PayTabs Egypt, a joint start-up company between EFG Hermes and PayTabs International, has announced it will facilitate free electronic payment and collection services to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for three months.
The initiative aims to help SMEs overcome the consequences of the recent economic slowdown and other repercussions caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
It covers all sectors and commercial markets in which SMEs operate, and covers average monthly online sales of EGP 100,000.
In a statement to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Tuesday, EFG Hermes said that PayTabs Egypt set up the initiative to accelerate the pace of moving from in-store retail systems to modern e-commerce platforms.
The initiative looks to cover many of Egypt’s retail sectors that can use both online e-commerce platforms and home-delivery options.
Walid Hassouna, CEO of EFG Finance Holding, said that the PayTabs Egypt initiative aims to relieve pressure on SMEs, due to their being a pillar of the private sector and the Egyptian economy.
He noted that the company was inspired by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decision to postpone payment of loan instalments due to the ongoing circumstances due to the pandemic.
Hany Soliman, General Manager of PayTabs Egypt, said that his company is fully convinced that initiatives of this kind will provide strong support to SMEs. This is particularly important for those SMEs that have witnessed a decline in operational activities since the start of the pandemic.
He added that the company believes the initiative supports the rapid transformation from traditional selling methods at in-store retail to e-commerce platforms.
In the past six months, alone, Egypt has seen a 30% increase in e-commerce platforms, and a four-fold increase in demand for electronic products.
Soliman indicated that the initiative will run during the period from 1 October to 31 December 2020. During this time, merchants can benefit from a free service that enables them to quickly and directly collect all cash transactions, through the latest online payment and collection platform in Egypt.
