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kenza_abdelhaq

Egyptian fintech in 2020: A tale of crosswinds and tailwinds [Part One] - Wamda - 0 views

www.wamda.com/...2020-tale-crosswinds-tailwinds

Fawry Egypt Context Global Economic

shared by kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Fortunately, Egypt’s first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations – an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Egypt managed to have a positive GDP growth in 2020 even though the pandemic impacted negatively more than 80% of the startups.
  • If we look back on 2020, the largest funding rounds for Egyptian startups were not in fintech but healthcare and transport, with Vezeeta raising more than $40 million and Swvl more than $20 million. Yet, fintech still managed to make headlines on several occasions, including new regulations, high profile investment rounds and exciting launches. It was an eventful and exhilarating year for the fintech ecosystem in Egypt.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Even though more importance was given to healthcare and transport with regard to the largest funding rounds, fintech was still getting a lot of attention (making headlines, new regulations, etc).
  • Fawry’s success story has undoubtedly encouraged investments in other e-payments venture that will help dynamise this space in coming years. The industry is still massively underpenetrated as cash remains king but will remain as one of the more active areas within fintech in coming years.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      Fawry being the leader of digital payments in Egypt definitely helped encourage investments in this field/industry.
  • kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
     
    "Fortunately, Egypt's first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations - an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  "
mohammed_ab

Electronic Transactions Reshape Egypt's Economy - 3 views

www.ifc.org/...egypt-digital-payments

Fawry Egypt Fintech Positive Impact Economy

shared by mohammed_ab on 11 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • The rise of online banking around the world has helped other economies solve these very challenges. Cash, for example, is hard to transport. Coins and bills are prone to theft, and their use makes dodging taxes easier for those so inclined. For individuals who must pay in person, getting across a gridlocked city like Cairo is logistically difficult. Together, these problems can constrain an economy. In Egypt, where 94 percent of all transactions were cash as recently as 2014, such a system stymies economic growth.
  • Fawry is part of a new wave of technology companies ushering Egypt into the digital age. Many of these firms are helping transform industries like banking, health care, and transport, and in the process creating good jobs for young Egyptians, more than 30 percent of whom are unemployed.
  • Sabry, a former salesperson at IBM Egypt, launched Fawry because he knew these issues kept Egypt’s economy from achieving its promise. The early years were lean as the company worked to convince tech-wary Egyptians that Fawry’s systems were secure—and that their money wouldn’t disappear into an electronic void.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • “Time is of the essence, and Fawry saves me a lot of it,” says Shawky, who owns three electronics stores in the Egyptian capital.
    • kenzabenessalah
      kenzabenessalah on 13 Feb 21
       
      Fawry is available for its customers day and night which attracts a large range of people.
  • It was something that Cairo-based shop owner Nader Shawky had come to dread: paying his phone bill. Every month, he trekked to the offices of his mobile provider where he and dozens of others stood in line—sometimes for up to two hours—to settle their bills. It was, he admits, a maddening process.
    • samielbaqqali
      samielbaqqali on 12 Feb 21
       
      By providing online banking financial administrations that allow you to cover your bills, transfer cash, and access a record of your checking account transactions from your internet browser, Fawry makes the life of its clients less difficult. Banking from anywhere, at any time of day or night, makes it a little easier to do anything you do about your finances.
  • Fawry, a fast-growing Cairo-based company that specializes in electronic payments, makes it possible for Shawky to take care of his accounts online.
  • Fawry’s growth has had a profound effect on Egypt’s economy, says Akef el Maghrabi, the vice chairman of Banque Misr, one of Egypt’s biggest banks and an early Fawry partner. “When you eliminate or reduce the reliance on cash, then you fight corruption, you provide convenience, you lower costs, and you grow the economy. [Electronic payments] do a lot of good for the country.”
    • ayachehbouni
      ayachehbouni on 13 Feb 21
       
