Egyptian mogul Ashraf Sabry’s Fawry Microfinance surpasses $64 million in total disbursals

Fawry Microfinance Company has revealed that it has disbursed a total of EGP1 billion ($64 million) in its four years of operations as a key player in the Egyptian financial services industry.

Fawry Microfinance is an operating subsidiary of Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments, a major Egyptian payment platform founded by multimillionaire Ashraf Sabry.

With more than 29.3 million monthly users, the payment platform is one of Africa’s few software unicorns.

Under the direction of Sabry, who owns 2.345 percent of the company, the fintech firm runs over 250 e-payment services through its network of more than 105,000 service points in 300 towns in Egypt.

The milestone was driven by a 67-percent increase in its loan portfolio from EGP267 million ($17 million) in 2020 to EGP437 million ($27.8 million) in 2021, owing to the rapid adoption of its services and an increase in demand for financial services products, particularly credit.

“We at Fawry Microfinance are proud of our track record in creating tangible opportunities for entrepreneurs and families, allowing them to invest in their futures and promoting the government’s efforts to achieve sustainable growth by expanding marginalized groups’ access to financial services,” Sabry, the CEO, said.

The announcement comes about two weeks after the payment business disclosed that it handled payment acceptance transactions totaling more than EGP11 billion ($700.3 million) in 2021.

As a consequence of the swift adoption of its services and the progressive reopening of the economy, the value of the transactions handled by its acceptance machines climbed by 232 percent year-on-year to EGP6 billion ($382 million) in 2021, according to the company.

As of press time, Feb. 16, the company’s shares were trading at EGP9.21 ($0.586) on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, 99 basis points higher than the opening price on the local exchange.

At the current price, Fawry’s market valuation is EGP15.7 billion ($1 billion), while Sabry’s 2.345-percent ownership interest in the fintech firm is worth EGP368.2 million ($23.5 million).