Mohamed ElFeky: “Sympl” Has Helped 300,000 Customers Purchase Their Needs

Amid the growing number of fintech companies, each aiming to specialize in a specific segment of financial services, the startup Sympl offers buy-now-pay-later services to help customers purchase their needs and pay for them through interest-free installment plans.

The company enables customers to split the cost of their purchases into short-term installments instead of paying the full price of a product or service at the time of purchase.

Over the past four years, Sympl has served more than 300,000 customers, according to its Co-founder and CEO Mohamed ElFeky, who speaks in his interview with Egypt Innovate about his entrepreneurial journey and the success story of Sympl.

Accumulating Experience

ElFeky earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cairo University, but he did not work in his field of study, as he was more inclined toward management and sales. During his university years, he trained in sales, marketing, and management.

After graduating, he founded Auto Clinic, a company that offered a website featuring car maintenance deals, but he was unable to market it successfully. He then received a job offer from one of the automotive companies he had been promoting on the website and joined it in 2002.

A Better Opportunity

ElFeky sought better career opportunities, but found that most companies required academic qualifications to strengthen his profile.

He attempted to enroll in an MBA program but was not accepted because of his engineering background, as the program required a business-related degree or a background in management and economics. He then obtained a diploma in marketing, and after successfully completing it, he was accepted into an MBA program.

A Job Opportunity

While pursuing his MBA, ElFeky studied alongside senior managers from multinational companies, who relied on him to handle MBA projects due to their limited time. They came to see him as a dependable professional and offered him job opportunities in their companies. He eventually joined OrasInvest, which provided services to telecom companies affiliated with Orascom in several countries.

ElFeky stayed with the company for four years. Later, management offered him a position in Algeria, but due to his family circumstances, he found that traveling at that time would be a wrong decision, so he declined the opportunity.

The Banking Sector

ElFeky moved into the banking sector by joining Bank Audi in Egypt from 2007 to 2013, where he progressed through several roles including sales, product development, customer database management, and retail lending products. He then moved to Mashreq Bank in Egypt and the UAE until 2016, before returning again to Bank Audi Egypt.

ElFeky proposed a new product idea to the bank, similar to consumer finance. His idea was that the bank would purchase the product on behalf of the customer instead of lending them cash. However, the idea was not well received by the bank.

He later joined EFG Hermes Group in 2017 as Head of Product Development, and left the group in 2021, at which time he was serving as CEO of Valu, one of the group’s companies.

Founding Sympl

ElFeky initially wanted to establish an open banking services company to serve consumer finance firms. He believed this sector had strong potential, especially after several companies obtained consumer finance licenses.

However, there were no regulations governing open banking services at the time. He therefore shifted toward buy-now-pay-later fintech solutions after identifying strong demand in the market from bank card holders for short-term installment plans for relatively low-priced but essential and frequently purchased goods and services.

Sympl was launched in October 2021, in partnership with Yasmin Mohamed Hanna and Karim Tawfik.

Empowering Merchants

Sympl enables merchants to sell their products and services to bank card holders through short-term installment plans using the customer’s existing bank card, without interest or complex procedures.

This helps merchants increase their sales, while giving customers the opportunity to better manage their expenses and reduce monthly spending by paying in 3, 4, or 5 installments, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, according to ElFeky.

He adds that Sympl’s revenue model is based on taking a merchant discount rate, in addition to charging a fixed service fee to the customer at the time of purchase, depending on the chosen payment plan.

A Network of Merchants

Since launch and until the end of 2025, the total transaction volume processed by the company reached EGP 1.5 billion, through a network of more than 4,000 online and offline points of sale across major shopping malls and e-commerce platforms.

ElFeky notes that Sympl’s merchant network offers all products and services except electronics such as computers and mobile phones. It covers essential daily needs, including clothing, shoes, accessories, light home furnishings, cosmetics, personal care products, as well as medical and educational services, fitness center subscriptions, and training courses.

Achievements

Among Sympl’s key achievements was its selection by Visa as one of 23 fintech startups to join the first cohort of the Visa International program in cooperation with Plug & Play Ventures, aimed at accelerating fintech innovation in Africa in 2023. ElFeky confirms that the company benefited from training, mentorship, support, and various perks valued at up to $200,000.

In 2024, Sympl joined the 500 Global and Creativa Innovation Hub program, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Communications, targeting Egyptian scale-up startups to support growth and open opportunities in regional markets.

In 2025, Sympl also participated in the Egyptian startup mission to Iraq, organized by Endeavor Egypt and Zain Iraq, to exchange expertise and explore cooperation opportunities with Iraqi companies.

Competitive Advantage

ElFeky emphasizes that Sympl has several competitive advantages. One of them is addressing the financing gap for products and services priced below EGP 10,000, a segment not adequately served by other financing companies. In addition, traditional consumer finance companies usually offer monthly repayment schedules, which do not suit everyone, especially freelancers whose income is not tied to a monthly cycle.

Sympl offers weekly, biweekly, or monthly plans tailored to each customer and the nature of the purchased product or service.

He adds that Sympl charges no interest to customers, which is not common among other companies except during limited-time promotional offers. Interest-free installments also align better with Egyptian and Arab culture, which generally does not support charging interest on purchases.

Challenges

Sympl faced several challenges. ElFeky notes that the first major challenge was building a team that shares the company’s long-term vision, which he was able to achieve. The second challenge was educating the market about the difference between consumer finance and the buy-now-pay-later services provided by Sympl, a challenge that still persists today.

Investments

Another major challenge was securing suitable investment, which ElFeky considers the biggest challenge. However, only one and a half months after launch, in December 2021, Sympl closed a $6 million funding round.

The round was led by Beco Capital, alongside A15 and Global Ventures, three of the region’s leading venture capital firms.

Factors Attracting Investors

ElFeky explains that the key factors that helped attract investors were the strong founding team, since investors need to trust the team’s ability to execute the vision, as well as the uniqueness of the business model, which had no direct equivalent in Egypt at the time, and the strong market potential that Sympl was able to capture.

He adds that the company was looking for investors willing to take bold bets on a new business model and with proven portfolios of successful startups, which he found in the funds that invested in Sympl.

The Company’s Plans

The company aims to expand its customer base and merchant network. It also plans to expand internationally, subject to the availability of sufficient capital to support expansion.

According to ElFeky, Sympl is currently focusing on expanding within the Egyptian market after reaching profitability by the end of 2024, noting that companies in the retail sector typically require three to four years to achieve profitability.