Safaricom Ethiopia Receives License to Offer M-Pesa Services

The National Bank of Ethiopia has granted Safaricom Ethiopia a license, enabling the telco to expand its profitable mobile money operation to the unexplored Horn of Africa nation with more than 100 million people.

The country’s first license for a foreign investor was the Payment Instrument Issuer License.

“The National Bank of Ethiopia has today issued a mobile money service license to Safaricom M-Pesa Mobile Financial Service Plc, a subsidiary of Safaricom Telecommunication Ethiopia Plc,” the National Bank of Ethiopia said in a statement.

“This is the first mobile money license granted to a foreign investor in Ethiopia,” it added.

The telco will now be able to provide services including mobile banking, mobile wallets, internet banking, and card banking thanks to the new license.

“The issuance of the mobile money license reflects the NBE’s ongoing objective of fostering financial innovation and inclusion in the Ethiopian market,” it said.

“We welcome this shift to the use of digital financial services so as to bring greater efficiency, safety, and transparency to the country’s rapidly growing financial system.”

The Ethiopian government granted Safaricom Ethiopia permission to launch M-Pesa only in October of last year.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and President William Ruto brokered the deal.

“To this end, we will strongly support the spread of digital payment systems as a substitute for cash-based transactions within the economy,” it said.

“We will also welcome the introduction of diverse forms of digital financial services so that, ultimately, these become a tool to help citizens transact, save, borrow, invest, and more as Ethiopia’s financial system is modernized over the coming years,” it stated.

“The National Bank of Ethiopia wishes Safaricom’s M-PESA service well as it launches its operations in the very near future.”