Safaricom, the largest telecom company in East Africa, has paid $150 million for a license to offer its M-Pesa mobile money service in Ethiopia. This move allows Safaricom to compete with Telebirr, the state-owned mobile money service. Despite the challenges and a drop in earnings, Safaricom aims to replicate the success of M-Pesa in Kenya in the Ethiopian market, which has a population of 120 million.
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Ethiopia: Safaricom prepares launch of M-Pesa mobile money service
Safaricom, the Kenyan mobile network operator, is preparing to launch its M-PESA mobile money service in Ethiopia by April 2023, four months after receiving approval from the Ethiopian government. With a population of around 120 million people and a mobile penetration rate of 57%, Safaricom CEO Aanwar Soussa believes Ethiopia presents a great opportunity to grow the business to the level seen in Kenya in 10 years. M-PESA is already available in seven African countries and has more than 29.5 million active users.
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Kenya: Safaricom appoints seasoned banker Esther Waititu as fintech chief
Esther Masese Waititu has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Services Officer at Safaricom, a leading telecommunications company in Africa, effective February 21st, 2023, pending regulatory approval. She brings over 15 years of financial services experience to the role, previously serving as Director of Corporate Banking at KCB Bank Group and has held various leadership positions at Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank, and Commercial Bank of Africa.