Remembering Seamless 2018
The Seamless 2018 event saw excellent feedback from members of the financial community, with over 1,100 professionals from 4 different continents attending the luxurious tech-centric event held at the Nile Ritz-Carlton hotel in Cairo.
Hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt and in partnership with the Arab League, the technology-driven financial conference focused on Fintech, Payment and E-commerce as the main pillars in 2018, and brought together major players of the financial landscape to connect and discuss the future of money in the region. Considering the unbanked population of North Africa at 80%, the high mobile penetration in the region and the continuously emerging industry trends, innovative e-finance opportunities are revealed almost every day now.
The event featured keynote presentations, panels, interviews and more from banks, retailers, telcos and startups across 2 inspiring days. An excited crowd of attendees were eager to discover the industry’s best innovative and disruptive Fintech, payment & e-commerce services, and Seamless certainly met expectations and delivered a wonderful experience to anyone who participated.
With 75 major regional banks participating from North Africa & the Middle East, the two continents dominated the conference with an overall presence of 92%. A large portion of the attendees were senior board members, presidents & VPs, government and C-suite executives, which led to fostering great debates & enabling productive discussions about innovation in financial services.
The event was acclaimed as a great success and guests were left satisfied, as per the Net Promoter Score (NPS) rating system employed by the Seamless organization. The NPS score is based on a scale of 0-10 and this result is based on the answer to one question: “How likely is it that you would recommend our event to a friend or colleague?” Responders who rate 9 or 10 are referred to as Promoters and are considered loyal enthusiasts, while those who rate from 0 to 6 are called Detractors and are considered unhappy customers. An NPS score of over 40 is acknowledged as excellent, and Seamless North Africa 2018 scored a staggering 45.
What to expect in 2019
In the upcoming, highly anticipated Seamless 2019 event, we are bound to see even more innovation and exciting digital solutions that aim to further disrupt traditional finance. This year’s exceptional lineup will feature leading figures from public & private financial organizations, focusing on Fintech and E-commerce as the two main tracks of the event. Held on the 17th and 18th of June at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, event attendees can expect a variety of local, regional & international speakers to take the stage by storm and tackle different topics surrounding emerging trends, their challenges, solutions and the opportunities they present going forward.
Perhaps one of this year’s most awaited guest speakers is the Chairman of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, Mr. Henri Arslanian. The PwC Fintech & Crypto Leader for Asia has been awarded many industry and academic awards over the years, including being regularly named one of the Most Influential Individuals in Fintech in Asia and being recognized as one of the Global 2017 LinkedIn Top Voices in Economy & Finance. A TEDx Speaker, published author and a revered board member of several finance, academic and Fintech-related companies, Mr. Arslanian is regularly featured in global media including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.
Another anticipated speaker is Jim Marous, publisher of the Digital Banking Report and co-publisher of The Financial Brand, two extremely popular, finance-targeted digital publications that provide deep insights into the world of e-finance, Fintech and the general digitization of banking. An international leader in the financial services industry, Mr. Marous will surely convey his message & expertise in a compelling talk.
Guests and participants can also expect several inspirational and insightful talks from the Prime Minister of Egypt H.E. Dr Mostafa Madbouly, as well as the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt H.E. Tarek Amer. The speaker list for Seamless North Africa 2019 is as fascinating as it is diverse, and this diversity creates the perfect ecosystem for this exclusive conference to reach its ultimate goal: connect all entities of the modern finance ecosystem and empower them to create a better future for the region.
