{"id":612564,"date":"2023-12-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2023\/12\/25\/smes-scramble-to-pay-suppliers-as-credit-card-limits-bite\/"},"modified":"2023-12-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T00:00:00","slug":"smes-scramble-to-pay-suppliers-as-credit-card-limits-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2023\/12\/25\/smes-scramble-to-pay-suppliers-as-credit-card-limits-bite\/","title":{"rendered":"SMEs scramble to pay suppliers as credit card limits bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life for early stage startups and businesses is getting tougher and tougher <\/strong>as restrictions on the use of foreign currency pile up. Every business that needs to pay Google or Microsoft \u2014 or that wants to run an ad campaign online, pay for cloud infrastructure, subscribe to a monitoring service, or pay for an industry-specific software tool \u2014 needs access to foreign currency. That\u2019s an increasingly nasty \u201cbusiness continuity challenge\u201d for companies nationwide that don\u2019t have (a) offshore arms and (b) access to foreign currency (FX) through offshore revenue streams or deep-pocketed foreign investors. <\/p>\n

Where things stand now: <\/strong>The Central Bank of Egypt in October restricted<\/a> foreign-currency (FCY) transactions on local-currency credit cards to EGP 7,750 per month (about USD 250 at the official rate) and stopped<\/a> the use of local-currency (LCY) debit cards abroad. <\/p>\n

There are zero exceptions: <\/strong>Three major banks we spoke with said they make no exceptions for companies that can prove their online FCY expenses are key to the running of their businesses, whether for access to email, productivity tools, or cloud infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Early-stage startups are the most vulnerable, followed closely by existing businesses <\/strong>with no FCY-denominated revenues. <\/strong>The impact of the central bank\u2019s moves on startups largely depends on what stage of investment the company is in, Acasia Ventures managing partner Aly El Shalakany tells us. \u201cEarly-stage startups may not have offshored yet, meaning that they probably still don\u2019t have a foreign bank account. These inputs used to be covered by corporate debit or credit cards. Now, this has become incredibly difficult,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Small- and medium-sized businesses, agencies, and local professional services firms <\/strong>face a tougher challenge<\/strong>, a managing partner at a prominent agency told us. \u201cWe don\u2019t have an offshore entity because we\u2019ve never needed one, so now we\u2019re scrambling because there\u2019s no clear end in sight to the restrictions. We\u2019re fortunate that we have just about enough revenue from clients outside Egypt to cover our [foreign currency] online expenses, but it\u2019s tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

THE WORKAROUNDS-<\/p>\n

The alternative: Buying FX on the parallel market <\/strong>and depositing it to your FCY account here in Egypt, then using a USD-denominated debit card to pay offshore expenses. \u201cWe do it, but we\u2019re not comfortable with it. Our bank has warned us that there isn\u2019t a 100% chance we\u2019ll be covered if our [debit] card were hacked,\u201d said the CEO of a medium-sized manufacturer. \u201cI already source on the [parallel market] to cover the import of my production inputs, so it\u2019s just more pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does that work? Many banks have had a no-questions-asked approach to cash FCY <\/strong>deposits <\/strong>for some months now, allowing some businesses to source their hard currency needs on the parallel market and then deposit into their accounts to cover key imports. They\u2019re allocated 85% of the amount they deposit in FCY and take the rest in local currency. <\/p>\n

More established startups are in a better place, as are non-tech players with reliable <\/strong>foreign currency revenues: <\/strong>\u201cWe haven\u2019t been super affected by the decision,\u201d says Hussein El Kheshen (LinkedIn<\/a>), the co-founder and CTO of online real estate marketplace Sakneen, pointing to the company\u2019s FX funds abroad from previous investments. \u201cSecondly, it\u2019s always been easier to subscribe to software abroad anyway, [due to Egypt\u2019s hefty tax on software paid for in FX], so we had already been paying for our software services from abroad prior to the FX restriction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Name that tax: <\/strong>The Tax Authority began this year requiring global tech companies to charge and remit 15% value-added tax on services sold in Egypt. It is also now demanding that Egyptian companies withhold 20% of the value of any service paid for abroad and provide the seller with a withholding tax receipt. The catch: <\/strong>Global players won\u2019t talk to small- and medium-size businesses about withholding tax, leaving most companies no choice but to \u201cgross up\u201d their payments and remit the 20% to the state. <\/p>\n

