STARTUPS-

Flutterwave comes to Egypt: Nigerian fintech startup Flutterwave has obtained licenses to set up shop in Egypt, it said in a press release yesterday. The approvals will allow Flutterwave “to act as an official payment service provided in the country” by collecting and setting payments locally and abroad. “We are proud to have been granted the Payment Services Provider and Payment Facilitator licenses in Egypt, which forms part of our international expansion strategy,” Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola said.

NBFS-

Contact partners with BMW’s local agent: Contact Financial will offer car financing and ins. to customers of Global Auto Group, BMW’s new agent and importer in Egypt, according to statements out yesterday (here and here — pdfs).

REFRESHER- Global Auto in January started assembling BMWs in Egypt for the first time in five years, soon after BMW Group handed the firm the exclusive rights to import and assemble BMW and Mini cars in the local market. Global Auto is a joint venture between Kuwait’s Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive, Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors and local firms Organi Group and Al Safi Group.

INFRASTRUCTURE-

e-Finance to spearhead digitization of the fertilizer trade: EGX-listed fintech player e-Finance has been chosen by the Agriculture Ministry to operate an electronic system to manage the trade of fertilizers, the company said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The system will automate fertilizer distribution procedures for more than 5.7k agricultural coops, and fertilizer factories and outlets run by the Egyptian Company for Agricultural and Rural Development.

LAW-

Clyde & Co lands in Egypt: London-based corporate law firm Clyde & Co has set up shop in Cairo through its new associate office Barakat, Maher & Partners Advocates & Legal Consultants, it said in a statement yesterday. The new firm will be headed by Clyde & Co Managing Partner Mohamed Barakat (LinkedIn), who has nearly two decades of experience in the legal profession in the US, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It will handle capital markets, corporate and M&A, commercial, arbitration, employment, finance, regulatory, and restructuring cases.

POLITICS-

Authorities have released all detainees arrested during clashes in the Cairo island of El Warraq in 2017, Rep. Tarek El Kholy, a member of the Presidential Pardons Committee said yesterday. A number of the island’s inhabitants have been detained in recent years following clashes with security forces for opposing the government’s plans to demolish their homes and redevelop the island.