      With a system that relies mainly on cash transactions, the economy faces too many challenges that stops its growth and development. For instance, cash is hard to transport, coins and bills can easily be stolen, and their use makes dodging taxes and corruption easier.
  • IFC invested $6 million in Fawry in 2013 and helped guide founder Ashraf Sabry and his team as they built their business. Now the 12-year-old company handles 2.5 million transactions a day. In 2018 Fawry processed 40 billion Egyptian pounds (about $2.5 billion) in electronic payments. Earlier in 2019, Fawry became Egypt’s largest financial technology firm to list on the national stock exchange. It now employs 1,600 people.
    • samielbaqqali
      samielbaqqali on 13 Feb 21
       
      By providing online banking financial administrations that allow you to cover your bills, transfer cash, and access a record of your checking account transactions from your internet browser, Fawry makes the life of its clients less difficult. Banking from anywhere, at any time of day or night, makes it a little easier to do anything you do about your finances.
  • As the Fawry network grew, shop owners who installed the system saw significant benefits, too. Fawry’s terminals drew new customers into stores, providing the consumer traffic that is the lifeblood of small shops. Mahmoud El Rawy, a grocery store owner and father of three, can attest to that. His shop struggled until he installed a Fawry payment terminal. “Fawry has had a big impact on my business,” says El Rawy, who now owns three supermarkets. “It helped bring me more customers and it’s why many come to me now.”
  • chaimaa-rachid on 11 Feb 21
     
    Fawry is making the life of its customers less difficult by offering online banking financial administrations that empower you to cover your bills, move cash, and access a record of your checking account transactions from your internet browser. Banking from anywhere, at any time of the day or night, makes all what you do with your finances somewhat simpler.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • hichamachir on 12 Feb 21
     
    Fintech is providing a very fast business and customer are really satisfied with it. I think that fast service is the main objective of Fintechs.
  • hindelquarrouti on 13 Feb 21
     
    Fawri is helping Egyptians in handling their bills online rather than spending hours on this kind of processes if done traditionally.
  • mohammed_ab on 13 Feb 21
     
    It's interesting to see that Fawry has a positive impact on its customers but also its business partners like small show owners.
mehdibella

Covid-19 - Morocco.pdf - 0 views

Fintech finance Morocco Dabadoc

shared by mehdibella on 11 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • #SolidariTECH The CGEM continues to invest in startup development. In collaboration with the Moroccan Start-up Ecosystem Catalysts (MSEC), it has launched a social initiative called #SolidariTECH. It orientates the startups to develop agile solutions to the COVID19 and quarantine issues for the benefit of civil society, companies and the Government. They provide new solutions in the fields of health, education and even DabaDoc medical consultation online. Now this initiative is welcoming a new stakeholder, the International Finance Corporation. It also aims to deploy the solutions proposed by these startups in neighboring countries such as Algeria and Tunisia and identify new synergies between #SolidariTECH and similar initiatives carried out in the Maghreb region.
    • samiatazi
      samiatazi on 11 Feb 21
       
      I am amazed to hear that a Moroccan start up ended up being one of the biggest companies operating not only in Morocco but also in Algeria and Tunisia, and doing their best to spread this positive impact through collaborating with some initiatives like SolidariTECH.
  • The CGEM continues to invest in startup development. In collaboration with the Moroccan Start-up Ecosystem Catalysts (MSEC), it has launched a social initiative called #SolidariTECH.
  • For instance, the platform “DabaDoc “offers citizens the option to have a medical consultation online. Now this initiative0.959
kenza_abdelhaq

M-PESA Foundation - Safaricom - 0 views

www.safaricom.co.ke/...m-pesa-foundation

M-Pesa Kenya Payments Values

shared by kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • This is an independent charitable trust established to invest in interventions that improve the social and economic status of Kenyans. Since 2010, the Foundation has invested in large scale health, environmental conservation, education and integrated water projects. The M-PESA Foundation integrates the use of mobile technology in its investments while focusing on areas of greatest need and impact.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      M-Pesa is a socially responsible company giving large grants and investments to create lasting positive changes.
  • kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
     
    "This is an independent charitable trust established to invest in interventions that improve the social and economic status of Kenyans. Since 2010, the Foundation has invested in large scale health, environmental conservation, education and integrated water projects. The M-PESA Foundation integrates the use of mobile technology in its investments while focusing on areas of greatest need and impact."
kenza_abdelhaq

