Page 169 - Forbes - USA (October 2019)

PROMOTION

Founder of Allied Wallet Andy Khawaja and Pope Francis

success of our purpose in the continent, solid foundation to Allied Wallet Africa toward a mobile framework will be
says Khawaja. Bilal Joueidi brings to for future growth. key for the 66% of the population that
Allied Wallet the remains unbanked.
ability to attract “The traditional Western-style branch banking system is not Tiny sees Allied Wal-
foreign capital for let’s role as “a tech-
developing large capable of answering the present African needs. A mobile nology orchestrator.”
scale infrastruc- framework will be key for unbanked populations.”
ture projects such With the recently
as airports, roads and hospitals. Aimable PROMOTING INVESTMENT INSTEAD endorsed single African market expected
Mpore contributes expertise as CEO of OF AID to be one of the world’s largest single
some of the largest mobile companies markets, accounting for $4 trillion in
on the continent. These include Telecel, Allied Wallet believes that Africa does spending and investment across 54 of the
where he introduced the first cellular not need aid, and Tiny agrees. “African 55 countries, Khawaja’s focus is worthy
phone operation in Africa. Together this countries need investments in order to of investor attention, as is the backing of
strong network of partnerships offers a fight poverty and to generate wealth. some of the industry’s forward-thinking
There is an obvious need to invest in heavyweights.
education in order to develop new busi-
ness leaders and provide them with
proper management tools to navigate
the risk scenarios,” he says. His Emer-
ald Group specializes in frontier market
investments with a strong portfolio in

natural resources and finance in Africa.
“Africa will need some 600 million jobs
in the future, and payment tools will be
one way of offering opportunity for self-
reliance to many,” Tiny adds.

The partners concur: In the current
African scenario, if a merchant could
use a mobile device to buy and sell from
and to anywhere in the world, he or she
could immediately become a competitive
global player with local impact. The tra-
ditional Western-style branch banking
system is not capable of answering the Editor in Chief Paul Trustfull and Founder of

Bilal Joueidi, co-founder of Allied Wallet Africa present African needs, and an evolution Allied Wallet Andy Khawaja

Emerging Markets 3