By Nojeed Gandour, Correspondent Egypt

Leading enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Network International has announced the appointment of Egyptian national Hany Fekry as Regional President – Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In his new role, Hany will be responsible for all aspects of Network’s acquiring and issuing business in Egypt and Nigeria, and for developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to drive Network’s business growth and increase digital payments adoption in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Hany joined Network in 2016 as Managing Director for Egypt and and Deputy Managing Director for Africa, leading the company’s business development activities across the Northern and Sub-Saharan region. Previously, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Emerging Markets Payments (EMP) Africa, which was acquired by Network International in 2016. Hany’s more than 20-year career has included developing business in markets including Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Group CEO of Network International, Nandan Mer commented: “Building an effective payments infrastructure requires a thorough understanding of the needs of local merchant and issuer clients to address their pain points and build locally relevant payments solutions.

Since joining the team in 2016, Hany’s deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges in digital payments adoption across Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa has been instrumental in helping Network deliver customised and relevant solutions. I am confident he is the right person to strengthen our offering to clients, in addition to driving greater inclusion and building a stronger payments infrastructure in these fast-growing markets.”

Regional President – Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, Hany Fekry added: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Network, with tremendous opportunities to accelerate the positive trends in digital payments across the region and increase financial inclusions. I look forward to helping build a best-in-class payment ecosystem that will support local merchants and financial institutions, and positively impact the economies across the Northern and Sub-Saharan African markets.