Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib on CEO LEVEL: The XPay Story
Exclusive interview with XPay founder Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib on building one of Egypt's leading fintechs, from a family-wallet idea to a gateway growing 350% year-over-year.
In a new episode of the CEO LEVEL podcast, host Hazem Sherif sits down with Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib, CEO and founder of XPay, one of Egypt's most prominent fintech companies. Abdel-Muttalib unpacks his journey from chemistry and nanotechnology research into entrepreneurship, and how a personal family story sparked the idea for XPay before it pivoted into a payment gateway growing at more than 350% year-over-year, with revenue targets exceeding one billion EGP in 2025.
From Chemistry to Entrepreneurship: Meet the Guest
Hazem Sherif: Today's guest is a multi-dimensional figure who has succeeded in more than one field, Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib, CEO and founder of XPay. Welcome. Introduce yourself.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I'm the co-founder of XPay, my first company in the fintech space. By background I'm a chemist, a graduate of the Faculty of Science at Ain Shams University, class of 1997. I then moved to Belgium for my master's and doctorate, earning my PhD in 2002 from KU Leuven (the Catholic University of Leuven), with research in Nanotechnology. In 2003 I moved to Germany as a postdoc at Ulm University, then worked as an Assistant Professor and visiting professor at Chemnitz University. I returned to Egypt in 2006.
Hazem Sherif: Why did you come back to Egypt?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Egypt is a land of opportunity. That was my personal conviction. I saw enormous opportunities here. When I came back, I founded a nanotechnology company.
Sabry Corp: Egypt's First Nanotechnology Consultancy (2006)
Hazem Sherif: Before joining Egypt IBM you founded a company. What was its name, and what did it do?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: It was called Sabry Corp, and it offered consulting services in nanotechnology.
Hazem Sherif: In 2006, you had a nanotechnology consulting firm in Egypt? Who were your clients?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: One of our earliest clients was the Nagaa Hammadi Aluminum Company.
Hazem Sherif: Hold on. In 2006, you walked into a state-owned company like Nagaa Hammadi Aluminum and told them you'd opened a nanotechnology consulting firm, and you were roughly thirty years old? What did the chairman say?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Honestly, we didn't pitch it that way. We went in talking about energy loss in their furnaces, and how the right solutions could save large amounts of energy.
Hazem Sherif: And how does that relate to nanotechnology?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: The insulation materials used in those furnaces are nano-engineered. "Nano" is just a unit of measurement, much like nobody today calls processors "micro technology," even though they technically are. We focused the conversation on the business outcome for the client: energy savings and lower costs.
Hazem Sherif: Did the project go ahead?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We started the studies. Furnace insulation projects take years, not three or four months. With the events of 2011, the project didn't go through because the state's priorities shifted. But we worked with many clients: private-sector firms, state-owned companies, and medical groups. One project was developing medical-grade wall insulation for operating rooms to raise hygiene standards.
Hazem Sherif: Were you importing or manufacturing those materials?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Neither. We worked as consultants to the companies that wanted to apply the technology. As a neutral party, I'd survey the market for the best products and assess them for the client, whether a hospital or a factory.
Nile University: Founding the Nano Research Center and Master's Program
Hazem Sherif: After the consulting firm, what came next?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I joined Nile University, first as an advisor, then as a visiting professor. I founded the Nanotechnology Research Center and the Master's program in Nanotechnology at the university.
Hazem Sherif: What year was that?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We started in 2009 and received approvals from the Supreme Council of Universities in 2010. We secured roughly USD 2.5 million in funding for the lab and received half a million of it. Then the revolution happened, alongside the well-known Nile University / Zewail dispute, and the rest of the funding didn't come through. I had 35 master's students; 32 graduated. All 32 are now professors, at universities ranging from Korea to the U.S. to Germany.
Big Data and AI: A Second Venture with Dr. Mostafa Ghanem
Hazem Sherif: After Nile University and the nano consultancy, what was the path that led you to XPay?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: By 2012 it was very difficult to keep the nano consultancy running, so we shut it down after five strong years. Most of our clients were large corporates and government entities, and amid the regional turmoil, R&D priorities disappeared from the radar. With the late Dr. Mostafa Ghanem, also a professor at Nile University, we founded a Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence company in 2011. It started inside the university, then we spun it off. We offered online data analysis services for any organization that cared about understanding public sentiment.
Hazem Sherif: And what happened to that company?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Sadly Dr. Mostafa Ghanem passed away in 2014. He was the technology backbone of the company. We also had a third partner, Dr. Mohamed Abu El-Hoda. After Dr. Mostafa's passing, the business struggled, and I had personal circumstances. In 2017 we closed the company. And in 2018, I launched XPay.
The Birth of XPay: From an Ice-Cream Story to a Family Wallet
Hazem Sherif: After closing your previous company in 2017, what did you decide to do?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I decided to start XPay. It had been a dream since 2014. My daughter was six years old at the time, and after an argument over how many ice creams she could have a day...
