Mastercard at Seamless N. Africa 2019: SMEs key driver of Egypt’s economic transformation

Cairo, Egypt – 17 June, 2019- Highlighting its commitment to enabling Egypt’s transformation towards a cashless society, Mastercard unveiled its cutting-edge payment innovation at Seamless North Africa 2019 and discussed its business priorities over the coming years, which are designed to help Egypt achieve its digital economy vision.

Speaking at the event, Mastercard’s Senior Vice President, Digital Payments & Labs, Middle East & Africa, Gaurang Shah, and General Manager for Egypt and Pakistan, Magdy Hassan, highlighted Mastercard’s ongoing collaboration with the Egyptian government to help the economy achieve its potential by increasing financial inclusion, supporting the growth of SMEs, and bringing state-of-the-art fintech solutions for smart cities.

As a platinum sponsor and exhibitor at the event, Mastercard showcased the latest in payments technology designed specifically for SMEs. The technologies will play a key role in reducing shadow economy, digitizing the supply chain and offering SMEs with full cash management tools and access to finance. As an industry leader in developing urban mobility and smart cities, Mastercard also displayed end-to-end contactless and mobile payment options to digitize all payment and collections, empower citizens and better their living experiences.

Speaking about Mastercard’s participation at the event, Magdy Hassan, Mastercard’s General Manager for Egypt and Pakistan said: “Egypt is undergoing a technological evolution that offers significant potential to its economy and people. As a strategic partner of the Egyptian government, Mastercard is well positioned to help unlock this potential, and catalyze the adoption of digital payments in the country. Through our successful public-private-partnerships with the Egyptian government, we are scaling up the latest in payments innovations, enabling financial inclusion for a significant part of the population and paving the way for a smart economy.”

“SMEs are a key stakeholder in Egypt’s journey to economic growth and are a strategic focus area for us. We will continue to develop cost-effective digital payments solutions that allow businesses to pay and be paid transparently, seamlessly, and securely. Our recently launched solution for the SME marketplace is a perfect example of the kind of innovation that we offer local merchants. Based on the success of this technology, we are exploring further solutions that cater to the needs of SMEs across the country,” added Hassan.

Over the past decade, Mastercard has worked closely with the Egyptian Government and embarked on a number of ambitious programs to drive financial inclusion and promote access to digital payments. Mastercard’s work with the Egyptian Government has enabled six million government employees to conveniently receive their salaries and make payments using their Mastercard cards, which they can also use to make purchases at 74,000 point of sale (POS) terminals across the country.[1]

Held under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Mostafa Mabdouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, Seamless North Africa 2019 took place between the 17th and 18th of June at The Nile Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cairo. As a leading technology company, Mastercard has participated in Seamless North Africa’s two rounds in Egypt, and continues to support initiatives made by the Egyptian government to catalyze the acceptance and adoption of fintech and digital payments in the country.