Orange eyes consumer finance entry as it doubles down on IT exports

Orange Egypt is weighing whether to buy a consumer finance company, partner with one, or build its own, CEO Hesham Mahran said at the EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum yesterday, calling consumer finance one of his priorities for the coming years. “We have the customers, we have the data, so we have almost everything that allows us to be one of the big players in consumer finance,” he told the audience. He shared no timeline or specific targets.

Why it matters: Telcos entering consumer finance is a proven model globally; Orange already runs Orange Money across Africa and has an e-wallet (Orange Cash) in Egypt. What would be new here is owning the full lending chain rather than routing through partners, turning its customer base and billing data into a proprietary credit business. If Orange goes through with a buy or build, it would compete directly with Valu and Contact.

IN CONTEXT- The telco has already routed consumer financing through Contact Creditech since 2023, and it runs its own “Orange Taqseet” device installment program and works with CIB, Banque Misr, and Souhoola. It seems Orange wants to go beyond the partnerships it already runs: “Partnering with one of the players, acquiring one of the players, or doing it on our own — all options are there, and we are moving steadily on this front,” Mahran said. The choice “depends on the investments required, it depends on the payback of it, it depends on the value that this organization will add to us and vice versa.” He said rising cost pressure is pushing more consumers — including higher-income segments — toward financing rather than outright purchases.

Consumer finance runs alongside a parallel push into IT services, where revenue has climbed to “close to 50% or more” of enterprise revenue — up from a small base, when Orange started building the business in 2021. “We are not cheap, but we are a better value,” Mahran said, adding that Orange is open to partnering with the government on operations outside Egypt. Domestically, Orange helped deliver an AI interface for the Public Prosecution and powered “Ask Maryam,” the AI assistant at Cairo Airport.

On the investment front

The group is directing half of its Africa venture allocation to Egypt, with EUR 25 mn going to local startups out of a EUR 50 mn Africa envelope, targeting 200k young Egyptians for digital skills training, up from 10k previously. “Half of the Egyptians are youth, so this young talent can help not only the economy but also help Orange to do things better,” Mahran said. He also pointed to Egypt’s solar and wind energy as drawing hyperscalers to build AI data centers.

The push comes after a large Orange Group delegation visited last week and met with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The war showed the world “the importance of Egypt,” Mahran said, positioning Egypt as “the safest zone for investment” and a hub for the Middle East and Africa.

REMEMBER- Egypt wants to become a regional data center hub, but it has only 14 facilities — just 5.5% of the region’s total, according to Data Center Map.