Visa Launches North Africa Sub-Region to Fuel Digital Payment Growth

Visa formed a new sub-region that includes Egypt, Libya and Sudan, saying the move will advance its strategic growth plans in the wider North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region.

The new sub-region enables Visa to be closer to clients and stakeholders and reinforces its efforts to advance digital payments, financial inclusion and commerce enablement in these three countries, it said in a Monday (Feb. 17) press release .

The organization will be led by Malak El Baba , who Visa has appointed country manager for Egypt, Libya and Sudan. El Baba was previously country manager for Egypt, a role in which she led major initiatives and drove the growth of new business lines and partnerships in the market, according to the release.

“I am honored to take on this expanded role and continue driving Visa’s strategy across Egypt, Libya and Sudan,” El Baba said in the release. “These markets are at pivotal moments in their digital transformation journeys, and Visa remains deeply committed to supporting governments, financial institutions, merchants and FinTechs in building secure, accessible and innovative payment experiences for everyone.”

Ahmed Mohey will take on the role of head of sales for Egypt. Mohey previously served as Visa’s country manager for Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya and Sudan, and he will build on his client experience to execute on Visa’s growth strategy in Egypt, per the release.

In an earlier move, Visa said in July that it appointed Tareq Muhmood as regional president for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) and that Muhmood would be responsible for leading operations across more than 86 markets in the region . Visa said then that CEMEA is the company’s fastest-growing region.

Visa said in June that it expanded its stablecoin settlement solution to select issuers and acquirers in the CEMEA region to advance its stablecoin initiatives. The solution enables U.S. dollar cross-border transactions through blockchain technology.

In December, Visa said it formed a partnership with the Central Bank of Syria and financial authorities and institutions to help Syria build a digital payments ecosystem and integrate into the global digital economy.