Question: John Collison, is an Irish entrepreneur, and is best known for having co-founded Stripe, a US technology company operating in over how many countries, that allows both private individuals and businesses to accept payments over the Internet?
Context: The private security industry in South Africa is an industry providing guarding, monitoring, armed reaction, escorting, investigating and other security-related services to private individuals and companies in the country.  Over the years there has been tremendous growth in the private security industry, not only in South Africa, but also in the rest of the world.  The private security industry in South Africa is among the largest in the world, with over 9,000 registered companies, 450,000 registered active private security guards and a further 1.5 million qualified (but inactive) guards; many times the available personnel than the combined South African police and army.  Studies have shown that South Africa had 2.57 private security personnel for every police employee.  This is attributed by some to the country's relatively high levels of crime to a lack of public funds from Parliament towards the South African Police Service (SAPS) or to an increasing trend in many countries towards government outsourcing of certain security functions.  Others have suggested the number of high-wealth individuals in South Africa in comparison with the rest of Africa has led to the growth of the industry. John Collison (born 1990) is an Irish entrepreneur.  He is best known for having co-founded Stripe with his brother, Patrick.  The brothers are worth at least $1.1 billion each, after San Francisco-based Stripe raised $150 million from CapitalG, an investment division of Google parent company Alphabet, and General Catalyst Partners. Eduardo Abeliuk (born in Santiago, Chile) is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technologist.  He co-founded TeselaGen Biotech, a Synthetic Biology company based in San Francisco that emerged as a spin-off from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  He also founded ClassroomTV - an Educational technology company operating in Latin America - and KissMe, one of the early viral Facebook applications. Payonline is an international e-commerce payment system founded in 2009.  The company is one of the three biggest internet payment service providers in Russia and a member of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications.  The Payonline system provides clients (websites and mobile apps) with the ability to accept payments made via Visa and MasterCard bank cards as well as using electronic money ("Qiwi", "WebMoney", "Yandex.Money"). Android Pay is a digital wallet platform developed by Google to power in-app and tap-to-pay purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets or watches.  Android Pay uses near field communication (NFC) to transmit card information facilitating funds transfer to the retailer.  It replaces the credit or debit card chip and PIN or magnetic stripe transaction at point-of-sale terminals by allowing the user to upload these in the Android Pay wallet.  It is similar to contactless payments already used in many countries, with the addition of two-factor authentication.  The service lets Android devices wirelessly communicate with point of sale systems using a near field communication (NFC) antenna, host-based card emulation (HCE), and Android's security. A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in multiple ways, typically debit or credit cards.  A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions.  In some cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant agreement.  Whether a merchant enters into a merchant agreement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator, the agreement contractually binds the merchant to obey the operating regulations established by the card associations. Businesses with more informal connections within the government receive preferential treatment navigating through Egypt's complex regulatory framework, providing a disincentive for competition.  An inefficient and sporadically enforced legal system and a widespread culture of corruption leave businesses reliant on the use of middlemen known as wasta, to operate, and well-connected businesses enjoy privileged treatment.  Facilitation payments are an established part of 'getting things done', despite irregular payments and gifts being criminalized.  Facilitation payments are regarded as bribery in many countries, which prevents many foreign entities from financial involvement with Egypt since they are a required part of doing business.  Corruption makes the costs of both local goods as well as imports higher, decreasing the purchasing power of individuals which magnifies poverty. Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988), is an Irish entrepreneur from County Limerick.  He is the co-founder and CEO of Stripe, which he started with his younger brother, John, in 2010.  He won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 at the age of sixteen.  He lives in San Francisco, California.  The brothers are now worth at least $1.1 billion each after San Francisco-based Stripe raised $150 million from CapitalG, an investment division of Google parent company Alphabet, and General Catalyst Partners. Stripe is a US technology company operating in over 25 countries, that allows both private individuals and businesses to accept payments over the Internet.  Stripe focuses on providing the technical, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure required to operate on-line payment systems. Paymentwall Inc. is a San Francisco-based international payments platform that allows both private individuals and businesses to sell goods and services over the Internet.
Answer: 25