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

www.seedstars.com/...llenges-entrepreneurship-ghana

AgroCenta Ghana Specialized market

shared by kenza_abdelhaq on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Does being an entrepreneur in Ghana – and in a developing economy in Africa – presents any ulterior challenges you had overcome?Being an entrepreneur in Africa and in emerging markets, in general, is quite difficult because of the lack of structure and supports put in place by the government. It requires a lot of courage and persistence to get the simplest things done. Any simple tech solution that you might want to build can end up being a very complex challenge because it relies on services that do not exist or don’t work properly. Access to funding also remains a big problem for many entrepreneurs who will need money to test, pilot and scale a platform or a solution. Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 12 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the challenges faced by AgroCenta in Ghana, i.e. corruption, lack of financing, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of government help, among other things.
  • Our business model is simple, we are a B2B business that generates commission fees on trade volumes from the businesses we work with.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 12 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is extremely important because it clearly states the business model of the company.
  • we are definitely improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade. Many smallholder farmers are paid less than $1 a day and our objective is to increase it to $4 a day by 2020.
    • kenzabenessalah
      kenzabenessalah on 12 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is an extremely important concept because it is helping to increase farmers' salaries. Going from $1 a day to $4 a day is already an improvement.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      as you can see this company cares a lot about the livelyhood of their farmers and is trying to provide them only with the best features that would make life easier which in fact the main things that they tackle in the SDGs.
  • Seedstars Summit has been phenomenal. It has put AgroCenta on a pedestal and in the spotlight of a huge community in Africa. The experience after the Summit has been amazing: we received a lot of proposals from potential investors, partners and other service providers keen on working with us for growth and expansion.
  • Winning the vote of the entire jury, AgroCenta from Ghana was crowned the Seedstars Global Winner of the 5th edition of Seedstars Summit. At Seedstars, we are convinced that AgroCenta will shape the future of AgriTech in Africa. Indeed, the start-up’s mission is to improve the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade.
    • aminej
      aminej on 12 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta will have a great impact on farmers in Africa since it will enable them to protect their production and have an insurace in case of any risks. It will also help them regulate the market of agricultural products in order to set a price for each one
  • We identified a missing gap in the value chain that was the capacity to access the market for smallholder farmers after they have successfully cultivated their commodities. Access to the market was a huge problem for millions of smallholder farmers.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is fulfilling a market gap that is the need for smallholder farmers to access the market.
  • AgroCenta focuses as well as Seedstars on achieving the Sustainable Goals set up by the UN
    • sawsanenn
      sawsanenn on 13 Feb 21
       
      one of the main goals is to reach economic growth by empowering smallholders farmers to see agriculture not only as a survival solution but as an investment
  • Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Agrocenta main goals are the following: first and the most evident one no poverty especially for farmers who are not paid enough. second, gender equality and finally economic agricultural development within the country.
  • A great team for sure! Our major strength has been a team made of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences and a deep understanding of the agricultural value chain. This asset allowed us to save a lot of time we would have naturally spent on trying to fine tune and launch the AgroCenta platform. Thanks to that we avoided making the common mistakes many new and unexperienced founders make.
    • ghtazi
      ghtazi on 13 Feb 21
       
      what we can understand is that having a great team is the key asset that led to the rapid growth of Agrocenta. cross-cultural team has been a plus for the development of agrocenta. it helped the company to save time and avoid making common mistakes that many new and inexperienced founders make.
  • Many investors are quite held back when it comes to making investments in Africa for an obvious reason: corruption.
tahaemsd

An alternative investment with WorldCover - 1 views

www.seedstars.com/...ernative-investment-worldcover

FinTech Africa Service modernization climate change

shared by tahaemsd on 11 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • The product of WorldCover is certainly customer centric at its core. When initially launching, Chris went to Ghana and began speaking to the farmers there. To him, it was important they didn’t “sit around and design a product by committee,” but instead that they actually went and understood what the customer problems were.“I would ask a farmer, what’s your biggest problem today? What are you worried about today? Just a very general question, and they would say I’m worried that the rain won’t come. I’m worried that my crop will fail and there will be drought this year.” — Chris Sheehan, CEO WorldCover
    • mohammed_ab
      mohammed_ab on 11 Feb 21
       
