Spring 21 Capstone 640pm

AIRO: There is a growing demand among Egyptian consumers for more convenient payment methods, according to a recent survey conducted by Fawry, the first nationwide electronic payment service in Egypt. Over 90 percent of Egyptians said that saving time was their primary concern when it comes to paying bills.

Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry, said, “Research conducted for Fawry by IPSOS showed that 85.6 percent of respondents surveyed are seeking more efficient payment methods for household bills. The average Egyptian family has between 15 to 17 regular payments to make. These include mobile and landline bills, utilities, insurance, school or university fees and much more.

Fawry was established in response to growing consumer demand for alternative payment methods that simplify the process of receiving bills and paying them. Fawry today has 12,000 Fawry payment points across the country, that form one-stop-shop, instant, multiple-bill payment locations

AgroCenta brings the shareholders in Ghana’s agricultural value chain under one umbrella. Focusing on the producers, rural smallholder farmers, the company has developed a web and mobile platform that provides rural farmers with a suite of services to empower them to sell their crops at fair-market prices. AgroCenta’s platform, which is includes SMS functionality, provides the following services: 1) AgroInfo: real-time commodity pricing information; 2) TruckR: an on-demand logistics solution; 3) AgroTrade: a market platform to offer crops for sale; and 4) AgroPay: a mobile-money based payments service. The company markets its platform leveraging an intimate knowledge of the African cultural context and recruiting and technologically empowering village chiefs to act as advocates or agents for the platform.

By using virtual cards and wallets for online payments, you can: • Meet customer expectations by delivering an innovative product that they need • Encourage immediate card use to drive the profitability of your programme • Enhance the customer and user experience through convenient features • Strengthen your brand amongst your customers

Cloud computing The banking, payment and insurance industries rely heavily on the outsourcing of various operational processes to cloud computing service providers (eg, Amazon, Google and Microsoft). The increasing reliance of the European financial sector on foreign entities has recently given French and European regulators cause for concern. In 2017, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its "Recommendations on Outsourcing to Cloud Service Providers. These recommendations were later included in the update of the EBA Guidelines on Outsourcing Arrangements (EBA/GL/2019/02), which are fully implemented at the national level by the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR). The EBA guidelines require banking and financial institutions to enter into written agreements with their service providers (including cloud service providers). These agreements should notably include provisions detailing the reporting obligations of the service provider and the audit rights of the competent authorities. In practice, the main cloud service providers are reluctant to enter into agreements which comply with the requirements of the EBA guidelines. This has prompted French and European banking and financial institutions to report these issues to their regulators. This review could lead to the drafting of a European regulation or directive determining standard contractual provisions which would be mandatorily included in agreements with cloud service providers.

For years, Egyptian companies have been paying salaries in cash, and people have been saving money outside banks.  Only 10 percent of Egyptians have bank accounts, according to Payfort’s State of Payments in the Arab World 2014 report. Over the previous decade, the electronic payment market has been penetrated by two firms: state-owned e-Finance, which handles electronic payments from and to the government through banking channels, and private-sector Fawry, which was launched in 2008 to provide payment solutions through ATM machines, mobile wallets, and retail points. Chief technology officer of Fawry, Mostafa Elnahhas, told Wamda that his company succeeded in spreading 65,000 collection points in 300 cities for banked customers in Egypt. However, the electronic payment is still small-sized due to the large amount of unbanked customers and the low credit card penetration.

Regulations are, however, crippling entrepreneurs. Mourad Alashry, CEO of PayMe, launched his startup in August 2016. It  allows companies and businesses to collect electronic payment without signing contracts with banks or paying extra fees.  The startup offers a simple payment tool for companies to allow them to set up an account and have customers send money through it. PayMe app was forced by Egypt’s fiscal regulator to stop operating for four months to abide by regulations. (Photo via PayMe) However, shortly after its launch, the Central Bank of Egypt, the state regulator, suspended Payme’s operations as a payment firm as it wasn’t cooperating with a bank. The firm had to abide by this regulation until it followed the requirements and collaborated with state-owned bank the National Bank of Egypt, then resumed its business in January 2017.  

Regulations are, however, crippling entrepreneurs. Mourad Alashry, CEO of PayMe, launched his startup in August 2016. It  allows companies and businesses to collect electronic payment without signing contracts with banks or paying extra fees.  The startup offers a simple payment tool for companies to allow them to set up an account and have customers send money through it.

As technology gives new entrants better and cheaper ways to compete for core banking business, banks’ dominant position could be challenged.

Cyber Security Africa held its 5th Ethiopia Banking and ICT summit of the year, “The 5th Ethiopia Banking & ICT Summit 2018” hosted in Addis Ababa Ethiopia attracting more than 150+ participants from all over the world.

"EthioPay – the Unifying e-Payment Platform for Ethiopia"

"EthioPay – the Unifying e-Payment Platform for Ethiopia"

Paga is a mobile payment company. We are building an ecosystem to enable people to digitally send and receive money, and creating simple financial access for everyone.

Banked or unbanked, online or offline Paga offers you a central place for simple money transfers.

PaperlessE-KYC, E-sign and stamping, and finally e-policies are making steady inroads,and with the changing mind-set, the time is not far off when insurance will be purchased instantly with no physical paper exchange. Automated claim processing and upload of documents from anywhere anytime is becoming a reality that will help in processing claims faster.Further, the proposed central repository for KYC and Digi lockers will also help all financial institutions to access the KYC records of a customer centrally as well as allow them to e-sign documents. A platform that allows you to provide your customers with all these facilities and more in a highly secure manner can make life much simpler, not to mention faster.

Cependant, l’application, qui se rapproche de ce que fait Lydia en Europe, n’est pas limitée au marché nigérian. En effet, la société cherche à étendre ses activités en Afrique de l’Ouest et au-delà. En janvier, Paga a ainsi mis la main sur la société éthiopienne Apposit pour se développer dans ce pays d’Afrique de l’Est. L’Éthiopie est le deuxième pays le plus peuplé d’Afrique avec 109 millions d’habitants, derrière le Nigeria et ses 200 millions d’habitants. Paga a également ouvert un bureau au Mexique pour déployer son service de paiement mobile cette année. Une expansion à l’international qui traduit les ambitions de la start-up de devenir une plateforme FinTech de référence dans les pays émergents.

Digital is constantly growing with a double-digit thanks to eCom, mobile and social networks  Physical Stores are still But growth comes from online 

Funded through a government innovation agency and a successful crowdsourcing campaign, the start-up has also won several awards and grants, including best start-up in 2014's Global Innovation through Science & Technology competition.Last year, it was chosen by the International Red Cross as a provider for its Fire Sensors initiative, a project that has distributed 900 of the devices along with extensive market research.Julie Arrighi, Innovation Advisor at the American Red Cross, said that using networked heat sensors like Lumkani is crucial to mitigating the growing risk of slum fires around the world.