M-Pesa Goes Live In Ethiopia After 3 Months Of Piloting

M-PESA, Safaricom Ethiopia’s Mobile Financial Services, goes live today three months after receiving the Payment Instrument Issuer License from the National Bank of Ethiopia.

In preparation for launch, M-PESA has undergone a rigorous three-month pilot and testing, completed the technical readiness, secured key partnerships with Banks, and recruited, trained, and onboarded M-PESA agents.

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 the 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.

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“We are excited to go live with M-Pesa in Ethiopia and start providing Mobile Financial Services to our customers. M-Pesa is known to be a game-changer for financial inclusion and provides services to more than 51 million customers across seven countries in Africa offering a safe and secure platform for transactions. We will continue to broaden the services our customers receive from the M-PESA platform which will improve the quality of life for our customers. M-PESA will play its part in fast-tracking Digital Inclusion and promote innovation outlined in the Digital Payments Strategy 2025.” says Stanley Njoroge, Interim CEO of Safaricom Ethiopia.

“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. It also provides financial services to millions of people who have mobile phones, but do not have bank accounts, or only have limited access to banking services. In Kenya, it has enabled the growth of financial inclusion that over 90% of the adult population has access to mobile banking. 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.” says Paul Kavavu, Interim General Manager of Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services PLC.

Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services PLC (Private Limited Company) is Safaricom Ethiopia’s licensed and wholly owned subsidiary.

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