Egypt Market Brief

Why Egypt now? Large addressable market (110M+ people), accelerating digital adoption, pro-digitization policy agenda, and Cairo's bridge position between Africa–GCC–Europe.

Event fit: Egypt offers both scale (mass retail finance) and velocity (payments, wallets, BNPL, SME finance). A conference built for deal-making can catalyze pilots, JVs, and capital deployment across MENA & Africa.

• Digital payments: multi-billion-USD annual volume with double-digit CAGR; card rails + wallets + QR/IPN (InstaPay).
• Mobile wallets: tens of millions of registered accounts; active usage expanding with salary disbursement, P2P, bill pay.
• Remittances: one of the largest in Africa (tens of billions USD annually) → strong corridor play for FX-efficient rails.
• E-commerce: fastest growth in North Africa; logistics & COD conversion remain improvement levers.
• Venture funding: cyclical but resilient; 2021–2023 saw strong rounds in payments, B2B marketplaces, and credit infrastructure.
• SME finance gap: multi-billion USD unmet credit demand → opportunities in alternative data, embedded lending, invoice finance.

• Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) FinTech Strategy with sandbox & pilots; promotion of real-time payments (IPN / InstaPay), QR, contactless, and interoperable wallet transfers.
• National payments digitization: government collections, utilities, and payroll moving onto electronic rails; Meeza national card scheme.
• Financial inclusion drive: simplified KYC for low-value wallets; agent networks; women & youth inclusion initiatives.
• Open finance & data: policy dialogues advancing toward broader data-sharing frameworks (banking & non-banking).
• Regional treaties: AfCFTA, COMESA, numerous bilateral agreements; Egypt's BRICS/”New Development Bank” participation signals multi-corridor settlement ambitions.

• Banks: leading issuers/acquirers; hungry for API partnerships, merchant growth, and wallet economics.
• Telcos: distribution & wallet scale; ideal for bill-pay, P2P, micro-credit pilots.
• PSPs/PayFacs: intense competition on acquiring & QR; differentiation via value-added services (settlement, analytics, financing).
• FinTech startups: strong in payments, B2B marketplace rails, and credit infra; expanding into embedded finance.
• Global vendors: cards, core banking, fraud, KYC, cloud; seeking local partners/resellers & data-center alignment.

• FX & inflation: price in local-currency revenue with FX-hedging; offer USD/foreign-currency pricing for B2B where possible.
• Cash preference: pair digital incentives with acceptance ubiquity (QR + SoftPOS + installments).
• Cyber & fraud: invest in device intelligence, behavioral analytics, and layered KYC/AML.
• Approval timelines: use pilots/sandbox routes; partner with institutions already licensed.
• Talent & ops: blend Cairo engineering talent with regional product & compliance leadership.

• Demand density: thousands of relevant buyers—banks, MFIs, insurers, telcos, super-apps, regulators—within a short flight.
• Deal architecture: Private Deal Rooms, Business Matchmaking, and Workshop-to-Conference pipeline convert meetings into term sheets.
• Cost advantage: Cairo offers lower cost per lead and higher meeting throughput than most regional capitals.
• Narrative alignment: Egypt's inclusion & digitization agenda makes Cairo a credible launchpad for Africa+MENA expansion.

• Qualified deal flow: curated intros to banks, telcos, top merchants, and high-growth startups.
• Brand in context: presence across two pre-conference workshops (Nov 2025 & Feb 2026) plus the main conference (Apr 2026).
• Thought leadership: stage time, masterclasses, and joint whitepapers tied to Egypt-specific use cases.
• Activation surfaces: exhibition, VIP dinners, product demos on Nile-view floors, and city-themed networking.

1:1 meetings scheduled & held, pilot MoUs signed, LOIs/term sheets, merchant onboardings, API activations, PR reach, and post-event pipeline value within 90 days.