Paymob, the leading financial services enabler in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) has announced its partnership with Tamara, the leading shopping and payments platform in the GCC region.

The strategic partnership integrates Tamara’s buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service with Paymob’s secure gateway to power seamless payments by enabling customers to split their payments in four, without any hidden fees or interest.

Paymob’s omnichannel payments infrastructure serves 250,000 merchants in the region, while Tamara has over nine million registered users and more than 30,000 partner merchants. The agreement between two of the MENA region’s fastest growing fintech companies thus creates a payments ecosystem that enables merchants to offer more comprehensive solutions and seamless customer experiences.

While both Paymob and Tamara have partnerships with some of the region’s biggest brands, this agreement is designed to fuel the growth of SMEs, the greatest contributors to the MENA’s gross domestic product (GDP).

In a statement, Islam Shawky, co-founder and CEO of Paymob, said, “Our partnership with Tamara delivers on Paymob’s mission to fuel SME growth in the digital economy. There is a massive opportunity to enable merchants in the GCC to capitalize on the power of alternative payment methods, and we are thrilled to partner with Tamara to fuel this growth in MENA.”

Turki Bin Zarah, co-founder and CCO of Tamara, said, “This partnership with Paymob provides seamless access to Tamara’s services to thousands of SMEs to enable their growth across the region. As a leading commerce enabler, we are revolutionizing how people shop, pay, and bank, and we are thrilled to partner with Paymob as we deliver on this goal.”

For businesses of any size, comprehensive payment offerings ensure increased sales and conversions- and with Tamara’s BNPL solution, merchants gain a 40% increase in average order value, a 15% increase in online conversion rates, and a 50% increase in repeat purchases.

The addition of Tamara’s BNPL solution to Paymob’s gateway is via a simple integration that reduces merchants’ barrier to entry, and ensures transactions are processed seamlessly and securely. The partnership will initially serve merchants in KSA and the UAE in the first phase, with more countries planned to go live in later stages.

Both Tamara and Paymob are currently experiencing rapid growth fueled by recent funding. Riyadh-based Tamara secured a $150 million debt facility earlier this year from Goldman Sachs, the first deal of its kind in the region. The company is actively expanding its product lines and verticals.

Meanwhile, Paymob’s growth across the region is being driven by its 2022 Series B funding which was led by PayPal Ventures. As a result, the company expanded to the UAE in 2022, and in the second quarter of 2023, it secured the Payment Technical Service Provider (PTSP) certification from Saudi Payments, which made it fully operational in KSA.

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