Egypt, PayPort, and how one processing setup was built from Cairo to the first merchant

In 2022, the author moved to Egypt, was approached by PayPort agents with a proposal to “build a payment solution for Egypt,” and ended up helping launch a processing setup that took more than three months to get its first merchant. For high-risk PSPs, the interesting part is not the travel diary; it is how the economics, the agent model, and the re-opening under a different account shaped the business from day one.

1. Egypt became the temporary base after the author and many acquaintances left Russia in 2022. The move was initially tied to a friend’s real-estate activity, but it turned into the starting point for a payments project after PayPort agents reached out with a request to build a payment solution for Egypt.
2. The author spent three months researching Facebook, Telegram, and Reddit before finding an Egyptian specialist who later became a partner. After a meeting in Cairo, the two agreed to work together, and the author left $1.000 for the first setup expenses as a test of intent.
3. To keep the project alive before any processing volume arrived, the author combined the payments work with a side business selling carpets made from cow hides to Russia. The carpets were bought on local markets, sent to Russia through tourists, and the cash was reinvested into the payment project.
4. It took more than three and a half months before the first merchant was connected. By then the team had grown to four people: one handled operations, the author handled testing and negotiations, one Egyptian partner handled development, and another handled supply and “buying back” USDT (Tether).
5. The agent economics were brutal by the author’s account: the agents took 40% of all revenue, described as 2% out of 5%, while the first profitable month brought in $600 for the four-person team and the agents took $14.500. After negotiations failed, PayPort arranged an internal restart under a different account, adding 1% to the team and another 1% to PayPort, while the agents believed the setup had been closed.

For a high-risk operator, the useful lesson is plain: on paper the “partner” model can look like distribution, but in practice it can also mean giving away most of the margin until you control your own stack, your own account structure, and enough local relationships to stop being hostage to the middlemen.