By Gloria Methri
Today
- Cross Border Payments
- Ethiopia
- FinTech
Safaricom has extended its M-PESA Global solution to Ethiopia, enabling customers to make mobile money transactions from Kenya to the East African country.
Leveraging this service expansion, the two companies aim to increase mobile money usage and penetration across Ethiopia, boosting the local economy and creating opportunities for individuals and businesses across the region.
“This collaboration resonates with our commitment to deliver innovative financial solutions that cater to the evolving needs of our customers. With this service, we are making cross-border transfers and bill payments across the region more accessible, efficient, and cost-effective than ever before. This partnership will benefit our customers who may need to send money to Ethiopia and provide a reliable and affordable option for businesses to transact,” said Esther Waititu, Safaricom Kenya’s Chief Financial Services Officer.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Elsa Muzzolini – Safaricom Ethiopia’s Chief Financial Services Officer, stated, “The extension of these services with M-PESA Kenya comes at the right time, where the revised Ethiopian Forex policy is encouraging the diaspora and business owners to embrace digital payments to send money home and fund their operations in Ethiopia. Our M-PESA Ethiopia customers should now be able to receive safe and affordable transfers from M-PESA Kenya thanks to this partnership, which will further promote the region’s adoption of digital payments. We look forward to a successful collaboration.”
In addition to Ethiopia, M-PESA customers can send and receive money to over 190 countries, making it the mobile money proposition of choice for both individual and corporate transactions.
Earlier in September, Safaricom and Mastercard signed a partnership to accelerate the adoption of payment acceptance and cross-border remittance services in Kenya. This collaboration aims to benefit over 636,000 merchants using M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile money service. By embedding Mastercard’s omnichannel acceptance solutions across M-PESA’s merchant space, the partnership is scaling digital payments across the country.