As Walid Hassouna looks upon the ticker ‘VALU.CA’ illuminating the Egyptian stock exchange, the whirlwind of the past few years crystallizes into a single, potent image. It was only three years ago that he was tasked with a singular mission: to step away from his broader role as head of EFG Hermes’s Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) platform and dedicate his entire focus to a fast-growing fintech venture. That venture was valU, Egypt’s pioneering buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling platform. Today, its Initial Public Offering (IPO) stands as a landmark achievement, not just for a standalone fintech born from the halls of a financial services giant like EFG Hermes, but for the entire African BNPL sector — a space currently fraught with instability, underscored by the recent collapse of competitors like Lipa Later.

The market’s reception was immediate and resounding. “A very proud moment we listed Valu on the Egyptian stock exchange, in a very difficult market conditions and yet we achieved 852% increase in share price (limit up) in the first few minutes of trading,” stated Hesham Elbosaty, Group Treasurer at EFG Hermes Holding. “This is a company has been incubated and born inside EFG Holding, a company that we are very proud of. And an outstanding team that worked relentlessly behind it for the past 7–8 years, well done Valu Mafia and EFG Teams.” Yet, this triumphant moment was the culmination of a seven-year roller coaster, a journey of calculated risks, strategic pivots, and relentless execution.

Corporate Incubation Done Right

The genesis of valU dates back to December 2017, when EFG Hermes, a titan in Middle East and North Africa’s financial services sector, announced the launch of a “state-of-the-art Fintech solution.” With an initial investment of EGP 250 million (approx. $5 million), the firm aimed to diversify its revenue streams by tapping into Egypt’s vast, consumption-driven market. “Our venture into the Fintech space falls in line with global financial industry trends that are increasingly focusing on utilizing the potential of a large consumer market,” noted EFG Hermes Group CEO Karim Awad at the time.

The core opportunity was clear. “The gap between Egyptian consumers’ aspirations and their purchasing power presents a unique opportunity to offer an innovative, and convenient solution,” explained Walid Hassouna, then CEO of EFG Hermes Finance. The new entity’s unique selling proposition was to be speed and convenience. By employing a sophisticated risk assessment algorithm, valU promised to deliver financing approvals in minutes, sidestepping the cumbersome paperwork that defined conventional credit.

To steer this ambitious project, EFG Hermes assembled a team of seasoned veterans from the banking and financial services industry. The strategy was a phased rollout, beginning in Greater Cairo in January 2018, with a clear roadmap to expand its network of vendors and customers across other governorates. The venture was the latest addition to a growing NBFI platform that already included EFG Hermes Leasing and Tanmeyah, the nation’s largest private-sector microfinance provider.

Why It Worked When Others Didn’t

By 2024, valU had transformed from a promising venture into a dominant market force. The company posted powerful financial results, recording 7,785,219 transactions on its platform since inception. A closer look at the transactions processed in 2024 reveals a diversified and rapidly scaling product ecosystem:

The company’s lifetime Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) had reached EGP 35.29 billion ($705.8 million) by the end of 2024. The FY24 performance marked a clear inflection point. With a GMV of EGP 16.5 billion ($330 million), an 81% increase from the previous year, and 4.1 million transactions executed in 2024 alone (a 115% year-over-year increase), the platform demonstrated that it had achieved significant user adoption and scalability. More than half of its lifetime transactions occurred in a single year.

This growth was not just a story of a single product. The valU Prepaid Card, for instance, saw its spending volume hit EGP 1.83 billion ($36.6 million) across 132,000 active cards, contributing significantly to both GMV (12%) and transaction volume (16%). This indicates a successful transition towards becoming a tool for regular, everyday spending. Similarly, the high utilization rate (112%) on the valU Card Credit Limit underscored deep user trust and financial engagement.

Nowhere was valU’s disruptive power more evident than in the autofinance sector. Its GMV in this segment skyrocketed by over 261% from EGP 514 million ($10.28 million) in FY23 to EGP 1.86 billion ($37.2 million) in FY24, signaling a fundamental reshaping of a traditionally rigid market.