      WorldCover service offering is customer centric. It's interesting to see that the founder, Chris Sheehan, actually visited many farmers to clearly understand their problems in order to create a solution that fits perfectly their needs. The majority of these farmers were afraid of weather uncertainty which affects their crop. Being a financial nerd, Chris Sheehan saw the opportunity of providing a financial product ( parametric insurance) and created one of the greatest fintech companies.
  • WorldCover is a socially conscious alternative to traditional investment avenues. Started in 2015 by Chris Sheehan and Shiliang Tang, they have focused on using finance as a “tool for good in the world,” to prove “that businesses with inherently positive social impact can also grow rapidly and create wealth for investors.”
    • tahaemsd
      tahaemsd on 13 Feb 21
       
      Worldcover protects farmers from natural disasters, while giving investors diversified returns and direct social impact
  • samielbaqqali on 11 Feb 21
     
    In order to make the right decisions, the CEOS must meet with cutsomers in order to understand their problems.
mohammed_ab

Continuing Its Mission Expansion, Kiva Announces A Fund For Unbanked Refugees - 0 views

www.forbes.com/...s-a-fund-for-unbanked-refugees

Kiva Crowdfunding Social Impact

shared by mohammed_ab on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • While refugees need immediate humanitarian aid, of course, they generally struggle to find work or start a business over the long-term. That’s, in part, because financial institutions usually won’t lend to them. The fund also will be the first institutional investment opportunity from Kiva Capital Management, an asset manager slated to launch as a subsidiary later this year. The organization describes it as "impact-first", that is, returns will be concessionary.
  • mohammed_ab on 13 Feb 21
     
    Kiva is doing a great job by opting for social purposes because these kinds of projects usually help improve the company's reputation.
mohammed_ab

Ghana: Payment Systems and Services Act to Boost Digitisation Processes --Governor, BoG... - 0 views

allafrica.com/...201906200235.html

MTN-Ghana New law Digitalisation of Ghana's Economy

shared by mohammed_ab on 13 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Payment Systems and Services Act would help create an enabling environment for the on-going digitisation processes in the economy, Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has said.
  • The Act, passed in March this year and assented to in May, is part of a broader strategy by the Bank of Ghana to create an enabling regulatory environment for convenient, efficient and safe retail payments and funds transfer mechanisms.
  • mohammed_ab on 13 Mar 21
     
    This new act is going to impact MTN-Ghana position in the market as new market participants will find a lenient political and regulatory environment and will decide to enter the Ghanian's market.
hindelquarrouti

AgriculturalInsuranceMarketStudy_ACRI.pdf - 2 views

cdn.indexinsuranceforum.org/...lInsuranceMarketStudy_ACRI.pdf

Risk premiums fintechs Worldcover

shared by hindelquarrouti on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • hindelquarrouti on 13 Feb 21
     
    Worldcover is expected to have a very positive impact on insurances related to agriculture as it has the potential to decrease premiums and relatively stabilise the market.
mehdibella

DabaDoc and Axa Insurance Morocco announce partnership to support patients and health p... - 0 views

magnitt.com/...and-health-professionals-35152

Fintech finance Morocco Dabadoc

shared by mehdibella on 11 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni, CEO and Co-Founder of DabaDoc said, “We are at the inception of a disruption in the way healthcare is delivered. Having AXA as a shareholder adds an important dimension to our mission of democratizing access to healthcare. We are excited about further growth prospects with this partnership and the expertise provided by AXA in our current and future markets."Philippe Rocard, CEO of AXA Insurance Morocco said, "In the midst of a digital revolution in Morocco, customer expectations are rapidly evolving. AXA is therefore committed to transforming its role of indemnity payer into a partner facilitating the lives of its customers thanks to its services. As such, we are happy to contribute to the growth of DabaDoc, an amazing Moroccan startup. DabaDoc offers innovative services in the healthcare space, especially by facilitating patient journeys.”
    • samiatazi
      samiatazi on 11 Feb 21
       
