areeba won the Social Economic Award for Best Innovation and Technology, at an official ceremony organized by First Protocol at Casino du Liban, on December 1, 2018.

The prize was granted to salute areeba’s efforts in spreading the cashless mentality outside the capital, following the launch of “2bada Jadd” campaign last October in the Lebanese regions.

The reason behind launching this campaign was based on a recent study conducted by areeba, showing that 90% of credit card usage is centered in Beirut, while people outside the capital do not use their cards much and a lot of businesses do not own POS machines. The aim of this initiative is to spread the e-payment culture across all Lebanese regions, and incentivize individuals to use their cards, and merchants to use POS machines in their businesses.

To achieve that goal, the “2bada jadd” initiative is being promoted during a whole year, lasting 3 months in each of the 4 Mouhafazat, starting with Bekaa (October 2018), then South (January 2019), followed by North (April 2019) and finishing with Mount Lebanon (July 2019).

To motivate merchants to take part in this initiative, we gave them the chance to enter a draw to win 3 monetary prizes of 10,000 USD, 5,000 USD, and 2,500 USD for every 10 transactions performed on an areeba POS. We also offered them a free areeba POS installation, free of charge for the duration of the campaign. In parallel, we launched a campaign for cardholders inviting them to use their cards at any store equipped with an areeba POS, in the respective region, to win a trip to Istanbul. For every transaction on an areeba POS, the cardholder will get an additional chance to enter the draw to win one of 12 trips for two to Istanbul.