Unlocking Potential
Powering Growth
Unlocking Potential
Powering Growth
Vodafone Egypt announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ebtikar Holding for Financial Investments S.A.E.”Ebtikar”, the owning company of Bee and Masary for e-payments, in preparation for Vodafone Egypt to participate in a capital increase in both companies to reach a stake of 20% in each company.
This step comes as part of Vodafone Egypt’s plan to increase its investments in the Egyptian market and provide various digital financial services to both consumer and corporate customers and support digital transformation and financial inclusion in Egypt. Worth mentioning that this step follows Vodafone Group CEO’s visit to Egypt where he met His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and discussed new investments in the Egyptian market, especially in digital transformation and financial inclusion field, and the possibility of making Egypt a center of excellence for these services in Africa, while exchanging knowledge and expertise to support the achievement of Egypt’s 2030 vision.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the presence of Mohamed AbdAllah, Vodafone Egypt CEO, Kareem Eid, Vodafone Egypt Commercial Business Unit Director, Rasha Al-Azhary, Vodafone Egypt Finance Director, Ayman Essam, Vodafone Egypt External Affairs and Legal Director, Khaled Mahmoud, Ebtikar Board Member and Chairman MM Group and Eng. Ayman El Dessouky, Ebtikar CEO and Bee Chairman.
The MOU signing marks the beginning of due diligence process for the companies, in one of the most significant deals in the Egyptian digital financial services market. Vodafone Egypt will participate in a capital increase at par yielding it a stake of 20% in each company of Bee and Masary. Moreover, it is expected that this step will contribute to accelerating the growth of the two companies’ business volumes and Vodafone Egypt will utilize its expertise, as the pioneer telecommunication company providing digital financial services and electronic wallets through Vodafone Cash services, to support in developing the processes and services provided by both companies, which might lead to regional expansion of Bee and Masary in Africa.
Mohamed AbdAllah, Vodafone Egypt CEO said: “We are looking to increase our investments in Egypt and today we are taking a significant step towards a promising investment plan, which reflect on our commitments and trust in the Egyptian economy.”
Abdallah added: “investing in E-payments field comes in line with Vodafone Egypt’s strategy, to develop and diversify the services provided to our customers this deal will also provide new opportunities for our distributors and partners by increasing distribution outlets and more reach to customers; eventually, enhancing our customers experience in digital services.”
AbdAllah continued: “Vodafone Egypt plays a vital role in supporting the government’s digital transformation plans, and participates in significant projects in this field. Creating more partnerships and expanding investment to provide digital financial services to customers is a vital step for Vodafone Egypt, which emphasizes on the importance of supporting digital transformation and promoting financial inclusion, to achieve Egypt’s 2030 vision.”
Khaled Mohamed Mahmoud stated: “We, at MM Group, are proud to work with Vodafone Egypt as we have a distinguished partnership and success story that lasted more than 22 years as a distributor of its services in the Egyptian market, and today we culminate this partnership together with a big step for expansion and investment in the field of digital payments with the number one network in Egypt.”
From his side, Eng. Ayman El Desouky, Ebtikar CEO and Bee Chairman said: “We are excited and optimistic about this important step. The presence of Vodafone Egypt as a shareholder reflects the success of Bee and Masary and the strength of their financial position in the Egyptian market.” Then he added: “This partnership will support our digital transformation plans and the expansion of financial inclusion and it opens the way for the two companies to expand in the Egyptian and African markets in cooperation with Vodafone Egypt. We are looking forward to the next steps towards reaching a final agreement at the earliest opportunity.”
Bee and Masary are two of the most important E-payments companies operating in the Egyptian market for more than ten years, as they provide more than 800 payment services through more than 110,000 points of sale. The two companies contribute to implementing and disseminating the initiatives of the Supreme Council for Electronic Payments and the Central Bank of Egypt for digital transformation and financial inclusion.