By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 29 January 2022:
Libya’s Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Al-Hwej, commended the new Innovation Centre inaugurated today in Tripoli by Trans Sahara and the Tadawul Financial Group (both private companies and part of the HB Group).
The Minister was giving the keynote speech at the launch event for the Innovation Centre in the presence of the Director General of the Economic and Social Development Council, representatives of commercial banks, several foreign diplomatic missions to Libya, and a group of business leaders, investors and interested parties.
In commending the new venture, the Minister praised the efforts of companies and their national workforce of administrators and engineers in charge of its implementation. He highlighted the event as part of Libya’s continuing digital and financial transformation and efforts to keep pace with information development. He admitted that Libya’s banking sector was slow and needed much updating.
The Minister said the event launch was the basis for the establishment of the modern state and the elimination of administrative and financial corruption in the traditional administration, noting that this step supports the state in moving towards a knowledge economy with national cadres with the ability to lead Libya to its next developmental phase.
The Innovation Centre includes a centre for the printing, customization, and coding services for debit/credit cards within Libya. TransSahara/Tadawul say they are the first local company officially authorised by Mastercard to do so within Libya. This would do away with local banks having to print their cards abroad – as they currently do – saving time and cost to banks and their clients.
The event also marked the launch of the two company’s database and information centre, and a rehabilitation and training centre in partnership with several local and international companies. The company was proud of the fact that despite Coronavirus protocols of their foreign partners preventing trainers from being physically present in Libya, the Libyan workforce was able to launch the Innovation Centre in a very short period, working remotely using virtual communication means.
