Egypt: Digital payment firm Fawry eyes expansion in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait

Founded in 2009, Fawry offers digital payments to companies and individuals in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, where many do not have a bank account. Mohamed Okasha told Reuters that Fawry, which made a stock market debut in August, planned to complete a deal with one of the largest listed UAE banks to use its technology platform in the Gulf country. He declined to identify the bank or value of the deal.

“We are looking at Arab countries where many Egyptians live whom we can offer many services such as bill payments,” he said. “We hope to enter the Saudi and Kuwaiti markets in 2020,” he added, without giving more details.

Okasha said Fawry, which is owned by local and foreign investment funds and dominates the Egyptian market, had no plans to expand to Africa, as speculated by some analysts. “Egypt is a huge market with 100 million people. We don’t find an African market as large as that. We still find big growth chances (in Egypt),” he said.

The firm invests between 250 million pounds and 300 million pounds annually from their own resources. It plans to have 300 “Fawry plus” branches, which offer most services, within five years, compared to 70 now, he said. It also has 105,000 service points.

Fawry handles around 2.1 million transactions daily and collected 40 billion pounds ($2.43 billion) last year, according to its website. It has around 20 million customers. Its share price has risen to around 10.24 pounds from the debut of 6.46 pounds.