M-PESA services officially kicked off in Ethiopia yesterday after Safaricom Ethiopia got a nod from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
The mobile financial service had undergone a three-month pilot and testing in the country as it made strides to secure partnerships with banks in addition to training and recruiting M-PESA agents.
Safaricom Ethiopia customers can now access M-PESA services via Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code *733# or via an App that offers five languages already available on Play Store and will be available on IOS in the coming weeks.
As a result of the launch, Safaricom Ethiopia customers will be able to send money within the country and receive money from within the country and abroad and pay merchants.
In addition to that, they will also be able to buy airtime, transfer money to their bank accounts, and send money from their bank accounts to their M-PESA wallets.
“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,” said Safaricom Ethiopia Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stanley Njoroge.
Read: Safaricom Increase Daily M-PESA Transaction Limit To Ksh500,000
He further noted that the telco will continue to expand its services in the country as the mobile financial service seeks to improve the quality of life for its customers.
“M-PESA will play its part in fast tracking Digital Inclusion and promote innovation outlined in the Digital Payments Strategy 2025,” he added.
With over 90 per cent of the Kenyan adult population accessing mobile banking services, the telco seeks to replicate the same in the Horn of Africa country.
“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,” said Paul Kavavu, Interim General Manager of Safaricom M-PESA Mobile Financial Services PLC.