Hazem Sherif: Were you parenting your daughter using ice-cream units, rewards and punishments measured in ice cream?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Not exactly rewards and punishments. We used ice cream as a unit of value because she loved it. If she broke something or lost something, we'd say, "That's worth 10 ice creams," or "20 ice creams." She started to internalize the value of things through that unit. After one argument about how many she could have in a day, she actually asked me for a credit card, at six years old. That was the moment. I knew I had to find a better solution to teach her what money is, what a budget is, and how to think about value. Not at six, but the principle had to start somewhere. In 2014, however, the legislation in Egypt didn't allow what we wanted to build: a financial product that lets young people transact under the parents' supervision.
Hazem Sherif: So the whole story started with searching for a financial tool that kids, your daughter included, could use under parental oversight, while also learning how to budget?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Exactly. Freedom, but under supervision. That's what we were trying to build. So we started XPay in 2018 to make it happen.
Hazem Sherif: When you brought in the team and investors, what did you tell them the company would do?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: It would offer a family wallet. The parents, the adults, would have full control and authority. Each child or family member would have their own wallet, card, or account, with their own spending limit. We could set a family budget and manage it. That was the founding idea behind XPay.
Hazem Sherif: Why did you name it XPay?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I come from a scientific background, and the letter "X" represents the unknown, the thing you're trying to find a solution for. It carries a lot of meaning. I also loved the visual shape of the letter, I'm into fonts and design, and I was involved in the branding, which came out nicely. The name also gives us flexibility to expand into many different areas as a company.
The Pivot: From Family Wallet to Payment Gateway
Hazem Sherif: You launched the company in 2018, were you a sole founder or with partners?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I had a co-founder, who exited the company in 2019.
Hazem Sherif: And you decided to search for a family-focused solution. What happened next?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We realized executing the original idea was very difficult given Egypt's regulatory environment at the time, the legislation simply wasn't there yet. So we made what's called a "pivot." Our conviction was that financial empowerment is a basic right for every individual, child or adult, business owner or consumer, anywhere in society. Access to financial technology and financial thinking is what lets people move forward in life. We see this as a fundamental human right. Drawing on what we had learned during those two years, we saw plenty of problems on the merchant side, especially around collecting payments. So the pivot was to become a payment gateway serving the merchant. We initially focused on schools, universities, and clubs, places where young people are concentrated. So we didn't really move away from youth. We enabled merchants and entrepreneurs to move faster and collect their money more efficiently.
Hazem Sherif: So the first iteration was a B2C payment tool, from consumer to business. What was the actual tool?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: It was a payment method. We collect money from the consumer using whichever method they prefer, wallet, credit card, bank account, or any transfer mechanism, and route it as a payment gateway to the merchant. We focused heavily on small merchants and freelancers, single-person businesses, so they could collect funds quickly and in an organized way. One of their biggest pain points was the lack of transparency: how much does the platform take? How much does the bank take? How much actually arrives? And the consistency of settlements, because we collect the money and then transfer it to the merchant. Settlement delays were a major complaint in the market. So we focused on solving those issues, and that became our foundation.
Early Funding: Half a Million Dollars in 2019
Hazem Sherif: Once you decided the first idea wasn't going to work, how much capital had you raised?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We raised about USD 500K in our first round when we started in 2019.
Hazem Sherif: Was it from a structured funding round, seed investors, or venture capital?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: All of the above. We had angel investors, family and friends, and VC money.
Hazem Sherif: And after two years you told them the original path was a dead end. So what was the pivot toward?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Payment gateways.
Hazem Sherif: How did the payment gateway business evolve?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: In 2021 we received our first license from the Central Bank of Egypt, the license to operate as a Payment Service Provider and Payment Facilitator.
Understanding Egypt's Electronic Payments Landscape
Hazem Sherif: People may see this business as a bit opaque. There are many activities that fall under "electronic payments," Fawry, eFinance, and others. Can you break down the different activities in the space?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Electronic payments are part of fintech. One part of fintech is regulated by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), covering insurance, lending, consumer finance, and non-banking financial activities. The other part is electronic payments, which falls under the Central Bank of Egypt. Over the past 5 to 6 years, the Central Bank has invested significant effort in updating the regulatory framework to protect both citizens and the companies operating in the space.
Hazem Sherif: I'm specifically asking about the activities under the "electronic payments" umbrella, not the gateway license alone.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Sure. The activities include: card payments (credit and debit cards issued by banks), wallet payments (bank-issued wallets and telecom-issued wallets), network-based payments (Fawry, Aman, and similar), and consumer-finance payments (ValU, Souhoola, and other BNPL providers). All of them are licensed under "payment methods." There's also prepaid card issuance, and a separate vertical called Bill Presentment, apps where you can view and pay electricity, water, and other bills from a single interface. That's known as a Technical Aggregator, or payment service aggregator. There's also a newer license, Remittance Aggregator, for inbound remittances from Egyptians abroad, which can then be distributed across various local payout points.
Hazem Sherif: Where exactly does XPay operate within this landscape?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We are licensed to process credit and debit cards. We hold licenses as both a Payment Service Provider (PSP) and a Payment Facilitator (PF). We process electronic wallets. And we are currently awaiting our Card Issuance License, which will bring us back to the original family-wallet idea (the ice-cream story).