Valu’s growth was not simply a function of a rising market. While Egypt’s consumer finance sector grew from EGP 47.8 billion ($956 million) to EGP 62 billion ($1.24 billion) in 2024, a respectable 31% increase, valU’s own growth clocked in at 69%. This allowed it to expand its market share from 18.5% to a commanding 24%, demonstrating that it was actively capturing territory from incumbents.

Beyond market dominance, valU has made tangible strides in financial inclusion. By the end of 2024, the platform had brought over 271,000 unbanked customers into the formal financial ecosystem. These users generated 803,000 transactions and EGP 2 billion ($40 million) in GMV in that year alone, validating the company’s mission to underwrite the unbanked.

A Masterclass in Distribution

A cornerstone of valU’s success has been its unrivaled fintech distribution strategy. The company has methodically woven its services into the fabric of Egyptian life through a vast network of partnerships across virtually every major consumer sector.

• Retail & E-Commerce (The Core Focus): This remains the dominant sector in valU’s ecosystem. Partnerships with giants like Amazon Egypt, Jumia, and noon.com, hypermarket chains like LuLu Group, and discount retailers such as Kazyon have made “Pay with valU” a ubiquitous option. The partnership with Majid Al Futtaim Malls alone has generated over EGP 1 billion ($20 million) in BNPL sales.
• Education: Recognizing the significant financial burden of tuition, valU has partnered with leading institutions like the American University in Cairo (AUC) and El Gouna International School (EGIS) to offer flexible payment plans.
• Healthcare: From financing medical services at Saudi German Hospital to a first-of-its-kind BNPL for GSK vaccines, valU is making healthcare more accessible.
• Real Estate & Home Services: Partnerships with developers like Arab Developers Holding and SODIC allow customers to finance everything from home improvements to club memberships.
• Sports & Lifestyle: Financing options for memberships at prestigious clubs like Al Ahly SC and Gezira Sporting Club, and even for a LaLiga Egypt football camp, showcase the brand’s integration into lifestyle spending.

This multi-industry approach, coupled with innovations like “Installment on Delivery” through logistics partners, has created a powerful and self-reinforcing ecosystem.

The EFG Hermes Advantage: A Funding Firehose

Perhaps the most significant differentiator for Valu has been its relationship with EFG Hermes. While standalone startups hustle for venture capital, Valu has been fuelled by a steady and efficient funding mechanism: securitized bond issuances.

Starting with a modest EGP 322.5 million ($6.45 million) issuance in 2021, valU’s securitization program has grown exponentially, reaching a total of EGP 12.3 billion ($246 million) by May 2025 across 15 issuances. The program’s size itself expanded from an initial EGP 2 billion ($40 million) to EGP 16 billion ($320 million), signaling robust investor appetite for its debt.

With an average funding of EGP 820 million ($16 million) per issuance and a frequency of roughly every three months, this structured approach hints at Valu’s ability to consistently raise capital and sustain its growth as MENA’s leading BNPL fintech platform.

This has been complemented by strategic equity investments that have bolstered its regional ambitions. The acquisition of a 4.99% stake by the Alhokair Family in 2022 for $12.4 million, valuing valU at $247.4 million at the time, and an option for Amazon to invest $10 million, solidified its standing as a fintech leader in the MENA region.

The Hassouna Playbook: Speed, Simplicity, and Scale

The decision to appoint Walid Hassouna as the full-time CEO of valU was a strategic move to give the rapidly growing entity greater independence and prepare it for its next phase of expansion. Hassouna, who had been instrumental in its creation and growth, brought a clear philosophy.

“We built Valu on two pillars — the first was to reduce friction and make it easier for many more people to access credit,” he stated in a recent interview. The goal was an answer in five to ten minutes. The second pillar was to transform valU from a mere loan provider into a payment method. The deliberate framing of “Pay with Valu” over “pay in installments” was key to encouraging daily use.

This strategy is working. The platform now processes 11 transactions every minute. Its product innovations have been bold and effective. The introduction of a “Reverse Consumer Finance” product, allowing customers to get cash for purchases they’ve already made, and the “C2C Car Finance” (Shift) product, which facilitates direct car sales between consumers and now accounts for EGP 350 million ($7 million) per month, are prime examples of its agile and market-responsive approach.

