Cześć Polsko! Or hello, Poland! Okoora is proud to announce its entry into the Polish market as part of its wider plans to expand across Europe by kicking off business talks with some leading Polish financial institutions and fintechs.
Poland is an ideal market to serve as the cornerstone for okoora’s expansion across Europe due to several factors. For starters, Poland is an EU member country with all the trade and economic benefits that confers, but also maintains its own currency, the zloty (PLN). This means that Polish cross-border businesses must constantly exchange money and are exposed to foreign currency risk.
Poland also has many SMEs that trade vigorously – okoora’s core audience for the platform. SMEs make up over 99% of all business in Poland and are responsible for almost half of GDP (45.3%), according to the government-led Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Exports account for around 50% of total revenue for Polish SMEs, indicating their strong integration into global trade, according to the OECD. This is significantly higher than the EU average, where exports make up about 30% of SME revenues. Similarly, imports account for around 45% of total procurement costs for Polish SMEs, on average, also according to the OECD. This reflects the heavy reliance of Polish SMEs on foreign-sourced raw materials, components, and intermediary goods.
It is clear to us at okoora that there is a need for our payments and currency risk management platform in Poland. Already, Poland is a Top 5 destination in the EU for transfers on the platform ahead of larger economies like France and Spain. We expect this will only grow with our active involvement in this market.
Not only do we want to sell to Polish companies, we also would like to benefit from highly skilled labor force and economic incentives the country offers for technological innovation. We are working on plans to open a R&D center in Poland.
Preceding our launch in Poland, okoora sponsored and participated in the Cashless Fintech event held in a renovated old power plant in Warsaw that has become a beautiful event space called Elektrownia Powiśle. The event was held to promote the launch of the Polish Fintech Map 2024 compiled by the Polish fintech news outlet Cashless.pl. Along with okoora, the event and report were co-sponsored by Mastercard. To see what other companies are on the Polish fintech map besides okoora go here (in Polish). To read more about our plans in Poland and why we chose to enter the market, go ahead and read my interview with Cashless (in Polish).
And if you are a Polish speaking sales or marketing professional based in Poland with expertise in fintech and interested in taking on the challenges of a foreign startup seeking to win over the Polish market, feel free to reach out to us.
Expect to hear more about okoora in Poland in the future.
Discover how Okoora can enhance your platform’s global capabilities.
Company News 