How XPay Works: A Sports-Club Example
Hazem Sherif: Walk me through the experience as if I'm the consumer (C). Let's say it's a sports club.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: You're a member of a club, and you pay for a subscription, a trip, a booking, or any in-club fee. I sign a contract with the club and provide it with a secure, licensed technology platform. Through that platform, the club can present you, as a member, with the dues you owe. You then choose how to pay, credit card, wallet, or any other available method, enter your details, and complete the transaction.
Hazem Sherif: So would the user download an app called "Al Ahly Club" or "XPay"?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Currently, it's branded as the club itself, "Al Ahly Club," for example. Or it could be a web payment page. It doesn't have to be an app. The product is white-labeled: we provide the technology, and the merchant brands it. Separately, we have our own consumer app called XPay, for which we recently obtained the Bill Presentment license, so users will be able to pay their various bills directly from it.
Hazem Sherif: So you'll operate the XPay brand as a consumer app where people can run their financial errands, like a digital corner-store?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Exactly.
Growth Philosophy: Unit Economics Over the Burn Model
Hazem Sherif: That USD 500K, presumably you burned through most of it during those first two years. What did you do next?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We decided to focus on the relationship between us and our customers. If you raise from VCs in particular, you're pressured to grow at any cost, that's the "burn model." With all due respect to that model, we chose a different one: to grow soundly through unit economics. On a per-transaction basis, we don't lose money. That lets us grow consistently and sustainably without needing external funding, which is exactly what we've done over the past three years. It was a deliberate decision.
Hazem Sherif: So who's funding the company today?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: The existing shareholders are funding the operation.
Hazem Sherif: How much capital has been injected during this period?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Roughly EGP 40 million, on top of the original USD 500K.
2024 Numbers: 350% Growth and Revenue Above EGP 200 Million
Hazem Sherif: Let's look at the 2024 picture. What's the company's paid-in capital on paper? What were the revenues? Are you profitable?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: In 2024 we achieved 350% growth in payments volume compared to 2023. Our customer base grew by 75%. Our transaction acceptance rate exceeded 83%. These are all indicators of strong, consistent growth. We also doubled the team, we went from 12 to 13 full-time employees in 2023 to 25 in 2024. Our growth, relative to the resources we used, was clear and powerful. Our plan this year is to push that further, from 350% to a target of 500 to 600% growth, roughly five times what we did last year.
Hazem Sherif: That still doesn't answer my question about revenue. What was it in 2024?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Revenue came in above EGP 200 million for 2024. That translated into strong return-on-investment metrics for the business. We're very happy with what we've achieved.
Hazem Sherif: And what was the total transaction volume (TPV)? How many billions in transfers generated that EGP 200 million in revenue?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I don't have the exact figure top of mind, but our take rate is typically in the 1 to 2% range. The metric we focus on most is customer growth and customer retention. Our churn rate is below 1%, which validates that our customer-centric approach keeps clients with us for the long term.
2025 Plans: Targeting EGP 1 Billion Without External Funding
Hazem Sherif: So if you're talking about a 500% target, you're aiming for about EGP 1 billion in revenue in 2025. What about profitability?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: We're targeting roughly EGP 200 million in profit as a working number.
Hazem Sherif: When will there be a qualitative shift on the funding side? You took early funding from AFG in 2018, correct?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Yes. AFG came in in 2018 and remains a shareholder today.
Hazem Sherif: And who are the current founders? Are you the sole founder now?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Currently I'm the sole founder. There are other shareholders alongside me.
Hazem Sherif: What's your ownership percentage roughly?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: I hold the majority, the controlling stake, with several other shareholders at smaller percentages.
Hazem Sherif: From a business standpoint, do you need new funding in the period ahead?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: Honestly, we don't. Our plan is to continue through 2025 without raising new capital. That allows us to hit our growth targets while avoiding dilution for the current shareholders. We're confident we can do it. We are not raising in 2025 in any form.
Competition and the Size of the Egyptian Payments Market
Hazem Sherif: Who are your competitors?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: The market is large, with a respectable number of competitors, large players like Fawry, and smaller players in the space. We believe their presence helps the market grow. We're convinced the Egyptian market still has significant headroom. At least 30 to 40% of the market still runs on cash rather than digital, some studies suggest as much as 60 to 70%, but official data points to 30 to 40%. That's a huge portion of the Egyptian economy, more than enough to support many competitors. We also collaborate closely with some "competitors" on specific deals, transactions, or merchant-acquisition opportunities. We grow together, and growth across multiple players ultimately expands the market.
Hazem Sherif: My question is: do you intend to keep growing the way you are, or could there be M&A activity? With EGP 200 million in revenue last year, Fawry isn't really a peer. Why not merge with another player doing EGP 200 million and a third doing similar, to create a real competitor to Fawry?
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib: [The conversation continues in the next part of the episode...]
Source
This article is an edited transcript of the episode "XPay reveals to CEO LEVEL its journey from addressing small families to enterprises," from the CEO LEVEL podcast hosted by Hazem Sherif, Editor-in-Chief of Almal Newspaper. Listen to the full episode here: