of a syndicate involved in supplying mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug, in Mumbai. The police had earlier arrested five alleged members of the syndicate—Rehan Shaikh, Shiva Gupta, Rajan Subramanyam, Shahnawaz Chinoy, and Sonu Pathan. More than 12 kg of the drug, worth ₹25 crore, have been seized so far in the case, said deputy commissioner of police Navnath Dhavale. The racket was unearthed in April, when a team from the RCF police station spotted Shaikh, a suspected drug peddler, while patrolling the Chembur area. The police allegedly found 45 grams of mephedrone, worth ₹4.5 lakh, in his possession. During his interrogation, Shaikh allegedly revealed the name of another accused from whom he used to buy mephedrone and then sell it to his clients in the Chembur area. After investigating further, the police nabbed three more drug peddlers—Shiva Gupta, Rajan Subramanyam and Shahnawaz Chinoy—in the first week of May. During their interrogation, they allegedly revealed the name of Sonu Pathan, a Dongri resident who was a wholesaler of mephedrone. On May 18, the police arrested Pathan from his home, where they allegedly found 6.6 kg of mephedrone worth ₹13 crore. The arrests so far have been made under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The police are trying to nab other members of the syndicate, said the officer quoted earlier.
