Mastercard and Pemo Join Forces to Boost UAE’s SME Sector
By Fintechnews Middle East | October 19, 2023
Mastercard and Pemo, a UAE-based fintech startup, have initiated a strategic partnership to promote cashless expense management for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the UAE. The collaboration aims to support the country’s ambitions to strengthen its thriving SME ecosystem.
Announced during Fintech Surge at GITEX 2023, the partnership will provide SMEs with access to digital spend management solutions, allowing them to scale and grow. Pemo’s physical and virtual corporate cards, which combine digital and contactless payment technology, enable businesses to digitize and automate the spend management process. This includes one-click invoice payments and real-time cash flow monitoring for full visibility over spending habits.
Through the partnership, Pemo Mastercard Corporate cardholders will gain access to various features to boost productivity, save on expenses, and drive business growth. This program will also connect SME cardholders to over 150 merchant discounts through the Easy Saving Specials (ESS) platform. ESS is an exclusive global redemption-based program that offers discounts and offers on necessary services for SMEs, such as Google Workspace, DocuSign, and flexible workspaces.
Furthermore, cardholders will benefit from travel and entertainment perks, including access to airport lounges, concierge services, and discounts on car rides and rentals.
To incentivize early adoption, cardholders who activate the cards before the end of the year will receive an exclusive offer of up to 1% cashback on corporate advertising for three months.
Gina Petersen-Skyrme, Vice President and Country Business Development Lead at Mastercard, expressed delight in partnering with Pemo, emphasizing their commitment to bringing 50 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide into the digital economy by 2025.
Valerie Konde, Co-Founder of Pemo, expressed excitement about the partnership, highlighting Pemo’s dedication to promoting cashless spend management solutions for UAE businesses. She stated that SMEs often face challenges in finance and expense management, and this partnership aims to address those pain points and empower SMEs to operate more efficiently and grow.
SMEs play a significant role in the UAE economy, accounting for 94% of companies and 40% of Dubai’s GDP. However, their spending processes often rely on personal cards or petty cash, leading to a time-consuming reconciliation process and insufficient spend control. Pemo Mastercard Corporate cards aim to tackle these issues and provide SMEs with perks typically enjoyed by larger corporations.
The partnership comes after a successful year for Pemo, as over 1,000 businesses now utilize their platform. The company has secured $12 million in seed funding since its launch in April 2022, with plans to expand across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan region.
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