Egypt is on the third place among over 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of size of business, Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa at Mastercard, told Daily News Egypt. "We plan to significantly increase our investments in Egypt over the next 5 years. We have invested EGP1.5bn in the country over the last five years and will invest EGP500mn in 2020," Elgibali mentioned. Mastercard believes in Egypt's potential for growth, he assured, noting that the company is invested in flourishing the joint relationship with Egypt's diversified entities through the public private partnership (PPP) projects with different ministries, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and other governmental and private institutions. Mastercard offered a variety of technological solutions for many projects in Egypt including the governmental payroll solution which today services over 5 million employees in Egypt, he pointed out. "We also invested in creating the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) virtual market place that enables this kind of companies to carry out their commercial and sales transactions through our solutions," he mentioned. Mastercard contributed in digitizing the agriculture sector by providing farmers with an innovative solution, the Farmers Network. By harnessing mobile technology that is ubiquitous among smallholder farmers, this solution can improve financial access, bring in operational efficiency and facilitate faster payments, for farmers, who represent 25% of Egypt's population with a significant portion of the country's GDP. Moreover, Mastercard signed a strategic partnership agreement with e-finance, Egypt's first fintech company, to support the digitalization of government payments across the country on 27 October, he pointed out. The recent partnership aims at leveraging Mastercard's experience in digitizing government payments to help take government services to the next level, he assured. The agreement will introduce faster, more flexible online payment solutions to improve citizens' payment experiences and further support the country's transformation towards a digital society, he added, noting that the new collaboration aims at benefiting all Egyptians. Through Mastercard's online payment solutions, citizens will now be able to complete online transactions for all governmental services electronically across a range of digital channels using all kinds of cards and mobile wallets, he said. Egypt's efforts toward digital transformation are outstanding, he asserted, noting that he held a recent meeting with Egyptian government officials where he assured that the digital transformation efforts in the country are tangible and notable across the MENA region. Mastercard believes that digital transformation is a priority on the Egyptian agenda, which will drive positive change in the country, he commented.
