-      Karim Shehata: This step instills Vodafone's confidence in Basata as it aims to explore areas of cooperation in the ICT sector and support Egypt's efforts towards achieving financial inclusion strategy.

By ; Wael Elhosany

Basata Holding for Financial Payments S.A.E., the leading e-payment services company in Egypt, announced that it nears completing Vodafone Egypt’s deal to increase its stake in its two subsidiaries (TBE Egypt for Payment Solutions and Services S.A.E.(Bee) and Applications & Payment Systems Development APSD S.A.E. (Masary) from almost 10% to 20%, following the Central Bank of Egypt’s approval. This step follows a successful partnership that started in April 2022, which further boosts Basata’s strong position in the e-payment sector.

Under the extended deal and Vodafone Egypt’s increased stake to 20% in Basata’ s subsidiaries, the two parties aim to explore avenues of cooperation to achieve comprehensive digital transformation in the e-payment sector, in line with Egypt's strategy towards achieving financial inclusion. This deal further enhances Basata's growth and expansion plans through launching a number of distinctive services throughout the year, capitalizing on its collaboration with a globally trusted partner, to ultimately revolutionize the financial payments industry, and expand its customer base to promote the concept of financial inclusion.

For his part, Karim Shehata, CEO of Basata Holding, commented on Vodafone Egypt's increased stake in Basata, saying:  "This step represents a significant milestone in Basata's journey, as we look forward to exploring more avenues of collaboration with Vodafone as our key partner, to facilitate technological development and enhancing Egypt’s financial inclusion strategy, as well as supporting the state’s efforts towards digital transformation."

For his part, Kareem Eid, Commercial Business Unit Director at Vodafone Egypt, stated: "Vodafone is one of the key telecommunications leaders that showed great interest in the concept of financial inclusion and providing e-payment services for years as we are always on the lookout for establishing strategic partnerships to expand the reach of these services to more customers. Building on the success of our previous partnership with Basata, Vodafone is raising its stake to 20% after receiving the necessary approvals as we expect this partnership to support both Vodafone's and Egypt’s mutual vision in achieving financial inclusion, ensuring the access of e-payments services to all segments."

Eid added: "With our established experience in this field for years and our customer base exceeding 45 million customers, we are ready to fully support our partners to advance the e-payment sector and contribute to creating a supportive ecosystem that enhances the concept of financial inclusion, providing our customers with an all-inclusive, top-notch e-payment experience."

Through its subsidiaries, Basata provides over 3200 different services through an extensive and distinguished network comprising over 160,000 points of sale (POS). Basata managed to reach more than 40 million users and activated e-wallets within a significant short span of time to provide all the unified e-payment services needed for the daily transactions of individuals including: utility bill payments, education, and insurance payments in addition to the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) installment payments service.

It is worth noting that Basata was rebranded in 2022 after the merger of "Masary" and "Bee" e-payment providers, supported by a group of shareholders and investors from leading companies operating in the Egyptian market. Within a remarkable short span of time, Basata has cemented its position as a leading provider of smart digital payment solutions and services.