Orascom Financial Holding (OFH) is making its entry into the fintech space, announcing today in an EGX statement (pdf) that it will partner with Egyptian software provider Excel to launch a new e-payments company. The statement did not specify which end of the sector the company will target. OFH will hold a 79.9% stake in the as-yet unnamed company, the statement said, while Excel will hold the remaining 20.1%, a source familiar with the matter told us. The firm will launch with EGP 100 mn in paid-in capital, which OFH and Excel expect to increase to EGP 500 mn in the future.

The company has ambitious targets, setting itself the goal of reaching 1 mn customers in the medium-term, the statement said without elaborating. The venture will introduce a new technology with a group of products and solutions “that will facilitate cashless transactions for all payments and financial needs,” the new company’s CEO, Mohamed Aboul Naga, said.

SOUND SMART- Aboul Naga (LinkedIn) is the co-founder and former COO of Halan, the transport play that aims to become Egypt’s first “super app.” We last spoke with him in April 2020, when he was our Work From Home Routine.