      I think that cooperation between AXA Assurance and Dabadoc on a totally digitalized basis made a great output that positively impacted the Moroccan citizen and enhanced the Moroccan startups perception. Hence, we can easily perceive these results in the real World.
  • • The capital raise will help enhance the company’s footprint in its existing geographies and further develop its offering
  • • Agreement signed on 12 September 2018 introducing Axa as DabaDoc’s first institutional shareholder
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni, CEO and Co-Founder of DabaDoc said, “We are at the inception of a disruption in the way healthcare is delivered. Having AXA as a shareholder adds an important dimension to our mission of democratizing access to healthcare. We are excited about further growth prospects with this partnership and the expertise provided by AXA in our current and future markets."
hibaerrai

South African money transfer firm sees uptick in customers - 0 views

www.fxcompared.com/...fer-firm-sees-uptick-customers

Mukuru Fintech Money transfer Africa Remittance

shared by hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Mukuru, which is based in the city of Cape Town, said that it had seen a rise in users during the coronavirus pandemic – caused in part by customers choosing to prioritise remittances to family. Remittance services were designated as essential during the coronavirus lockdowns in South Africa – offering firms such as Mukuru a lifeline as customers in some verticals sought continued services. The firm has also paired up with global money transfer brand WorldRemit to offer what was described by Mukuru’s chief executive as “broader, deeper pay-out networks” that tackled the network’s “white space” issues.
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Mukuru partnership with WorldRemit has positively impacted its activities. Covid-19 and the partnership pushed more individuals to start sending remittances to their families and thus expanding in the country.
mbellakbail69

AgroCenta CEO on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Ghana - 0 views

seedstarslife.com/...llenges-entrepreneurship-ghana

shared by mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • AgroCenta focuses on 3 key impact goals for Ghana:No Poverty: we are definitely improving the financial livelihood of smallholder farmers through fair trade. Many smallholder farmers are paid less than $1 a day and our objective is to increase it to $4 a day by 2020.Gender Equality: in Sub-Saharan Africa, traditions and land ownerships do not favor women, which ends up in many women being excluded from the agriculture value chain. By engaging the relevant stakeholders, AgroCenta rents arable agricultural lands to female smallholder farmers for free. Women are also given seeds, fertilizers, mechanized tractor services and extensive advisory information on farming best practices such as what type of seed to plant, when to plant, how to plant, etc.Decent Work & Economic Growth: we empower smallholder farmers to see agriculture as more than just a way to survive and position it as a viable industry that can be sustainable for their family.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      AgroCenta is primarily a digital food and logistics network that generates shared value for local companies and small farmers. Their  business model is simple; it's a B2B company that earns commissions from the companies they deal with for commercial transactions.
mehdi-ezzaoui

The perception of poaching in telecommunication firms and its effect on employee morale... - 1 views

air.ashesi.edu.gh/...60

Fintech MTN banking

shared by mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • This study sought to find out perceptions of employee poaching by employees in telecommunication firms and how these perceptions affected their morale. A survey was conducted in which 30 questionnaires were administered and 27 filled. Results showed that 92% of the population had a positive perception of poaching with 8% having negative perceptions. When a regression analysis was done on the data received, in order to test the significance of the relationship between the variables, p-value for significance did not meet the standard which implies that there is not significant relationship between the variables. According to these results, employee perceptions of poaching do not have any effect on morale.
  • mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21
     
    Employee branching views and how these emotions impact their morality in telecommunications companies MTN case
ayachehbouni

