#40: Fawry - How the Egyptian payments platform became one of the largest Tech companies in Africa

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Fawry - the Egyptian payments platform. We’ll explore the Fawry story across 6 areas:

Egypt context

Founding and early history

Fundraising & Growth

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning

Overall outlook.

This episode was recorded on October 17, 2021

Companies discussed: Fawry, Egypt National Post Office (ENPO), IFC, Helios Investment Partners, Raya Holding, Technology Development Fund (Ideavelopers), Arab African International Bank, HSBC, Bank of Alexandria (Alexbank), Paymob, Banque Misr, Ebtiikar, Khales, Bee, Masary, Meeza, elmenus & Cashi (alsoug).

Business concepts discussed: Payment Platforms, IPOs, startup incubation, African conglomerates, DFIs (Development Finance Institutions) & FinTech monetization strategy / Personal Finance OS

Conversation highlights:

(01:20) - Fawry context

(04:00) - Egypt context, startups, financial inclusion

(23:59) - Ashraf Sabry background

(29:38) - Fawry founding and early history

(38:15) - Fundraising and early growth

(49:38) - Fawry IPO

(52:40) - Product strategy

(1:14:26) - Monetization strategy

(1:19:30) - Competition in Egypt

(1:27:07) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:35:45) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:45:00) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Chris Sacca on 20 Minute VC - Wow. Chris Sacca is amazing. I can listen to him talk for hours.

Recommendation: Ben Horowitz - What You Do Is Who You Are. Great book about how to think about the tradeoffs when creating culture in a company. Has some awesome stories.

Recommendation: Acquired episode on Oprah - Spoke about Oprah's legendary story. Wow

Small win: Got ticket to Wizkid show later tonight in Miami. Good times

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Kanye West 2013 interview on Breakfast Club, Wizkid - Anoti & Keychron K2 Mechanical Keyboard

Small win: Had crypto-curious friends over for dinner and now I’m crypto-curious

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected] with feedback!

Founders: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [email protected]

Investors: We'd also love to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at [email protected]

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