Have you wondered how much time your business invests each month, processing cash payments? Time is money, and having a structured business is the ultimate goal. The key is to work smart rather than hard. PayTabs
Learn more about PayTabs’ payment gateway platform and how they’ve made payment processing simple and effective. We chat with Hany Soliman, General Manager of Paytabs Egypt to find out more:
In a nutshell, what is PayTabs?
PayTabs Egypt is part of global fintech company that has been in the market for 7 years. The company was founded in Saudi Arabia, and rapidly expanded across the GCC and Levant regions, most recently, Egypt and North Africa. PayTabs Egypt launched in 2019 as a joint venture between PayTabs Global and EFG Hermes.
PayTabs has established promising potential partnerships, in collaboration with startups, entrepreneurs and leading banks to pave the way for growth as a payment solution company with a full stack of products to serve multiple industries. PayTabs
One of the main drivers for PayTabs to begin innovating and creating new products and solutions to help merchants and businesses accept online cashless payments was the situation caused by the pandemic. This motivation to always innovate is a factor in our receiving the Best E-Payment Award 2021 from Entrepreneur Middle East.
What advantages does PayTabs payment gateway have over other types of transactions?
Our advantage is being able to offer several payment options to companies, which enables them to receive online payments via various options ranging from debit cards, credit cards, wallets and installment options like the “buy now, pay later” schemes. PayTabs also facilitates ecommerce merchants offering online payment and installment options to their shoppers, allowing them to increase their sales and grow their business.
One challenge we often face in the Egyptian market is the lack of literacy, but I believe a lot of players in this domain have seen an evolvement due to Covid-19 and the increase in online commercial offers, like e-commerce or social commerce groups on Facebook and Instagram. These merchants have started capitalizing on the tools available in the market to facilitate their payments.
That’s why we tend to position PayTabs as a payment solutions company, we are not only a payment service provider. To clarify the difference, we create new solutions and products to target specific business segments and industries to serve our customers better. PayTabs
Is PayTabs primarily B2B, or can private individuals benefit from using it as well?
The PayTabs business model is B2B, however, given that we avail the proper channels for consumers who are purchasing products or services from our client base, then it is more a B2B/B2C model – offering the technology and the infrastructure for the merchant to accept payments online via different payment methods from consumers using our PayLinks, QR Codes, PayTabs payment gateway for card acceptance, and BNPL schemes. For SMB’s PayTabs allows accessibility, in addition to affordability.
How useful is PayTabs to small independent startups and online businesses?
At PayTabs we have concentrated on coming up with a standard, unified business proposition that would serve the mass better, and of course, that would bring them the right tools and solutions to digitize their payments and to facilitate cashless transactions.
One of the important initiatives launched in the Egyptian market is that banks and regulators have started availing payment tools and solutions for freelancers without requesting conventional documents that were previously required such as the commercial register and tax cards, for example. PayTabs
Right now, we can support freelancers with their IDs and bank accounts, offering them access to our payment portal and business manager dashboard. It is crucial for us to reach out to all segments in the market to avail PayTabs’ user-friendly, seamless and technically sound integration process that is backed by strong customer and technical support to solve any issues that our merchants might face.
I would highlight three main points as to how useful our tools are to small businesses. The first is how easy it is for our program to be integrated, especially into new apps that entrepreneurs and startups are introducing into the market. The second point would be the tools they can use, especially small startups.
Lastly, one of our possible future approaches will be PT Touch – the Soft point of sale (POS) replacing conventional hardware devices, by having a POS capability on smart phones and thereby being equipped to accept all contactless cards.
How do you see the future of the trend towards a ‘cashless’ society, where everything is handled digitally?
We are observing many payment methods and apps facilitating payments in the market. I would say that the future will see more usage of QR codes, and simple payment tools and apps that will distributed to every small and micro-businesses. PayTabs
I don’t see payments as being a product, but more of an enabler that allows new ideas and new approaches to be rolled out in the market, facilitating transactions between the businesses and their customers.
