Latest news with #FutureofFinanceSummit
Morocco World
12-04-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
Building Africa's Fintech Future With a ‘Unified Voice': Meet Karima El Hakim
Karima El Hakim, a powerhouse who contributes to the shaping of Africa's fintech landscape, stands at the intersection of venture capital, innovation, and financial inclusion. In her current role as Country Director of Egypt and Co-Director for Africa at Plug and Play Tech Center, El Hakim drives investment and innovation across a continent brimming with untapped potential. 'I support our innovation and investment efforts across the continent,' she said in a recent interview with Morocco World News (MWN), where she talked about her work with startups, corporations, government institutions, and regulators to build next-generation technology solutions. In just a few weeks, El Hakim will bring her experience to Marrakech at GITEX Africa 2025, where she is slated to share her expertise at the Future of Finance Summit. From leading strategy to fintech El Hakim's journey began in France, where she worked in strategy at Danone. She quickly established herself in Egypt's investment landscape after returning to her motherland. She managed to work with Orascom Development's investment arm before joining Egypt Ventures and Falak Startups. A defining career moment came when she joined Fawry, one of the region's leading fintech companies. There, El Hakim deployed over $10 million in investments into tech ventures. One standout success: Fawry's investment in Cashi, which transformed Sudan's digital payments landscape. Today, at Plug and Play Tech Center, El Hakim advises the National Bank of Egypt — the country's largest public-sector bank — while directly investing in local founders. Nearly half of their portfolio consists of fintech or fintech-embedded startups. 'We work closely with the Financial Regulatory Authority to support progressive licensing frameworks and drive adoption of enabling infrastructure such as eKYC and cybersecurity,' she explains. Tackling Africa's fintech challenges El Hakim identifies fragmented regulatory frameworks, limited digital identity systems, and inconsistent data-sharing protocols as major hurdles facing African fintech. At the same time, she sees huge opportunities as payments become commoditized and embedded fintech solutions emerge. 'At Plug and Play, we focus on identifying and backing infrastructure-enabling startups — especially SaaS models — that not only serve end users but also help corporate and government entities digitize their internal systems,' she says. El Hakim and her team act as connectors, investors, and advisors, bringing together innovation ecosystems and supporting meaningful digital transformation. They help large institutions — especially banks — develop capabilities to embrace open innovation, co-design pilots, and work with startup partners. She also bids on AI integration into fintech as both an opportunity and a challenge. 'Africa has no shortage of talent, but we face infrastructural constraints such as limited cloud access, fragmented data availability, and inconsistent capital deployment.' Helping women business owners achieve their dreams El Hakim's leadership expands beyond her confines within her roles, but tackles a humanist approach to building up marginalized communities through economic empowerment. Alongside her role at Plug and Play, El Hakim serves on Egypt's National Council for Women's Economic Committee. There, she champions digital financial inclusion for women in rural areas and promotes women's leadership in investment decision-making. 'I'm a firm believer in inclusion and the integration of ESG principles into technology strategy, particularly as it relates to data governance,' says El Hakim. 'I have a soft spot for women founders who break barriers and expand the frontier of innovation across the African and Arab ecosystems.' Building Pan-African connections El Hakim sees events like GITEX Africa 2025 as crucial platforms for connecting government actors, investors, and innovators. Her priorities include championing North-South collaboration, elevating African fintech champions ready for regional and global scaling, and building strategic partnerships. 'Through better reporting, coordination, and storytelling, we can present Africa with a unified voice globally,' she explains. El Hakim envisions Africa's fintech future defined by embedded infrastructure — financial technologies that enable other industries like agriculture, logistics, healthcare, and climate resilience. She elevates Plug and Play's work in Morocco as a success story, pointing to portfolio companies like Chari and WafR that have become regional leaders. 'Morocco is clearly at the forefront of North Africa's leadership, not only in fintech, but across several key technology verticals,' she says. When not transforming Africa's fintech landscape, El Hakim enjoys pilates and golf, bringing the same precision and strategic thinking to her personal pursuits as she does to building the continent's financial future. Don't miss the chance to learn from this visionary leader at the Future of Finance Summit, which will run through the tech fair's duration April 14-16.
