Saleh Al Mansouri, Founder and CEO of online payment platform Fatora
With the growing number of residents becoming more accustomed to the use of online payments during their commercial transactions, more and more merchants in Qatar are now availing financial technology solutions to enable their businesses to accept online payments from customers. The growing demand for online payment solutions among businesses here is not only a step closer towards Qatar becoming a cashless society, but is also a boon for the growing number of fintech companies setting up their businesses in the country.
Qatar’s e-commerce industry, which is currently the seventh-largest in the Mena region, is expected to grow from QR4.4bn in 2015 to QR12bn by 2022. To date, there are around 430 eMerchants registered at the Ministry of Transport and Communications’ (MoTC) Qatar eCommerce Portal. While the MoTC’s Digital Transformation of SMEs programme has also previously announced its target to reach 5,000 SMEs in Qatar.
“Back in 2015, we realised that 85 percent of SMEs (in Qatar) were still accepting cash payments. One of the biggest challenges we faced since we started was the market culture itself. It was a challenge to get the merchants to transform from accepting cash payments to online payments. But the COVID-19 pandemic taught us a lesson. Customers now insist on a convenient and safe way to pay the merchants. And this is how the merchants have started converting their businesses and asking for our services, so they can start accepting payments online. Now, we see a greater demand for online payments from the merchants,” said Saleh Al Mansouri (pictured), Founder and CEO of online payment platform Fatora, at the ‘Startup of the Month’ community outreach series organised by 360 Nautica, recently.
Al Mansouri is also the Co-Founder of MaktApp, which has previously won the QITCOM prize for best online solution and best IT solution in Qatar for its online payment features and business management services to SMEs in Qatar. While Fatora is an online invoicing platform that streamlines online payments between merchants and their clients.
He added: “Also, we have different stakeholders in the market that provide education and push in the market. From the government side, the Qatar Development Bank and the MoTC, and other stakeholders are pushing the markets to become more digital. This is a great benefit for everyone in the industry. Whether fintech, service provider or product provider. We cannot just push from our side, it has to be a unified objective for everyone”.
Saleh Al Mansouri's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and startup founders: focus on the business, build the right team, develop a strategy, and don’t be afraid to fail. “The startup ecosystem now is more developed than before. Now, we have observed that private incubation centres are being established focusing on startups and entrepreneurs and helping them grow their business. And this is lifting the weight off from the government to the private sector. There is also greater access to funds, as well as more acceleration and incubation programmes for startups. We see now, compared to previous days when we started, there are more options, more support, but also more challenges,” Al Mansouri added.
