Author: Neel Achary

MENA Fintech Association Convenes Inaugural SHIFT B2B & Commercial Payments Sub Committee Roundtable & Launches The State of B2B Payments Report

Industry leaders identify awareness, not technology, as the primary barrier to B2B payment digitization in MENA

July 30 | Dubai, UAE — The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) convened the inaugural roundtable of its SHIFT – B2B & Commercial Payments Sub Committee, bringing together senior leaders from payment networks, banks, fintechs, acquirers, corporate payments providers, investors, and industry experts to examine the state of B2B payments across the Middle East and North Africa.

Held under the Chatham House Rule and chaired by Swapna Rege, Chair of the MFTA SHIFT Sub Committee, the session culminated in the publication of “The State of B2B Payments in MENA,” a report capturing the group’s insights and recommendations, and serving as the foundation for the Sub Committee’s future workstreams.

Participants acknowledged meaningful progress over the past decade, including banks embedding card solutions into broader corporate relationships, more sophisticated expense management tools, and faster SME digital financial inclusion driven by digital banks. Even so, participants reached strong consensus that the greatest barrier to commercial payment adoption is market awareness and ecosystem engagement, not technology. A recurring theme was that commercial card portfolios often sit within retail banking rather than transaction or corporate banking, leaving relationship managers under-incentivized to sell card solutions and disconnecting the product from the teams that own corporate treasury relationships.

Key themes included the need for dedicated, incentive-driven sales coverage, drawing comparisons to agent-led models used during India’s digitization efforts and historic American Express acceptance campaigns; deeper engagement with acquirers, who remain critical but under-engaged in driving supplier acceptance; and closer partnerships with ERP and enterprise technology providers, both as integration points for embedding card capabilities and as distribution channels for reaching corporate buyers.

Akshay Chopra, Co-Chair, MFTA SHIFT Payment Working Group, commented:

“This roundtable confirmed what many of us have suspected for some time the rails for commercial payments in MENA already exist. The real work now is building the awareness and ecosystem alignment needed to put them to use.”

The group also addressed two common myths slowing adoption: that acceptance costs near two percent are prohibitive for suppliers, when in practice this is often lower than a supplier’s cost of capital on receivables outstanding 60 or more days once financing costs and manual reconciliation are factored in; and that new verticals require bespoke products, when in many cases basic card enablement simply hasn’t been rolled out yet.

As next steps, the Sub Committee agreed to launch ecosystem-specific working sessions with corporate banks, acquirers, technology providers, fintechs, and corporate treasury leaders; develop a regional best practice playbook covering how commercial payments should be structured, priced, and mandated across banks, acquirers, and corporates; and explore a “State of B2B Payments” briefing for central banks and policymakers.

Clyde Rosanowski, Co-Chair, MFTA SHIFT Payment Working Group, commented:

“Supplier acceptance is where the next wave of B2B payments growth will come from. When suppliers understand the working capital and reconciliation benefits, acceptance follows our job is to make that case clearly and consistently.”

Swapna Rege, Chair of the MFTA SHIFT – B2B & Commercial Payments Sub Committee, commented:

“Commercial payments represent one of the most significant untapped opportunities within the financial services industry. As digital transformation accelerates across the region, success will depend not only on technology, but on stronger ecosystem collaboration, market education, and coordinated industry action. This inaugural roundtable represents the beginning of an important journey to help shape the future of B2B payments across MENA.”

The Sub Committee’s findings will now feed into MFTA’s broader regional agenda, with leadership underscoring the importance of this work to the Association’s mission.

Nameer Khan, Chairman of the MENA Fintech Association, commented:

“B2B payments represent one of the largest structural opportunities in our region’s financial ecosystem. The insights from this roundtable reinforce MFTA’s commitment to convening the right stakeholders, from banks to acquirers to technology providers, so the industry can move from awareness to action.”

The Sound of Productivity: How Audio Shapes Focus at Work

Emilio Roig – Marketing Manager, Audiodo

July 29: In today’s always-on working culture, productivity is typically framed around flexibility, digital tools, time management strategies and ergonomic setup. Organisations invest heavily in collaboration platforms, workflow software and hybrid policies all designed to optimise output.

Yet one of the most influential – and often overlooked – factors affecting performance can be sound.

The environment we work in, whether that’s a shared co-working space, open-plan office or home setup, and the acoustic conditions within that environment can have an impact on concentration, cognitive load and overall wellbeing. In short, the right sound environment can support productivity, whilst unmanaged noise can undermine performance.

The Cognitive Cost of Noise

Modern workspaces are rarely silent. Even with the rise of hybrid working, employees report that background conversations, virtual meetings and environmental noise can cause distractions and make it difficult to sustain attention.

Research has found that exposure to intelligible background speech can significantly reduce performance on tasks involving working memory and reading comprehension (Halin et al., 2021). The reason is simply neurological: our brains are hard-wired to prioritise speech. Even when a conversation is irrelevant it automatically captures attention.

This constant redirection of focus increases cognitive load and over time, that additional mental effort can contribute to fatigue and reduced efficiency – particularly in knowledge-based roles where sustained concentration is critical.

In other words, noise is not simply an annoyance. 

Reducing Fatigue in Hybrid Environments

While unmanaged noise can increase cognitive load, silence is not necessarily the answer.

Research has shown that controlled, predictable sound can positively influence mood and task engagement. Listening to self-selected music, for example, has been associated with improved focus and emotional state, leading to greater immersion in tasks and more sustained concentration (Küssner, 2020).

With this in mind, it is no coincidence that many employees turn to headphones to create their own focus zone. However, there is another key factor that is often overlooked – hearing is highly individual.

A recent report from the World Health Organisation highlighted the increasing prevalence of subtle hearing variations across the working population. Even minor differences in frequency sensitivity can affect how clearly audio is perceived. When sound is not optimised for the listener, the brain works harder to interpret detail and balance which often results in listening fatigue. 

In a working world where employees may spend hours on calls or virtual meetings, this strain can become significant.

The Role of Personalised Sound

This is where personalised sound technology is emerging as part of a broader movement towards adaptive technology. 

Rather than treating audio as a one size fits all solution, software developers such as Sweden-based Audiodo are using hearing profiling to create an individual audio calibration which is then applied directly within compatible devices. Rather than simply increasing volume to overcome distractions, it fine-tunes frequencies to match the listener’s unique sensitivities in each ear. By tailoring sound to the individual, personalised audio can reduce unnecessary listening effort and help to support clearer, more comfortable communication throughout the working day.

Reducing listening fatigue is not just about comfort – it can have an impact on mental endurance, meaning cognitive capacity remains available for analysis, creativity and decision-making. 

A Smarter Approach to Productivity

As organisations continue refining hybrid models and investing in employee wellbeing and performance, the acoustic dimension of work deserves greater attention.

Cognitive wellbeing and the ability to sustain focus, manage mental load and avoid burnout is increasingly a part of modern workplace design. From lighting to air quality, companies are examining environmental factors that can shape performance – and audio deserves equal consideration. 

With research in workplace acoustics and cognitive psychology showing that intelligible background speech can reduce task performance and increase mental fatigue, while controlled or self-selected audio can support engagement and sustained attention (Jahncke et al., 2021; Halin et al., 2021), the future of productivity may not lie in eliminating sound altogether; but in managing it strategically and recognising that each employee hears and works differently.

By acknowledging the power of sound in cognitive performance and looking to embrace technologies that adapt to the individual, organisations can create environments where focus is supported, energy is preserved and productivity feels sustainable rather than forced.

In an increasingly competitive landscape, that may prove to be a sound investment.