Egyptian startup PayMob is trying to promote financial inclusion in Egypt, Pamella De Leon writes for Entrepreneur Middle East. PayMob is an Egypt-based “electronics payments solutions provider converting cash payments to electronic, using existing payment channels such as credit card, mobile wallet and cash.” CTO and co-founder Mostafa Menessy says that the only thing “missing now are campaigns to spread awareness. It is very challenging to change what people have been used to doing for hundreds of years, i.e. paying in cash for goods or services.”

…One service that could benefit from increased access to financial inclusion is Jordanian Arabic-language ebook store Yaqut, which is featured in the Financial Times. Founder Ammar Mardawi says that despite Yaqut’s traction, it is finding monetization challenging. “Yaqut runs a freemium model, where most of the content is free with charges for some of the higher end items, but this, Mr Mardawi says, is not working. In part, the problem is that customers in countries such as Egypt often simply do not have the means to make electronic payments.”