As the adoption of digital commerce accelerates across the GCC, Network International’s CEO, Murat Cagri Suzer, underlines why infrastructure – not payments – is key for SME growth.
SMEs and Diversification
Across the Middle East and North Africa, SMEs are playing an increasingly central role in economic diversification, job creation and the development of more resilient economies.
From Vision 2030 and the UAE’s entrepreneurship agenda, governments are creating new opportunities for SMEs. Yet SMEs require the appropriate framework to support growth in a digital age.
As the region’s leading fintech company, Network International aims to build the infrastructure to make this happen by connecting SMEs to consumers, banks, telcos, fintechs and governments across the GCC. In doing so, Network aims to bridge the gap between SMEs and sustainable growth.
Financial Inclusion
Through secure technology and seamless payment experiences, the firm is accelerating financial inclusion while supporting businesses of all sizes with tailored products and services in over 50 countries, serving thousands of financial institutions and hundreds of thousands of merchants.
With the support of government authorities, the firm is collaborating on UAE initiatives including Aani, Jaywan and the Dubai Cashless Strategy to support homegrown SMEs in the Emirates.
SME participation in the digital economy depends on infrastructure that connects banks, fintechs, regulators and government platforms.
Digital Payments as Digital Infrastructure
Seamless technology is essential for SMEs as they scale up while maintaining security. Merchants can manage physical and digital sales channels through a single, integrated infrastructure with built-in tools such as fraud prevention, data analytics and settlement services.
Features at Network International, such as the My Network App, brings these functions together and gives visibility over revenue and business trends, simplifying day-to-day operations, improving cash flow and freeing business owners to spend less time managing payments and more time growing their businesses.
Simplifying SME Support
Supporting SMEs is a priority in the GCC yet digital adoption can incur costs. For many smaller businesses, adopting digital technology is less about willingness and more about overcoming cost, complexity and limited resources. Technology helps SMEs solve everyday business challenges, compete in an increasingly digital marketplace while making agile, more informed decisions.
As SMEs become more digital, they expect more than a way to accept payments — they want tools to manage cash flow, understand customer behaviour, access financing more easily and operate with greater confidence.
The firm has an array of payment products designed to help SMEs accept payments across multiple channels which include but are not limited to digital wallets, card payments, payment links, online checkout, contactless payment acceptance, omnichannel payment capabilities, and merchant acquiring and payment processing services.
These solutions enable SMEs to serve customers across physical and digital channels while simplifying payment acceptance. Network has evolved beyond payment processing to become an insight-led fintech, helping businesses unlock more value from their payments through data, analytics and integrated financial services.
Therefore, we make it easier for businesses to get started. Through a simple digital onboarding process, SMEs can begin accepting payments within 24 hours and choose from a wide range of payment methods available in the market from cards and digital wallets to payment links, online checkout, contactless acceptance and emerging digital payment options.
This flexibility helps merchants serve more customers, reduce friction at checkout, and transact with confidence across multiple channels.
Beyond Payments
Solutions extend beyond enabling payments to create more value around each transaction.
Slice by Network allows eligible customers to split purchases into interest-free instalments through Network’s existing payment infrastructure helping merchants improve instalments through the firm’s existing payment infrastructure which improves sales conversion, increases average transaction values, encourages repeat purchases and supports cash flow through faster settlement.
Tap to Pay on iPhone is one example, enabling merchants to securely accept contactless payments directly on an iPhone without additional hardware. A small business can use a smartphone to accept contactless payments, send a secure payment link or invoice without building a website, and monitor sales and settlements all in one place on the My Network App.
For SMEs, the real barrier is also complexity — not a lack of an appetite. Our role is to remove that complexity: accepting payments through a smartphone, sending a payment link, or giving merchants live visibility over sales and settlements. Simpler processes mean business owners spend less time on payments and more time on their customers.
Payment Acceptance to Business Enablement
Payments should be treated as a driver of business growth, not simply a method of collecting revenue. My Network App helps merchants access insights about their businesses and consumer behaviours daily enabling them to upscale, upskill, competitively benchmark and improve their business processes.
Payment data gives SMEs insights into customer behaviour, sales performance, and cash flow, helping business owners make more informed decisions and identify opportunities for growth.
As SMEs digitise, the firm is building integrated solutions that combine payment acceptance with analytics, operational insights and business management tools — turning payment data into practical outcomes that help merchants improve cash flow, operate more efficiently, and spend less time managing payments and more time growing their business.
Digital Payments as Resilience
The recent regional geopolitical volatility and tensions affecting business operations reinforced the importance of payments as essential infrastructure. Businesses with access to secure digital payment capabilities were better positioned to maintain operations, continue serving customers and adapt as activity shifted between physical and digital channels.
Capabilities such as e-commerce, payment links and remote payment acceptance support business continuity, allowing SMEs to continue trading during periods of disruption. Our key SME value proposition includes unified billing, payments and reporting, reduced manual processes, lower operating costs, improved business visibility, easier reconciliation, and e-invoicing readiness.
Collaboration Across Payment System
Collaboration with governments, regulators, banks, fintechs and merchants to support the development of the region’s payments ecosystem, including Jaywan, Aani, Central Bank is crucial. These collaborations strengthen digital payment infrastructure, expand financial inclusion, and support greater SME participation in the digital economy.
AI, digital wallets and regulated digital currencies will increasingly run on shared infrastructure, not separate systems. Our role is to be that infrastructure – so SMEs can adopt new payment capabilities without adding operational complexity.
Network has partnered with 7 regional banks and a fintech to extend this focus on supporting SMEs beyond payment acceptance. Partnerships with banks expand access to embedded digital lending for eligible merchants while the RAKBANK collaboration combines merchant acquiring with value-added payment solutions to help SMEs adopt digital commerce more easily across the Gulf.
SME participation in the digital economy depends on infrastructure that connects banks, fintechs, regulators and government platforms. That’s the role we play — making digital payments, financing and business services accessible through a single, connected infrastructure layer.
Network International and SMEs
Network expects SMEs to increasingly manage payments, financing, settlements and business insights through connected digital platforms rather than separate systems.
Artificial intelligence is expected to play a growing role — automating routine tasks, strengthening fraud prevention, providing predictive insights, and helping merchants personalise customer experiences while making operations more efficient.
Businesses will increasingly benefit from infrastructure that supports a wider range of payment methods, including digital wallets, regulated digital currencies and emerging payment solutions.
Network aims to bridge the gap between SMEs and sustainable growth. Simplifying the complexities of digital adoption is key for SME growth in the GCC.
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