SimbaPay scales new heights in digital money transfer - Business Daily - 1 views

www.businessdailyafrica.com/...igital-money-transfer--2133434

shared by ayachehbouni on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • A Kenyan-owned digital money transfer firm, SimbaPay, is taking not only the local but also the international money remittance sector by storm.The London-based firm, started with the aim of helping out Kenyans living in the diaspora pay bills through M-Pesa, has over the years grown into a full-fledged money transfer firm joining the likes of Western Union and MoneyGram in the market.Unlike conventional players, SimbaPay strives to make money transfer painless to both the sender and recipient.The tech firm allows citizens residing in the European Union to send money home instantly through its application.People with a bank account, debit or credit card use mobile phones or tablets to access the app and transfer money to recipients’ mobile money wallets such as M-Pesa or MTN mobile money or bank account.
  • “We are able to roll out new countries on our platform at a low cost which then allows us to pass on these savings to customers. We can do this due to our technology that allows transactions to be processed at breakneck speed with zero human interaction,” said SimbaPay chief executive officer Nyasinga Onyancha.The firm’s compliance and onboarding of customers is handled within the app, making it significantly easier for customers to sign up and start sending money to loved ones within minutes.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      Financial inclusion will be then positively impacted as more small scale traders will be able to directly source goods from everywhere instead of depending on middlemen to make payments on their behalf.
  • “We are able to roll out new countries on our platform at a low cost which then allows us to pass on these savings to customers. We can do this due to our technology that allows transactions to be processed at breakneck speed with zero human interaction,” said SimbaPay chief executive officer Nyasinga Onyancha.
    • ayachehbouni
      ayachehbouni on 13 Feb 21
       
      The strength of simbapay come from the ease of use of the platform.
mbellakbail69

Egypt's Fawry becomes Africa's 3rd Unicorn to reach a US$1B valuation - FurtherAfrica - 2 views

furtherafrica.com/...corn-to-reach-a-us1b-valuation

shared by mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Fawry’s fortune is partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused more people to place a high demand for its e-payment offerings. Being the leading fintech company in Egypt, Fawry’s revenue for the first half of 2020 increased by 47% to EGP 549.26M, from EGP 373.33 generated in 2019.Fawry has joined the rank of African companies that have become unicorns. Jumia was the first to attain unicorn status after listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Interswitch also became a unicorn after Visa acquired minority stakes last year. All three have attained global recognition, credibility, and reputation. The unicorn status creates a good public perception for investors and potential customers.
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Covid-19 has caused Fawry's profits to skyrocket making it one of the most leading fintechs in Africa.
  • Fawry’s fortune is partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused more people to place a high demand for its e-payment offerings. Being the leading fintech company in Egypt, Fawry’s revenue for the first half of 2020 increased by 47% to EGP 549.26M, from EGP 373.33 generated in 2019.
  • Ashraf Sabry and Mohamed Okasha founded Fawry in 2008. It has an online payment gateway for business owners to transact with customers via cash, credit cards, and e-wallets. In 2019, Fawry listed about 36% (254.6M) of its ordinary shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. It initially sold at EGP 6.46 per share, and then it tripled to EGP 18.78 at a market cap of EGP 13.3B in July 2020. After going public, other investors took an interest that led to a significant increase by over 300% in its stock price since its debut at the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Ashraf Sabry and Mohamed Okasha founded Fawry in 2008. It has an online payment gateway for business owners to transact with customers via cash, credit cards, and e-wallets. In 2019, Fawry listed about 36% (254.6M) of its ordinary shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. It initially sold at EGP 6.46 per share, and then it tripled to EGP 18.78 at a market cap of EGP 13.3B in July 2020. After going public, other investors took an interest that led to a significant increase by over 300% in its stock price since its debut at the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
    • mbellakbail69
      mbellakbail69 on 13 Feb 21
       
      I believe Fawry has joined the rank of African companies that have become unicorns. Jumia was the first to attain unicorn status after listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
  • mohammed_ab on 13 Feb 21
     
    It's really interesting to see that covid-19 had a positive impact on the fintech industry. Fawry is yet another great example of this unexpected effect of Covid-19 pandemic. Their revenues have increased by nearly 50% in the first semester of 2020, and the reason behind that is that the population started to rely more and more on e-payment.
  • mehdi-ezzaoui on 13 Feb 21
     
