Safaricom Ethiopia Goes Live with Mobile Money Service M-PESA
ADDIS ABABA – M-PESA, Safaricom Ethiopia’s Mobile Financial Services, goes live today three months after receiving the Payment Instrument Issuer License.
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) granted the License to Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services PLC, a subsidiary company owned by Safaricom Telecom Ethiopia, in May 2023.
M-PESA’s launch today comes after a three-month pilot and testing involving the completion of technical readiness, securing key partnerships with Banks, recruiting, training, and onboarding M-PESA agents.
“We are excited to go live with M-Pesa in Ethiopia and start providing Mobile Financial Services to our customers,” says Stanley Njoroge, Interim CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia.
The interim CEO has described M-Pesa as a “game-changer for financial inclusion” and said it currently provides “a safe and secure platform for transactions” services to more than 51 million customers across seven countries in Africa.
“We will continue to broaden the services our customers receive from the M-PESA platform that will improve the quality of life for our customers,” he said.
Safaricom Ethiopia has been expanding its network to additional 147 numerous towns over the past 10 months, reaching more than 4 million Customers all over Ethiopia.
All Safaricom Ethiopia customers are eligible for the services offered by M-PESA and can dial *733# on their Safaricom line both for Android and IOS. The app is currently ready in 5 languages for Android devices and available on Play Store; and will be available for IOS devices in the coming weeks.
Using M-PESA, customers can send money within the country and receive money from within the country and abroad, pay merchants, buy airtime, transfer to their bank accounts, and send money from their bank accounts to their M-PESA.
“M-Pesa is Africa’s most successful mobile money service and the region’s largest fintech platform both for the banked and unbanked due to its safety and convenience,” said Paul Kavavu, Interim General Manager of Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services Plc.
In Kenya, it has enabled the growth of financial inclusion that over 90% of the adult population has access to mobile banking, per Paul.
“We look forward to replicating this success in Ethiopia and are excited to go live with the services. In the coming months we will continue to add more functions and work with all Ethiopians to jointly realize the transformative power of M-PESA.” the Interim General Manager added.
