Ethiopia Grants Safaricom's Mpesa Mobile Money License

Ethiopia has licenced Safaricom's Mpesa to operate in the diverse and unbanked nation. 

Safaricom anticipates outstretching Mpesa services in the region before 2024 in a bid to boost the service profile across the continents. The Telco's chief executive officer Peter Ndegwa during an investor briefing confirmed that they've received mobile money licensing. 

“As of this morning, Safaricom Ethiopia has officially been granted the licence to operate mobile money. We look forward to launching M-Pesa in the coming weeks,” CEO Peter Ndegwa said. 

The Telco giant suffered a 22.2% decline in earnings for the year ended March 2023. The huge capital outflows into the Ethiopian market have triggered the drop for three consecutive periods. Safaricom's financial projections detail their attempts to break even in the unit's fourth year of operation. 

Safaricom has parted with $150 million as a licence fee to the National Bank of Ethiopia. The apex bank on Thursday reported that they have finalised the issue of a mobile money service permit to Safaricom. The development grants Safaricom's subsidiary the bragging rights as the first foreign-owned unit to be licensed to offer the service in Ethiopia.  

 “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,” NBE said in a press statement. 

Safaricom Ethiopia has since employed 909 staff and amassed a three million customer base seven months into operation.