Safaricom has extended its M-PESA Global service to Ethiopia, enabling seamless money transfers between Kenya and Ethiopia. Powered by M-PESA International Remittance, this initiative is set to transform financial transactions between the two nations.
This expansion comes just 14 months after Safaricom entered the Ethiopian market, following the acquisition of a Payment Instrument Issuer License from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) in August 2023.
Safaricom Ethiopia, which launched in August 2022, now boasts over 4.4 million active users, with the majority of its team being Ethiopian. Safaricom’s CEO, Peter Ndegwa, expressed pride in the company’s rapid growth and its positive impact on Ethiopia’s telecommunications landscape.
” We are pleased with the commercial momentum in Ethiopia and proud that we have been able to deliver this with a Safaricom Ethiopia team that is 90 percent Ethiopian,” noted Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom Kenya.
M-PESA’s launch in Ethiopia, starting in August 2023, followed Safaricom Ethiopia’s network debut in October 2022 across Addis Ababa and 10 other cities. With Ethiopia traditionally lagging in financial services, the introduction of M-PESA is poised to revolutionize mobile money and digital payments in the country.
Elsa Muzzolini, Safaricom Ethiopia’s Chief Financial Services Officer, emphasized the importance of this collaboration, noting that M-PESA Ethiopia customers can now receive safe and affordable transfers from Kenya. “Our M-Pesa Ethiopia customers should now be able to receive safe and affordable transfers from M-Pesa Kenya thanks to this collaboration, which will further promote the region’s adoption of digital payments,”she said.
This expansion aligns with recent foreign exchange reforms by the National Bank of Ethiopia. M-PESA Global currently operates in over 190 countries, underscoring its growing reach.
Esther Waititu, Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom Kenya, highlighted the broader goal of connecting East Africa through cross-border digital payments.
The service aims to benefit Ethiopians living and working in Kenya, as well as Kenyans living and working in Ethiopia, opening new growth opportunities for small businesses and families in both countries.