Egyptian startup CreditGO has launched a B2B payment aggregator and merchant wallet for small businesses, enabling unbanked merchants to sell electronic services such as airtime and allow customers to pay bills.
Formed in January 2020 but only launched to the public in June, CreditGO allows merchants to overcome the challenges posed by high acquisition costs of PoS machines and offer electronic services to customers via a free mobile app.
The app allows merchants to earn commissions on selling airtime and facilitating customers’ bill payments, while in the next few weeks CreditGO will also enable them to purchase products and goods from wholesalers and pay for them through the CreditGO wallet.
“We took a huge advantage of the market segment which is left behind from the banking system and financial institutions,” Omar El Welely, the startup’s chief executive officer (CEO), told Disrupt Africa.
“The unbanked sector in Egypt and the informal economy makes up 45 per cent of Egypt’s economy. We are talking about an annual market of US$73 billion.”
CreditGO raised some funding from taking part in the Flat6Labs Cairo accelerator last year, and is now in the process of raising its seed round.
“We are talking with VCs and angel investors from inside and outside of Egypt,” said El Welely. “We are planning on expanding to similar markets in Africa.”