The Venture Lab at The American University in Cairo (AUC) and the banking and finance software company will help fintech start-ups in Egypt by primarily offering a sandbox service based on Temenos’ T24 core banking system. This closed testing environment, or sandbox, will allow start-ups to integrate their own solutions with data from banks and bank functionalities, and test solution for strength and scalability. The partnership will also organise events and community-building activities, with The Venture Lab hosting said events.

An additional aspect of the sandbox enables start-ups to connect to 11 major financial institutions in the Egypt already using the T24 system.

Jean-Paul Mergeai, regional director for Temenos Middle East and Africa, remarked that Egyptian market is primed to, “take advantage of a rich fintech ecosystem that will help drive digital transformation across the banking industry”. He also expressed excitement in the partnership with The Venture Lab.

Ayman Ismail, Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship at AUC’s School of Business and Director of The Venture Lab, noted that the burgeoning fintech scene in the country has the potential to foster increased financial inclusion. Moreover, he stated that the Lab understands the challenges faced by start-ups, with the Temenos partnership answering these challenges through “offering our start-ups an exclusive opportunity to build their products on the Temenos platform and to accelerate their development cycle”. This, in turn, will hasten the roll-out of innovative services and products.