In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, Karl Tlais, Senior Director, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, CEMEA, Visa talked about the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) and the fintech sector in Saudi Arabia. The startups from the Kingdom and the rest of the region had until August 4 to submit their applications and propose solutions to resolve one of the three payments related challenges.
The ”Acceptance Challenge” explored the possibilities to encourage smaller merchants to prefer eCommerce and digital payments over cash. The ”Airport Transit Challenge” aimed to make air travel more efficient by using smart technologies. The last one, ”The Loyalty Change” was more about how start ups could become more responsive to the needs of cardholders.
The jury panel will go through all the applications to shortlist three startups. They will be invited to the Visa Innovation Center in Dubai to present their solution. All the three young companies will receive funding and access to Visa technologies and its payment experts to help them create a prototype. In the end, one of these three will receive additional funding. It will also partner with Visa or one if its clients to continue developing the idea.
Asked about the startup ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and the region, Tlais said he was positive. The government in Riyadh already announced that fintech would be a core component of Vision 2030, and a vital part of the developing King Abdullah Financial District.
The main goal of the cooperation between VEI and Saudi Arabia was to combine the technological advancement of Visa with the creativity of Saudi’s fintech startup community to enhance the innovation in the Kingdom. The dynamic fintech industry in the country has been working hard to enable cashless payments. According to Tlais, the local startups have been struggling to find customers and exposure. He added that programs like VEI could be a solution for that as they offered not only knowledge but quick market access too.