Outsourcing payments? <\/strong>\u201cWe [own] an offshore company that handles [software and marketing payments], but it\u2019s a huge problem for young local startups, who will now have to look outside,\u201d co-founder of the women-targeted health and wellbeing startup Motherbeing Youssef El Samaa (LinkedIn<\/a>) said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLocal\u201d outsourcing: <\/strong>Closer to home, some companies \u2014 including Microsoft<\/a> and Google<\/a> \u2014 have local partners who will take payment in EGP, then take care of paying the offshore provider. The cost: Significant markups, payment 12 months in advance, and much less flexibility when it comes to adding seats or changing plans. <\/p>\n

How have younger startups been meeting obligations? <\/strong>One startup had to use multiple credit cards, including employees\u2019 personal cards, to meet payments, one founder told us, pointing specifically to payments for social media ads, which are strictly pay-as-you-go. \u201cOur total marketing costs are up 13% and our indirect tech costs are up 15%. It\u2019s been rough,\u201d the founder said.<\/p>\n

Paying in FCY by bank transfer is possible if you have the cash <\/strong>\u2014 but not from all vendors, and generally only if you\u2019re paying a year in advance, delivering a hit to cashflows.<\/p>\n

While some companies are looking to open offshore arms<\/strong>, especially in the Gulf, others are seeking virtual bank accounts that can be opened abroad, El Samaa said.<\/p>\n

Alone among the big global tech players, Google has gotten the memo: <\/strong>Google gave Egyptian clients paying with local credit cards a two-month extension<\/a> starting in November on payments that were due shortly after the CBE announced its decision, allowing them to use Workspace services until January.<\/p>\n

\n

NOT WHAT FOREIGN INVESTORS WANT TO SEE<\/p>\n

No FX? No investment. <\/strong>Venture capital investors \u2014 already a rare breed in Egypt since the end of the \u201cfreemoney\u201d days \u2014 are less inclined to invest in companies that only generate EGP revenues \u2014 even if they are growing, El Samaa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese regulations just cement venture capital firms\u2019 reluctance to invest in Egypt,\u201d<\/strong> El Shalakany said. The revenues of Egyptian startups are already down 50% in USD terms and the LCY cost of the USD expenses is up 2x. \u201cIt\u2019s a double whammy of sorts,\u201d El Shalakany said.<\/p>\n

It might be time to expand abroad:<\/strong> \u201cIn the short-term, business will have to survive by going to other markets,\u201d El Shalakany said. \u201cThis will result in a level of brain-drain, of course, but thinking beyond Egypt is one of the main ways to hedge this risk. This means that you may have to reallocate resources that would\u2019ve increased business in Egypt to other markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gov\u2019t is in an unenviable position, <\/strong>ElShalakany says. \u201cThis is probably not the biggest priority for the government right now, given the current economic landscape. Obviously, you also don\u2019t want the economy to stall as that would create a much bigger problem. I do have to stress that this is not about the policy not being done with good intentions. It could be benefiting the majority of the people in the economy \u2014 but for people in this minority [startups and small businesses], this can be detrimental to your business for the short-to-medium term.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not all doom and gloom,\u201d El Shalakany added.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s over dramatic to say that this makes Egypt an uninvestable market. Despite the challenges, Egypt is a large market with great talent and people that are building very innovative solutions. As long as you can build innovative products and there\u2019s a market for them, people will buy and you can have a successful business\u201d, El Shalakany said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From early-stage startups to agencies and professional services firms, it\u2019s a slog to find ways of paying Google, Microsoft, and other key offshore providers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":612565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7392],"tags":[6801,271,72,2234,11894,125,9153,2145,95,200],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-612564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fx-watch","tag-acasia-ventures","tag-central-bank-of-egypt","tag-enterpriseam","tag-foreign-exchange","tag-hussein-el-kheshen","tag-investment-watch","tag-motherbeing","tag-sakneen","tag-startup-watch","tag-venture-capital","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"deedde16-57f5-4a0f-882b-8c65fae10621","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2023\/12\/1596.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Egyptian SMEs scramble to pay suppliers as credit card limits bite","related_issue":[612555],"teaser":"From early-stage startups to agencies and professional services firms, it\u2019s a slog to find ways of paying Google, Microsoft, and other key offshore providers","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2023\/12\/.7ff01de4-a2c6-471a-8e78-58d192622168.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nSMEs scramble to pay suppliers as credit card limits bite - 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