M-PESA, Safaricom Ethiopia’s Mobile Financial Services, went live in August 2023 three months after receiving the Payment Instrument Issuer License from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). The license was granted to Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services PLC, a subsidiary company owned by Safaricom Telecom Ethiopia, in May 2023. M-PESA’s launch 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.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.M-Pesa is a mobile money transfer, financing and microfinancing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom and Vodacom, the largest mobile network operators in Kenya and Tanzania. It has since been launched in other countries in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania. M-Pesa allows users to deposit and withdraw money, transfer money to other users, pay for goods and services, and access loans and savings accounts. The service is particularly popular in rural areas, where it has helped to bring millions of people into the formal financial system.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.