Despite its rapid growth, the company has maintained disciplined underwriting, with non-performing loans (NPLs) at a remarkably low 0.7% and a cost of risk at 0.9%. This has allowed it to achieve profitability since 2020, with profits soaring from EGP 8 million ($160,000) in 2020 to EGP 420 million ($8.4 million) in 2024.

EFG Hermes: A Master in Taking Businesses to IPO

The successful listing of its own fintech venture, valU, is a natural extension of EFG Hermes’s core identity as a leading financial services corporation and a seasoned veteran in taking companies public across frontier and emerging markets (FEM). The firm’s deep-seated expertise in investment banking provides a powerful synergistic advantage, creating a fertile ground for its own ventures to thrive and eventually tap the public markets.

EFG Hermes possesses a formidable and proven track record in IPO advisory, having orchestrated some of the most significant listings in the region. This extensive experience demonstrates a mastery of the entire IPO process, from valuation and structuring to book-building and navigating complex regulatory landscapes.

A Snapshot of Landmark IPO Advisories:

• Regional Powerhouse Deals: In 2024 alone, EFG Hermes advised on the monumental IPOs of Talabat ($2 billion) and LuLu Retail ($1.7 billion), showcasing its ability to manage large-scale, high-profile transactions that capture international investor attention.
• Historic Listings: The firm played a pivotal role in the largest IPO in history, the $29.4 billion listing of Saudi Aramco on the Tadawul in 2019, cementing its reputation as an advisor of choice for even the most complex and scaled offerings.
• Cross-Market Expertise: Its advisory spans multiple exchanges, including the 2018 IPO of Oman-based Dhofar Generating Company (DGC) on the Muscat Securities Market and Helios Towers on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), highlighting its international reach and capability.
• Key Egyptian IPOs: EFG Hermes has also been a dominant force in its home market, leading the listings of major Egyptian companies like Eastern Company and the fintech pioneer Fawry.

This proficiency in capital markets is not just an external service; it’s a core competency that informs the group’s strategy. The transformation into a universal bank with the acquisition of aiBANK has created a “triple-vertical” financial services leader, where the Investment Bank, the Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) platform (housing valU), and the Commercial Bank work in concert. This structure means that a venture like valU is born with a unique advantage: it leverages the NBFI platform for growth, accesses the banking infrastructure of aiBANK, and is ultimately guided towards a potential public offering by one of the most experienced IPO advisory teams in the entire FEM space. The listing of valU is, therefore, not just a fintech success story but a powerful demonstration of EFG Hermes’s ability to incubate, scale, and deliver businesses to the public market.

An Adaptable Blueprint for Success

Valu’s journey from an internal corporate project to a publicly traded fintech leader offers a compelling blueprint for building a successful tech venture within an established organization. 

For other African corporates dreaming of building real fintech ventures, ValU’s playbook offers key lessons:

1. Autonomous Leadership: Empower a dedicated, startup-minded CEO.
2. Internal Capitalization: Use securitizations and internal cash flow to fund expansion.
3. Distribution First: Partner early and broadly across sectors.
4. Cultural Divide: Build a young, experimental internal culture insulated from corporate inertia.

“We don’t guarantee you’ll get the credit, but we guarantee you’ll get an answer in five minutes,” Hassouna says.

By positioning itself not just as a lender but as a fundamental payment utility, valU has outpaced the market, driven financial inclusion, and built a resilient, diversified, and profitable business. As it enters its new chapter as a public company, valU stands as a powerful case study in how to build a corporate tech startup that not only works but leads.

Udoh Charles

Charles has carved a niche at the forefront of Africa’s booming tech scene. With years of experience, Udoh has become a go-to expert for multi-million dollar deals in venture capital, private equity, and intellectual property across a vast landscape — from Delaware and New York to Singapore and South Africa. But his expertise extends beyond just the legalese. Udoh is also a corporate governance, data privacy, and tax whiz. An award-winning writer and researcher, he’s passionate about chronicling Africa’s startup story, cementing his position as a true pioneer in the field.