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It was recently announced that global giant Huawei is cooperating with TPAY MOBILE to make it easier and more convenient for developers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region to monetise their apps on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS).

Leading digital merchant acquirer based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), TPAY MOBILE, enables payment acceptance from 54 mobile payment providers (DCB and wallets), which are connected to over 580 million consumers across 24 countries through a single integration. Its shareholders include Helio

Forging another link between Africa and China’s digital economies, the African-focused money transfer startup SimbaPay and Kenya’s Family Bank have launched an instant payment service from East Africa to China.

Thndr is aiming to build a Robinhood for the Middle East, helping users invest in stock, bonds and funds commission-free via the company’s free app. Robinhood has taken the US exchanges by storm, but the trend hasn’t hit investors in the Middle East; Thndr is aiming to replicate their success with investors there.

Sahar Salama, CEO of TPAY Mobile says that its platform will “provide one simple integration giving digital entertainment players all-inclusive capabilities for bundling, billing, and multi-channel acquisition access to new markets and audiences covering up to 80% of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) population. What we bring to the table is an easy and convenient fintech solution built for mobile operators to connect even more users with premium digital services like Jawwy TV.”

Over the last decade, there has been a global increase in the focus on climate change and the risks and dangers associated with it. And for good reason. Damage from climate-related disasters was in the billions of dollars in 2019 alone. California wildfires caused $25 billion in property damage, while Typhoon Hagibis in Japan cost an estimated $15 billion. Other extreme weather events, including rampant brush fires in Australia, widespread droughts in East Africa and severe flooding in South Asia, have had devastating consequences.

Like Kin, NYC-based WorldCover was created in response to climate-related disasters. It works to provide drought insurance to farmers in Africa. When first launched, WorldCover was available only in Ghana and covered only one crop: maize. Since then, the company has expanded to multiple markets in East and West Africa, covering four categories of crops: cereals, legumes, root vegetables and perennials. WorldCover uses a combination of satellite imagery and on-the-ground sensors to understand local weather patterns in order to create insurance options for farmers facing some of the world’s worst droughts. The company uses its satellites to monitor rainfall patterns and trigger payouts immediately.

Helios completed the acquisition of a 76% stake in TPAY, a fast growing direct carrier billing provider in the Middle East and North Africa from A15, a leading tech investment fund based in Egypt. With offices in Cairo and the UAE, TPAY currently operates across 16 countries with almost half of its total transaction volume coming from African markets such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

TPAY provides a much-needed mobile payment solution in markets with low banking penetration and high mobile adoption.

Helios completed the acquisition of a 76% stake in TPAY, a fast growing direct carrier billing provider in the Middle East and North Africa from A15, a leading tech investment fund based in Egypt. With offices in Cairo and the UAE, TPAY currently operates across 16 countries with almost half of its total transaction volume coming from African markets such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

And today our technology does just that, by allowing merchants and operators to accept mobile payments from consumers without the need for a traditional bank account.

Coupled with the differing financial, legal, and operational processes across the MEA region is limited access to traditional banking infrastructure, with 63% (circa 1 billion) of the adult population unbanked. While this is a common trait in emerging markets, it does mean that traditional transactions based on credit and debit cards are not a realistic prospect for many consumers. However, with smartphone penetration growing apace, and with it the ability and desire to purchase goods and services through digital channels, there is an increasing need for alternative payment methods to support access and consumption.

And our team’s inclusion efforts don’t stop there. TPAY MOBILE employees have been volunteering and hosting financial literacy workshops with INJAZ Egypt, a non-profit organization empowering young people to own their economic success through partnering with businesses and educational institutions across the country.

TPAY MOBILE makes it easy for digital service providers to access over 600 million customers and accept payments across MEA and Turkey. Through one simple API integration, TPAY MOBILE’s full service mobile payment platform enables rapid business growth and drives financial inclusion.

Once in East Africa, Flannery and Jackley agreed that they too would facilitate loans rather than donations. After weeks of brainstorming, they soon settled on the basic idea for Kiva. At first, they envisioned a few friends and family members lending money to a handful of entrepreneurs in East Africa. And then eventually, although they weren’t sure of the steps along the way, they saw Kiva evolving into a self-regulating online lending marketplace where microfinance institutions (MFIs) could raise loan capital to fund projects for small-business people in developing countries.

Kiva’s business plan was quite straightforward: An online platform would allow ordinary people to invest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the developing world.

SimbaPay is a UK-based digital money transfer service serving Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana that delivers money via existing mobile money wallet services and using its SimbaPay app. Simbapay and Kenya’s Family Bank recently launched an instant payment service from East Africa to China. Users can send funds to China through Family Bank’s PesaPap app or Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Founded in 2009, Paga offers digital bank services (peer-to-peer money transfer, bill payments, online payments, and payroll), achieving a wide reach in Nigeria.

Financial intermediation and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa remain low, despite progress in recent years. Helped by reforms, the depth and coverage of financial systems in sub-Saharan Africa—as measured by the standard indicators of financial development, such as the ratios of private sector credit to GDP and broad money to GDP—have significantly improved over the period 1995 to 2013 (Kasekende 2010). However, on average, countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have a shallower financial system than those in other developing regions of the world (Figure 1). In terms of financial inclusion, only 20 percent of the population has a bank account compared to 92 percent in advanced economies and 38 percent in nonadvanced economies (Table 1). Underinvestment, poor infrastructure, and comparatively low levels of financial literacy have contributed to the region being underbanked.

Egypt-based financial technology (fintech) company Fawry has played a pivotal role in providing digital payment capabilities to businesses and consumers alike in the country. Last year, the company went public on the Egyptian Exchange, a feat realised by few startups in the Middle East. Now, Fawry’s co-founder Mohamed Okasha has stepped down as the company’s managing director to launch his own fintech fund, Disruptech, with a target size of $25 million.  We spoke with Okasha about the fund and why he decided to launch it. 

MTN embarks on a journey to lead and deliver to its customers a bold new digital world, by transforming itself from being a traditional Communications Service Provider to a Digital Services Provider.

“This partnership represents another significant milestone in our digital transformation strategy at MTN Group. An integrated digital ecosystem is the cornerstone for delivering operational efficiencies and a more enhanced customer experience. Our digital self-service platforms make our customers lives a whole lot brighter through a more personalised and seamless experience. As we continue our digital transformation journey, we are able to be more agile, efficient and customer centric”

From a larger context, Eunice Maina, the CEO of Bismart Insurance in Kenya, associated the low penetration of insurance in the east African country to the traditional nature of insurance practiced in Kenya.  She asserted that the largest economy in east Africa practices informal insurance resulting in the low penetration of the market.“Kenya practices informal insurance in the form of crowdfunding and that has affected the penetration rate,” she said. However, Maina is of the view that rather than adopting the European pattern, traditional insurance should be developed without having to deviate from the African model. She, therefore, solicited for the use of African perspective in developing insurance in the region as techniques to tackle cultural and religious barriers in the insurance industry.