Areeba launches first
digital and cashless society

Beirut Digital District promotes cashless culture

Areeba, working with Beirut Digital District (BDD), has launched the country’s first cashless ecosystem by allowing BDD community members, through a mobile application, to make payments to individuals and entities operating within the community without the use of cash.

Mouhamad Rabah, General Manager at BDD, said that the application allows 1,500 members in BDD to digitize their payments. Nearly 25 percent of the members switched from cash to seamless mobile payments during a trial period of two weeks. BDD aims to digitize 80 percent of its processed payments, Rabah said.

Ramzi Saboury, Chief Commercial Officer at Areeba, said that this initiative is a prototype for future projects. Areeba is negotiating with several universities to create similar cashless communities. Saboury said that cashless societies decrease the cost and risk associated with cash payments, and ensure a secure payment environment for retailers and customers.

The payment application works with various BDD services such as restaurants and facility management dues, optimizing BDD’s back-office processes. Rabah said this will ensure a smooth scale up into BDD’s next phases.

To encourage others to go cashless, BDD is urging developers and startups within its community to promote cashless payment processes to their clients.

Areeba is an electronic payment technology company owned by M1 Group. Acquired from Bank Audi in 2017, Areeba provides payment solutions, an e-commerce platform, and point-of-sale (PoS) technologies to banks, governments, and merchants.

BDD is a cluster designed for the local digital and creative community. It caters to startups and technology SMEs through value added services and enhanced infrastructure.