    Fawry has joined the rank of African companies that have become unicorns. Jumia was the first to attain unicorn status after listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Interswitch also became a unicorn after Visa acquired minority stakes last year. All three have attained global recognition, credibility, and reputation. The unicorn status creates a good public perception for investors and potential customers.
mehdibella

JUMO reaches 15 million customers across Africa and Asia - JUMO - 0 views

www.jumo.world/...stomers-across-africa-and-asia

Jumo Fintech finance SouthAfrica

shared by mehdibella on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • JUMO reaches 15 million customers across Africa and Asia
  • JUMO has disbursed over USD 1.6 billion in funding and is growing its base of savings products. “By empowering MSMEs, we’re also positively impacting communities, families and employees. Technology is removing barriers to financial inclusion making it possible to responsibly provide everyone with access to good financial choices,” Watkins-Ball added.
  • “We are working to connect every entrepreneur to the financial products they need to grow and prosper,” says Watkins-Ball. “Our technology enables our partner banks and payments companies to help millions of underserved people access financial services.”
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • JUMO, a technology company building next-generation financial services for emerging market entrepreneurs, is celebrating connecting over 15 million people to credit and savings in their six markets in Africa and Asia today.
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      JUMO has partnered with financial service providers and mobile network operators to provide credit and savings solutions in Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
  • Founded in London in 2015, JUMO has partnered with financial service providers and mobile network operators to provide credit and savings solutions in Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
  • Andrew Watkins-Ball, Founder & Group CEO, said this milestone demonstrates JUMO’s unique ability to reach underserved entrepreneurs – over 60% of JUMO’s customers are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
  • “We are working to connect every entrepreneur to the financial products they need to grow and prosper,” says Watkins-Ball. “Our technology enables our partner banks and payments companies to help millions of underserved people access financial services.”
  • chaimaa-rachid on 12 Feb 21
     
    JUMO is celebrating interfacing more than 15 million individuals to credit and investment funds in their six business sectors in Africa and Asia today.
  • hindelquarrouti on 13 Feb 21
     
    Jumo are strategically targeting unbanked entrepreneur in order to help them become part of the consumers of the financial product, and consequently develop themselves. It initially targets low-income classes and gives them the opportunity to grow and prosper
mehdibella

Kenya's FarmDrive Receives Additional Investment Led By Existing Backer - 0 views

digestafrica.com/ive-investment-existing-backer

Fintech Farmdrive kenya

shared by mehdibella on 12 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • This FinTech startup founded by two Kenyan women is positioned to reach 3 million smallholder farmers in Kenya in the next 5 years.
  • FD uses mobile technology, predictive modelling, AI and a customer first approach to democratize access to loans to all farmers; ensuring farmers can apply for a loan from any type of phone and receive a decision on their loan application in seconds. FD has achieved this by building multiple channels of access and a fully automated lending process.
  • Previously, FD received $50,000 USD of early-stage seed funding from EWB Canada to develop their platform and prove to financial service providers that smallholder farmers are profitable clients.
    • mehdibella
      mehdibella on 13 Feb 21
       
      In the last 4 years, FD has seen that their loans increase the productivity and incomes of farmers and has led to reduced costs, increased scale, and improved quality of agricultural portfolios for lenders.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • In the last 4 years, FD has seen that their loans increase the productivity and incomes of farmers and has led to reduced costs, increased scale, and improved quality of agricultural portfolios for lenders.
  • FarmDrive (FD), a Kenyan startup set to unlock millions of dollars in loans for smallholder farmers in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa, received a follow-on investment from EWB Canada last month, with participation from AK IMPACT INVESTORS, 1 to 4 Foundation, ADAP SEED FUND 2 and The Lakes Charitable Foundation.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
      kenza_abdelhaq on 13 Feb 21
       
      FarmDrive received financing from different global parties.
nouhaila_zaki

African money transfer firms thrive as pandemic spurs online remittances | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...rica-remittances-idUSKBN27B0UB

