Cairo, Egypt 03 March 2019 - Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, was named ‘Valuable Public Private Partner of the Year’ at bt100 Awards 2019, which is an annual award event that recognizes and rewards leading companies and key figures across various sectors and industries in Egypt, whose visions, performance and resilience fuel Egypt’s economy and support growth and development.

Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard accepted the prestigious award on behalf of Mastercard at a special ceremony held on 04 March 2019 at the Four Seasons Hotel at Nile Plaza, Cairo.

Mastercard has a long history of public private partnerships that help create an inclusive economy, nurture ideal conditions for innovations in payments and drive socio-economic growth in Egypt.  Over the past years, Mastercard has been working closely with the Egyptian government on several initiatives including the launch of the Mobile Wallet in 2013, which was the first interoperable mobile ecosystem worldwide, currently serving more than nine million mobile wallet users in Egypt. Mastercard and the Ministry of Finance have also customized a Government Payroll Program to empower 6 million government employees. Lastly, Mastercard has collaborated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to launch the first government disbursement model, which helps over 40,000 Egyptian women receive social benefits.