Payfort, a leading online payment service provider in the region, has announced its participation and sponsorship of a major event in Egypt that will address strategies and challenges in achieving entrepreneurial success.

RiseUp Egypt Summit 2013, the country’s first entrepreneurship summit being held on November 24 and 25 at the Greek Campus of the American University in Cairo.

Payfort will be sharing its own experiences with the startup community while sharing insights on the impact of electronic payments on startups and how these services provide the foundation for a burgeoning startup ecosystem.

“One of the biggest challenges any entrepreneur faces in turning their idea into a commercially viable startup is how to collect payments from potential customers who are geographically dispersed and could even be half way across the country,” said Omar Soudodi, managing director at Payfort.

“We have seen Internet penetration in Egypt skyrocket over the past few years and this steep adoption curve does not seem to be slowing down, particularly because of the increasing proliferation of mobile devices and the easy accessibility to mobile internet in Egypt.   Our goal is the share our learnings and insights on secure payment solutions with Egypt’s growing startup community, and help them better leverage today’s payment technologies to grow their startup or SME.”

Payfort will also be conducting a workshop at RiseUp Egypt Summit and will be joining a panel of experts who will discuss the e-payment needs of startups in Egypt.  Payfort will be presenting its online payment solutions that have been tailored particularly for internet-based startups and SMEs, helping them to sell more by addressing the payment needs of their customers.

“The Arab world’s adoption of advanced, Internet-based services continues to grow exponentially and is considered the fastest growing region worldwide (according to IMRG report 2013), clearly highlighting the need for increased trust in online transactional gateways to further the Egypt’s e-commerce capability,” said Soudodi.

“With nearly 40 million Internet users and with 65 per cent of the population under the age of 30, online payments in Egypt are expected to grow exponentially in the years to come from its current 9 percent.

“Even mobile Internet adoption is also becoming increasingly accessible and popular in Egypt, playing a key role in the surge of startups over the past few years as more businesses try to capture online customers.  Payfort can enable new startups quickly and fast-track their online payment capability to better serve their customers while mitigating risk and reducing potential for online fraud.” – TradeArabia News Service