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Year after year, Singapore continues to be the preferred incorporation option for international businesses, especially technology startups and high growth ventures. Read more on the reasons here.
Dayra is among those international startups that decided to take the bold step and incorporate their business in Singapore. Since then, things have only been looking up
We had a chat with Dayra Founder, Omar Ekram on what spurred him to build his startup, what their journey with Y Combinator was like, and how Aspire has helped their business grow to greater heights.
Dayra’s beginnings and challenges
Dayra is a startup helping Egyptian companies of all sized provide instant, hassle free, and fairly priced financial services to their unbanked workforce and customers via APIs The idea behind the company started as a solution to a persistent problem in Egypt: financial exclusion of millions of individuals due to inefficient infrastructure in the financial services space
“During my previous jobs, I got to see the limited or non-existent financial service infrastructure leading to limited access to finance for the vast majority of the Egyptian population”
Only 30% of 105 million Egyptians are banked. The lack of banking infrastructure led to a downward spiral effect, leaving many locals reliant on cash transactions, which makes payment disbursement incredibly difficult for many businesses.
In addition to this, it also hinders access to credit, leaving people with no choice but to borrow money from friends, relatives and even loan sharks or to go to micro-finance institutions, known for tedious manual investigations, high rejection rates, and costly fees.
After observing these issues firsthand, Omar took matters into his own hands and started Dayra from the ground up. Today, they help many businesses in Egypt with the APIs to disburse payments to their employees, provide financial services such as virtual bank accounts, productive loans, and early access to income. They are working on building alternative credit scores for their end-users.
The Y Combinator Experience
Before embarking on any business venture on such a large scale, you will need all the help you can get, especially with finances. Y Combinator is no stranger to helping startups with funding their business ideas and Dayra has had the opportunity to work alongside them.
“Being part of YC has been an exciting journey. YC has an unmatched team of partners who are working very closely with us, in addition to an unparalleled alumni network who have been very supportive and helpful. I think every startup would benefit tremendously from YC.”
With invaluable advice on fundraising, developing effective go to market strategies, and analysing the product-market fit, Y Combinator has become a great help and contributor to Dayra’s success today.
Seeing the business take off locally has encouraged Omar and his team to take the next step and enter the global stage: incorporating in Singapore.
The Journey of Incorporating in Singapore
Just like most entrepreneurs and modern business owners who are looking for a stable landing ground to establish their company, Omar also chose to incorporate in Singapore due to the ease of doing business. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Singapore’s global position provides founders with a stable pro-business environment to work in, which is key for any company when incorporating overseas.
However, this also meant having to overcome another inevitable obstacle: finding the right finance partner.
Searching for the Right Finance Partner and Discovering Aspire
The journey towards finding the right finance partner was no easy feat for Omar and his team.
“Getting acquainted with the financial system in any new country is very hard. We embarked on a long and in-depth analysis of potential partners."
After seeking feedback from countless service providers, they found Aspire to be the only constant between the various recommendations they received.
Dayra team was looking for a fully-online and streamlined finance solution to conduct its operations remotely, which is precisely what Aspire delivers to its customers.
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“Our experience with Aspire was seamless; with the onboarding process taking a few minutes to complete with clear instructions and help for each step.”
Dayra has benefited greatly from Aspire with a fast online onboarding process, no hidden fees or additional charges, and 100% digital and free business account opening.
Let Us Help You Grow Your Business
No matter where you are in the world, we are here to help you grow your startup each step of the way. Every day, we support thousands of customers just like Dayra and are committed to doing the same for your business.
With Aspire Kickstart, you can finally incorporate and launch your business in Singapore no matter where you are in just ~5 days. We’ve streamlined the entire process for you, so you don’t have to deal with paperwork, unnecessary forms, and hidden fees.
Want to know how to kickstart your next business venture?
