MasterCard, IFC & Fawry, Egypt’s nationwide Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) platform are organizing the country’s first financial inclusion conference June 17 in Cairo to push for positive participation of all national institutions in confronting their challenges.
Themed “Towards Greater Access to Financial and Governmental Services”, and run by the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and MasterCard, the conference aims to discuss the best means of extending financial and governmental services to small and micro enterprises and the most needy Egyptians, a process that is one of the most important mechanisms of engaging the informal sector in the State’s system as well as attaining social justice.
Other participants also include the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a World Bank research institution in the field of financial access, and the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), a leading research institution in mobile phone applications that pertain to various aspects of life.
Given the Company’s keenness to add a dimension of first-hand expertise from the countries with similar socio-economic circumstances as Egypt, Fawry has invited experts from Brazil, Mexico and India, in addition to those who carried out various experiments in Africa, in an attempt to enrich the discussion around the actual challenges, models and reasons for success or failure in these countries, all with the hope of reaching the best model that fits Egypt’s needs.
“The Company’s interest in organising this conference is in line with its belief that providing financial and governmental services to the most needy sectors and small enterprises is among the most important mechanisms of attaining social justice. It paves the way to engaging the informal sector in the State’s system, which is one of the toughest challenges that faces our country at the time being,” Said Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry.
“Driving financial inclusion is a key focus for MasterCard, and in Egypt we have been at the forefront of developing innovative payment programs that are aimed at bringing the unbanked, which is nearly 65 per cent of the country, under the ambit of formal financial services,” said Magdy Hassan, Country Manager – Egypt, MasterCard. “There is a need to align the efforts of all stakeholders in order to achieve the common goal of financial inclusion in Egypt, and industry forums like these will certainly play a significant role in achieving this objective.
“With only 10 percent of adults having an account at a formal financial institution, expanding access to financial services to a wider population remains a priority for IFC,” said Nada Shosha, IFC’s Regional director for Egypt, Libya and Yemen. “Financial inclusion is key to increasing competitiveness and spurring economic growth.” Many experts from these institutions will highlight their experiences of providing financial and governmental services to the vast majority of institutions and citizens from various countries across the globe.
