In an interview with Ahram Online, Saad Ansari, the CEO of the UAE-based Xpence, which is a next generation smart business spend platform for MENA and Pakistan (MENAP) region’s businesses, discussed the company’s launch of operations in the Egyptian market in 2023 and its motives behind that.
Xpence introduces physical and virtual Visa payment cards that enable companies to manage their daily expenses.
Ahram Online: Could you tell us more about your activity in Egypt?
Saad Ansari: We started our journey in Egypt last year. Today, Xpence is legally incorporated in Egypt and has created strategic partnerships with local financial institutions to offer its services in 2023 to Egyptian freelancers, startups, and SMEs. We are in the final stages of the implementation phase and going through the approval process with the regulator. Over the next couple of months, we intend to put a local team in place to provide in-country support to our users. With the blessings of the regulator, we hope to onboard our beta customers in the first half of next year.
Xpence is the MENAP region’s first financial management platform with embedded business banking solutions purpose-built for SMEs.
Built specifically to serve the 23+ million MENAP businesses that struggle to access financial services, Xpence aims to empower startups with digital efficiency, security and control. Our proprietary platform's embedded banking solutions are tailored to local business needs in each market where we operate, including physical and virtual employee expense cards, simplified digital invoicing, multi-currency wallets and the automation of payment processing.
We look forward to expanding our presence in Egypt and across the MENAP region over the coming months.
AO: How do you see the recent developments in the banking and non-banking sector in Egypt?
SA: When we first met with potential bank partners in Egypt, we were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm that traditional banks approached partnerships with Fintechs – even to the point where most banks we met had dedicated Fintech and financial inclusion teams. This was something we had not come across in the many other markets we have explored in the MENAP region. The approach the Central Bank of Egypt has taken to promote the local Fintech industry, e.g. EGP 1 Billion Fintech Fund, and the desire of traditional banks to work with Fintechs make Egypt one of the most exciting markets in the region for us. When you add the magnitude of the population, the entrepreneurial spirit of Egyptians, and the growing venture capital sector, the potential is limitless in Egypt.
AO: How have the cascading global crises supported individuals’ tendency to adopt digital solutions instead of traditional banking ones to manage their financials?
SA:As has been widely discussed, the Covid-19 pandemic forced companies to move online and digitalise processes overnight – some estimate that digital transformation was accelerated by up to 10 years in the space of just 18 months. Worldwide lockdowns and widespread restrictions on movement meant that digital financial services became increasingly relevant and to many a necessity.
As innovation in this field is typically driven by startups rather than traditional financial institutions, the rapid shift to digitalisation turbocharged the growth of the Fintech ecosystem in the MENA region and globally and the adoption of digital financial solutions by both consumers and businesses.
This dynamic undoubtedly helped to make the business case for Xpence even stronger as we look to support our business customers in digitalising their payment processes, making them more agile and fit for today’s online and interconnected world.
AO: Is there any kind of collaboration in the pipeline with government bodies in Egypt or banking/non-banking service providers?
SA: Yes, definitely. Our business model relies on our partnerships with both financial and non-financial services providers, such as banks, payment gateway services, payment processors, on-soil hosting providers, etc. We have several agreements in place with leading Egyptian financial and non-financial institutions, which will enable us to launch safe and reliable services in Egypt.
We also value our financial services partners and are proud to collaborate with Visa since 2019, when Xpence was one of the first Fintechs in the region to be invited to join the Visa Fintech Fastrack Programme. This year, we launched our corporate cards in the UAE in partnership with Visa.
We actively look to collaborate with organisations that can add value beyond financial services to our customers. Today, we already offer a host of perks to our users, e.g. AWS Activate, which will help them launch and scale their venture. Closer to our launch in Egypt, we will be announcing exciting partnerships within the Egyptian SME ecosystem.
Xpence has received regulatory permissions from multiple MENAP jurisdictions; We also maintain key partnerships with leading banks across the region. The foundation we have established across the region gives us a significant competitive advantage when it comes to launching operations in new markets.
We own our technology, which has been developed by our expert team to meet regulations for payable and receivable transactions in jurisdictions across the MENAP region. Our system is compatible with national banking technology infrastructures in each nation where we operate. This means customers can have accounts in a single market or in multiple markets through one app.
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