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  In March 2021, Flutterwave announced its $170 million Series C funding and revealed plans to expand its payment network to Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia by the first quarter of 2021. It’s uncertain if these plans have already been implemented, but the African FinTech firm has recently hired Omar Marwan, a former business development manager at Opay, as its Country Commercial Lead for Egypt and the rest of the Middle East and North Africa region, with additional hiring taking place for other positions in the region.
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However, after many speculations, on the 9th of February, Flutterwave announced that it has obtained payment services provider and payments facilitator licenses from the National Bank of Egypt, which will allow the company to act as a payment processor and digital transformation partner for global settlements in Egypt, helping customers expand within or outside the country. This marks the beginning of more strategic wins in the North Africa and Middle East regions, according to Aalaa Gamal, Flutterwave North Africa Expansion Lead. The digital payments market in North Africa and the Middle East is predicted to grow at a 13.3% compound annual rate until 2026 due to increasing mobile phone and internet usage, according to Mordor Intelligence.
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With these licenses, Flutterwave will be an official payment service provider in Egypt and will collect payments on behalf of its customers, settling payments locally and globally. The licenses will also allow the deployment of Flutterwave’s suite of business products, such as a store, payment links, invoices, and checkout, in Egypt. To date, the company has processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion across 34 countries in Africa, including Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. Flutterwave facilitates cross-border transactions in multiple currencies for global companies, such as Uber, and the new licenses will support international businesses entering or expanding in the Egyptian market. The company is proud to have obtained these licenses in Egypt as part of its international expansion strategy, according to Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO and founder of Flutterwave who announced on his LinkedIn page.
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This announcement follows the company’s progress in Kenya, where it faced regulatory challenges and was cleared of money laundering allegations seven months ago by the Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency. It’s unclear if the company has been licensed in any East African country. Outside the continent of Africa, Flutterwave is rumoured to be trying to acquire Railsr, a UK FinTech, but Omosalewa Adeyemi, Flutterwave’s senior vice president for market penetration, declined to comment on the matter. Featured Image Source: Benjamin Dada
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This article was first published on 10th February 2023

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

Comments (2)

2 thoughts on “Flutterwave Expands into North Africa”

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