Morocco World
28-03-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
GITEX Africa 2025: Navigating Africa's Fintech Future
Africa's financial landscape is changing fast, with new technology and innovative financial solutions transforming how the continent's people bank, spend, and save. Fintech has continued to drive growth in the continent's tech ecosystem. In fact, in 2024 alone, it secured a groundbreaking $1.4 billion — equivalent to 60% of total equity funding. The 2025 edition of GITEX Africa returns this year, providing new opportunities to explore the continent's finance revolution. The Future of Finance Summit is set to bring together industry leaders, government officials, and innovators to discuss these changes at the GITEX AFRICA from April 14-16. The event aims to shed more light on Africa's emergence in fintech, discuss strategies for financial inclusion, and set the stage for the future of global finance. Africa has made strides in moving from the hurdle of traditional banking with mobile money to skyrocketing fintech growth, thus transforming its finance landscape. The importance of Fintech on the continent is growing with a 20% surge in mobile money and a whopping $2.7 billion in investments in just 24 months, as well as emerging blockchain in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria. Traditional banks and fintech collaborative reform Given the current technological transformation across Africa, it could be time for traditional banks and fintech companies to join forces to advance the future of digital finance in the continent. Although they have competed in the past, new opportunities for partnerships continue to emerge. Merging traditional banks with state-of-the-art fintech is likely the key to bringing financial services to more people across Africa Nowadays, banks need interoperability to ensure that data flows easily and securely between data providers, often banks and credit unions, and third-party data recipients. This task is made easy through the use of fintech. For a customer to easily send funds to a foreign bank account, interoperability renders this process much easier for both the consumers engaging in these transactions and the banks and fintechs that initiate them. Banks and fintech solutions could work on building products and collaborating with the ecosystem in a way that leads to seamless consumer experiences when connecting accounts from one bank or fintech entity to another, even if the other entity is a competitor. A key question lingers — how does one make this last for the long-term? Here we talk about the sustainable financing process of taking environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into account when making investment decisions in the financial sector, leading to more long-term investments in sustainable economic activities and projects. GITEX Africa's Future of Finance Summit this year will provide a platform for all of these actors to discuss how to work together to create systems to improve customer experience, using data to create personalized financial services These discussions, speakers, and panels are also set to discuss responsible banking through environmental and social standards, modernizing banking systems with artificial intelligence, finding investment opportunities for fintech growth, creating rules that protect consumers while encouraging innovation, and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to prevent fraud and protect customers. The future of African banking Africa's banking sector is undergoing a tremendous shift with greater use of new technologies, especially with the emergence of AI. Digital technology has been particularly useful in finance, with improved advancements in connectivity and network development, leading to the proliferation of novel forms of digital money and other banking technology. The incorporation of emerging technologies in Africa's finance scene can help boost performance and put the continent's ability to develop much-needed digital finance and banking solutions on the right track. The Future of Finance Summit is anticipated to be an engaging platform for visitors to indulge in conversations on how fintech can shape Africa's finance. Industry leaders, government officials, and innovators are expected to address these important matters, with key topics encompassing how affordable tech can contribute to Africa's revolution in its march to a more digital and secure use of technology in the field. They will also tackle other topics ranging from investing in fintech, AI, and next-gen solutions, inclusive finance and how to design tech for African consumers The summit will also explore developing Africa's affordable technology solutions, connecting cash-based systems with digital platforms, using cutting-edge technology to solve financial problems, designing products for Africa's young, tech-savvy population, and tracking investment trends in African fintech. Africa's fintech and SME economy Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of Africa's economy, generating nearly 50% of the continent's GDP with a potential value of $1 trillion in Africa. Due to their importance in Africa's financial landscape, the Future of Finance Summit is expected to allocate a whole day for SMEs in the digital age. This will be a platform for entrepreneurs to get inspired and learn how to navigate challenges and adapt their businesses to the changing digital age, bringing out the most of this new digital era. Entrepreneurs will have the chance to boost their knowledge and awareness of the digital skills needed to improve their businesses. Small businesses owners will be able to discover the latest tailored financial services, and the skills needed to thrive in the digital economy. The sub-themes of the day include banking and fintech for SMEs, how to find access to solutions and funding, scaling and cross-border trade, as well as navigating regulations. The GITEX 2025 Future of Finance Summit shows Africa's commitment to transforming its financial landscape, betting on working together, embracing new ideas, and tackling challenges directly, to position Africa as a future leader in global fintech. Tags: fintechFintech AfricaGITEX Africa 2025
Morocco World
03-03-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
GITEX Africa EVP, Amal Seghrouchni Meet in Morocco to Discuss Tech Growth
Rabat – Trixie LohMirmand, executive vice president of the Dubai World Trade Center and KAOUN International, recently met with Amal El Fallah-Seghrouchni, Morocco's newly appointed minister of digital transition and administrative reform. The discussion focused on enhancing Morocco's digital landscape and Africa's broader digital growth through GITEX Africa, LihMirmand said in a post on Linkedin. 'It was a motivating pointed exchange tinged with an openness to strive for more impactful outcomes for all stakeholders and participants at large,' the post reads. GITEX Africa, taking place next month in Marrakech, is set to 'welcome the new leadership's purposeful impetus,' LohMirmand said, noting Morocco's role in shaping a competitive, but collaborative, AI-driven future. GITEX Africa is the largest technology and startup event in Africa. It aims to spotlight the continent's technological advances and infrastructure, as well as give a platform to local startups and entrepreneurs. Set to be held from April 14-16, the event promises a lineup of summits and seminars to discuss the latest trends and technological advances both in Africa and globally. These include the DigitalSummit, Future Connectivity Summit, and the Future of Finance Summit. It will also host several companies like Nokia, Orange, Deloitte, and Acer, among other exhibiting firms. Visitors will be able to discover these companies' latest products and services. In addition, small companies and startups will have the opportunities to network and receive more exposure. Last year, GITEX Africa 2024 welcomed 1,400 exhibitors, 680 startups, and more than 40,000 visitors from across the world. Among the themes GITEX Africa will tackle are agritech, artificial intelligence (AI), climate finance, and healthcare. The event will welcome top experts who will share their insights and expertise on these topics Tags: GITEX Africa 2025GITEX Africa MoroccoGITEX Technology in Dubai
