Sawiris-backed Klivvr targets 160% jump in financing portfolio as regulators tighten the screws on non-bank lenders

Sawiris-backed fintech firm Klivvr is targeting a roughly 160% jump in its financing portfolio next year to as much as EGP 6.5 bn (USD 122.7 mn), up from more than EGP 2.5 bn (USD 47.2 mn) disbursed in its first 12 months, Asharq Business reports, citing CEO Nils Bachtler. The current portfolio sits at EGP 2.4-2.5 bn, with banks and factoring companies providing around 95% of its funding. Klivvr plans to double its merchant network to more than 2k from around 1k within 12 months and is weighing SME financing — targeting EGP 2-3 bn in its first year — while applying for the needed licenses.

The growth target lands in a sector that regulators are pulling back on. Klivvr draws about 95% of its funding from banks and factoring companies, the very channel the central bank is now restricting (banks are barred from lending to non-bank lenders that aren’t registered with the central bank and reporting to I-Score). The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has pushed through its own data rules, requiring consumer finance firms to report each approval, disbursement, and repayment to I-Score in real time and to link their databases to the regulator’s own. Klivvr is a relative newcomer: The FRA cleared its consumer finance arm in December 2024, and the Sawiris family’s Klivvr Holding bought Orascom Financial Holding’s 99% stake in Klivvr Electronics for EGP 657.7 mn in January 2025.

Working the Africa corridor

After Angola, Oman is turning east in the African Continent. The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed an MoU with the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Muscat on Monday, data-sharing, trade delegations, and joint exhibitions. The signing took place on the sidelines of the second iteration of the Oman-East Africa Trade and Investment Exhibition last week.

REMEMBER- Oman launched an Angola-based bank to back investments in the continent with a EUR 17 mn capital at its inception. The bank has begun its push by pledging to explore investments and financing for projects in the up and coming Angolan freezone, Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone.

The bilateral pitch: Besides Omani oil exports, Uganda can benefit from Oman’s maritime and trade links to expand its core export product: food crops. And for Oman, the private sector is looking into opportunities in agriculture, food processing, tourism, and mining. At the moment, Omani exporters dominate the bilateral trade, with Oman sending USD 247 mn of goods to Uganda in 2024, about 90% of it fuel and Uganda exporting just USD 5.5 mn to Oman in the same year. UNCCI director Alpha Karamagi Charles flagged coffee, gold, and fresh fruit, including mangoes and avocados, as products to sell into the sultanate.

Another one

Emirati state defense firm Edge is doubling down on its Brazilian ties after inking an agreement with both the UAE Defense Ministry and the Brazilian Army to expand military cooperation, according to a statement.

Inside the agreement: The agreement includes joint initiatives across military, technological, industrial, commercial, and governmental activities. More specifically, it will focus on solutions that the Brazilian Army can use to strengthen its military industry base.

Edge’s existing footprint is already extensive, with recent moves including a radar systems MoU with Indra in Brazil, the takeover of a Brazilian aerospace manufacturer, a 51% holding in Brazil-based Condor, and a 50% stake in Brazilian arms firm Siatt.