Ghady Rayess and Sami Elloumi: Building the Infrastructure Behind Oman's Digital Payments Revolution - Business Today Middle East
FOO Co-Founder and CEO Ghady Rayess and OMPAY CEO Sami Elloumi tell Business Today Middle East what it actually takes to build a digital payments ecosystem from the ground up and why Oman is further along. . .
FOO Co-Founder and CEO Ghady Rayess and OMPAY CEO Sami Elloumi tell Business Today Middle East what it actually takes to build a digital payments ecosystem from the ground up and why Oman is further along than most people realise. This feature first appeared in theJuly 2026 issue of Business Today Middle EastWhen Ghady Rayess launched FOO in 2009, banks in the region were still deeply traditional. Checking your balance or withdrawing cash meant visiting a physical branch. The idea of a fully digital financial services platform was not just ambitious — it was premature. “I launched FOO, one of the first fintech solution providers in the region dedicated to helping banks streamline their services and enhance customer satisfaction,” he says. What followed was more than fifteen years of building the kind of infrastructure that now quietly powers some of the region’s most significant digital payment platforms. One of those platforms is OMPAY, the Oman-based digital wallet backed by Omantel and regulated by the Central Bank of Oman, for which FOO serves as the long-term technology partner. The partnership brings together two organisations with different vantage points on the same challenge: how to move a market from cash dependency to digital adoption at scale, quickly, and without losing the trust of the people it is meant to serve. For Sami Elloumi, CEO of OMPAY, the early signals from users have been more than encouraging. “What has been particularly encouraging is the way users are engaging with the platform beyond basic payments,” he says. “We are seeing growing interest in tools that help people manage their money more effectively, whether through card spending, transfers, budgeting features, or day-to-day financial tracking. ” Perhaps most revealing, he adds, has been the speed at which users have embraced the idea of having multiple financial services within a single platform. “Customers are looking for simplicity and control, and they increasingly value solutions that bring payments, transfers and money management together in one seamless experience. ”The numbers behind that appetite are significant. According to data from the Central Bank of Oman, digital payment transactions surged 150 per cent between 2024 and 2025 — a pace of growth that few markets in the region have matched. For FOO, serving as the technology backbone of a platform operating in that environment means getting the architecture right from the start. “Scalability is vital in fintech, as mobile applications need to be able to seamlessly handle more users, transactions and data, to meet demand without experiencing a decline in performance or any deterioration in customer experience,” says Rayess. FOO’s approach is built on a modular platform using microservices — what Rayess describes as a “plug and play” model that allows for flexibility and speed without sacrificing stability. Oman’s large expatriate population has made international transfers a particularly critical part of the OMPAY proposition. But Elloumi is careful to frame the remittance opportunity more broadly than the obvious narrative. “While expatriate communities represent a significant part of that demand, the need to move money across borders extends much further,” he says. “Many Omanis also rely on international transfers to support family members abroad, manage education expenses, fund travel, or meet personal commitments overseas. ” What users want, he adds, is straightforward: confidence that their money will arrive quickly, securely and at competitive rates. “Convenience matters just as much as cost. Customers appreciate being able to complete transfers directly from their mobile device, at any time, while maintaining visibility over their transaction journey. ”Financial inclusion sits at the centre of both organisations’ stated missions, but Elloumi is direct about what it actually requires in practice. “Technology alone does not solve the challenge,” he says. “The solution must be built around trust, accessibility and relevance to everyday needs. ” People do not adopt financial services because they are digital, he argues — they adopt them because they solve a real problem. “Whether that is managing spending, sending money internationally, making secure payments or helping young people build healthy financial habits, the value proposition must be clear and meaningful. Financial inclusion is therefore not a single initiative. It is the result of consistently designing products that meet people where they are. ”On the technology side, the hardest problem to solve has been onboarding. “Requiring users to complete long applications and difficult new account opening processes leads to lost business,” says Rayess. FOO’s response has been to build a fully automated digital onboarding framework powered by artificial intelligence, enabling ID document validation and KYC compliance without manual intervention. “The solution provides a fast, secure, and reliable verification process, making onboarding smooth and efficient while protecting the business by preventing financial crimes. ”The OMPAY platform’s regulatory and corporate structure has shaped how the product is developed and how partnerships are approached. Being backed by Omantel and operating under Central Bank oversight, says Elloumi, provides a foundation that allows the company to move with confidence. “Omantel brings scale, reach and a deep understanding of the local market, while the Central Bank’s regulatory framework provides the trust, security and governance that are essential in financial services. ” The result, he says, is an ability to balance innovation with reliability — every new feature must deliver genuine customer value while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance. “We view trust and innovation as complementary rather than competing priorities. Strong foundations allow us to move faster. ”For FOO, defending its position in an increasingly competitive GCC fintech landscape comes down to a combination of longevity, deep client relationships and a fully in-house build approach. “We control our roadmap and can respond to market shifts faster than platform-dependent competitors,” says Rayess. The client roster — which includes Al Maryah Bank, Benefit, Mastercard, Visa, Zain Group and MAF — reflects more than a decade of sustained regional presence. What the FOO-OMPAY partnership ultimately illustrates is something broader about how digital financial infrastructure gets built in emerging markets: not through a single breakthrough product, but through the patient assembly of trust, technology and regulatory alignment over time. Oman’s digital payments surge did not happen by accident. It was built, piece by piece, by organisations willing to do the unglamorous work of getting the foundations right. “Ultimately, trust, ease of use and relevance remain the factors that drive long-term adoption,” says Elloumi. It is a simple formula. Executing it consistently is the hard part.