Lesotho Mukuru Remittances Pandemic

shared by nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • The pandemic gave remittance companies an advantage over their main competition in Africa: the sprawling informal networks of traders, bus drivers and travellers used by many migrants to send money home.“We’ve seen an influx of new customers, and we see them mainly coming to us from the informal market,” said Andy Jury, chief executive of Mukuru, the company Takawira now uses.Jury and other industry executives say that shift is likely to last as digital remittance services are typically cheaper, faster and safer than informal networks, which are difficult for governments to regulate.Mukuru, which focuses mainly on African remittances and allows customers to send both cash and groceries, has seen a roughly 75% acceleration in growth compared to last year.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is important because it reflects the "positive" impact that the pandemic had on Mukuru. It shows what Mukuru did better than traditional remittances platforms (i.e. buses, banks) so that it survived the covid-19 pandemic.
  • nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21
     
    ""We saw an increase of transfers as the diaspora wanted to help their family," said Patrick Roussel, who heads mobile financial services for the Middle East and Africa at French telecom company Orange - a dominant player in French-speaking Africa."
hibaerrai

Fawry draws a line for Egypt's unbanked | Financial Times - 0 views

www.ft.com/...d2-0667-11e2-abdb-00144feabdc0

Fawry Egypt E-payments Online Fintech Financial inclusion

shared by hibaerrai on 09 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • To minimise risk, shops where the services are available buy credit in advance from Fawry before they collect any money from the public, earning a cut from the fees.
  • “Acceptance is critical to us and we have been keen to develop solutions to expand the acceptance footprint,” he says. “The alliance with Fawry helps this by adding segments that were not accessible before. It is a typical fit with our strategy for penetrating the unbanked segment.”
    • ayachehbouni
      ayachehbouni on 13 Feb 21
       
      For those who do not know how to use technology or never visited banks, which represent the majority of the population, Fawry offers bill payment at the corner store. Fawry's services are available at 16,000 retailers and 1,300 post offices. This kind of services is the main reason behind the sudden development of the country's economy as financial services were available to more people, and more importantly to unbanked and underbanked.
  • For the majority of the population, who have never touched a keyboard or stepped through the doors of a bank, Fawry offers bill payment at the corner store. It has a growing network of collection points at small grocers, stationers and chemists, which are equipped with point-of-sale machines – the same ones used for credit card payments. Fawry’s services are available at 16,000 retailers and 1,300 post offices, advertised by its bright blue and yellow logo.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21
       
      This excerpt is important because it describes the scope of the current network that Fawry enjoys in Egypt, something that can be useful for developing strategies for growth.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • It has teamed up with MasterCard to launch an online payments portal, and 12 banks (representing 80 per cent of Egypt’s banking capacity) offer its services through their ATMs, over the counter, or on their websites.
    • nouhaila_zaki
      nouhaila_zaki on 13 Feb 21
       
      Here the excerpt is important because it introduces a key partnership underwent by Fawry, namely the one with Mastercard; in addition to what this partnership entails for Fawry's operations (positive impact since Fawry could launch an online payments portal + offering of Fawry services by several banks).
  • “The problem in Egypt is that companies which have bank accounts sell services to people with no bank accounts,” says Ashraf Sabry, chief executive and a founder of Fawry. Among its owners are the technology development fund; a public-private partnership, Raya; a local technology company; and a group of banks including HSBC. “You could say the sellers are at the top of a pyramid and the buyers at the bottom. We connect them.”
    • hibaerrai
      hibaerrai on 13 Feb 21
       
      Unbanked individuals rights in Egypt are ignored. Fawry's goal was to give them the opportunity to financial services as well, and increase the country's financial inclusion.
  • samielbaqqali on 11 Feb 21
     
    This is a smart move because minimising the risk in this kind of operations is very important.
chaimaa-rachid

GSMA | Mobile money: A product of choice for women to send and receive remittances | Mo... - 0 views

www.gsma.com/...o-send-and-receive-remittances

women remittances mobile-money

shared by chaimaa-rachid on 13 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • Women constitute the majority of remittance recipients globally and remittances have an impact on both women’s actual income as well as on social norms
  • chaimaa-rachid on 13 Feb 21
     
    WorldRemit has presented a favorable position by expanding security and protection which has plainly helped in including unbanked women.
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