Fawry, an Egyptian private company for electronic payments, has released its plans to expand its services into the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2019 and into the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti markets next year.
Founded in 2009 by Ashraf Sabry and Mohammed Okasha, Fawry is an electronic payment network which offers financial services such as convenient and reliable ways to pay bills to consumers and businesses in Egypt. Egypt is the most populous Arab country and surprisingly a lot of Egyptians do not have bank accounts. Fawry offers its services in over 65,000 locations via multiple channels including the internet, mobile wallets, ATMs, and retail points.
Mohamed Okasha claimed that Fawry is owned by regional and global investment funds, and dominates the Egyptian market. The firm made its stock market debut in August and is now planning on using its technology platform in the Gulf country by carrying out a deal with one of the largest listed UAE banks. However, the identity of the bank or value of the deal were not disclosed.
Okasha said that they are aiming to offer their services in Arab countries where a lot of Egyptians reside. Fawry will provide the people in those countries with their bill payment services. Moreover, in addition to the UAE, they are also hoping to enter the Saudi and Kuwaiti markets in 2020 but did not provide any details pertaining to this. Nevertheless, Okasha did go onto mention that Fawry currently have no plans to expand further in Africa.
Currently, Fawry invest between 250 million to 300 million Egyptian pounds annually from their own resources. There are now plans to have 300 "Fawry plus" branches within next five years, in addition to the 70 existing ones. Okasha also shared that the firm has 105,000 service points as of now.
According to Fawry’s website, the firm has almost 20 million customers and handles 2.1 million transactions on a daily basis. Last year, it collected over 40 billion pounds ($2.43 billion) and its share price has increased up to 10.24 pounds from the 6.46 pounds on debut. ($1 = 16.4500 Egyptian pounds)