M-PESA Ethiopia has grown to 3.4 million 90-day active users, processing 12.3 billion birr in transactions over the past six months. The platform has also onboarded more than 30,700 merchants nationwide, including 316 fuel stations.
The service launched in Ethiopia on 16 August 2023 after Safaricom received a Payment Instrument Issuer licence from the National Bank of Ethiopia. The licence, granted in May 2023, followed an investment protection fee of about 150 million US dollars. At the time, cash accounted for most low-value transactions in Ethiopia, and around 46 percent of adults had a financial-institution account.
Before M-PESA’s entry, Telebirr, Ethio Telecom’s mobile money service, dominated the sector. As of the 2024/25 fiscal year, Telebirr had over 54.8 million users and processed 2.38 trillion birr in electronic money transactions, with cumulative transaction value since launch exceeding 4.93 trillion birr.
Elsa Muzzolini, CEO of M-PESA Ethiopia, said the platform aims to create a financial system that is “accessible, inclusive, and empowering for every Ethiopian,” supporting individuals, businesses, and communities in managing their money.
The M-PESA Super App now includes 28 mini apps and five charity donation platforms. Customers can use it to send and receive money, pay merchants, buy airtime and data bundles, settle utility bills and airline tickets, receive international remittances, and deposit or withdraw cash nationwide.
The mobile money also launched Errif, a digital loan platform providing small loans and enabling participation in digital equb groups. Integration with EthSwitch, Ethiopia’s national payment network, allows QR-based merchant payments and interoperability with all connected banks and financial institutions.