“Time fears the pyramids,” it is said, a comment reflecting the awe experienced by people gazing upon structures as old as 4,700 years or more. But even Egypt's ancient pyramids are young in a land in which remnants of the oldest surviving structures date to 100,000 years or more and evidence is found for toolmaking dating back as far as 2 million years ago.

Egypt is old. Its stifling, crowded, ancient capital city of Cairo (al-Qāhirah as transliterated in Egyptian Arabic), which lies astride the Nile River, has a “modern” era dating to Roman occupation times, and can feel old to its 20 million+ residents and 15 million or so annual visitors alike.

Perhaps Egypt's age impedes progress. The country scores below the world average on the IDCA Digital Readiness Index, with weaknesses in digital infrastructure, internet access and speed, mobile connectivity, and especially servers and data centers. It does have a low amount of income disparity, but this is faint praise in a country that has seen per-person income grow very slowly over the past decade and which remains mired in the bottom quartile of income levels.

Egypt is considered to be a Frontier Market in the IDCA index, the fourth of five income tiers, and a place in which many dynamic, up-and-coming countries also reside, including India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ghana. Egypt's bond rating (B+ according to S&P) is non-investment grade but above average for Frontier Markets, and it retains interest in foreign investors intrigued by its large population of more than 100 million people, as well as its Suez Canal's essential role as a key global transportation hub.

Cairo is still considered to be an intellectual hub in the Arabic and Islamic worlds, and as noted above, a popular destination. With a story that dates back dozens of millennia, we can therefore ask whether what happens here over the next 10 or 100 years will make an impact on the Egyptian consciousness. Or will time simply continue to cycle with the rhythms of the Nile?