Onafriq and M-PESA partners to enhance Ethiopia’s remittance flow. Digital payments service, Onafriq, and M-PESA, the mobile phone-based banking service owned by Vodacom and Safaricom, have signed an International Money Transfer Agreement.
Onafriq and M-PESA Partners
Digital payments service, Onafriq, and M-PESA, the mobile banking service owned by Vodacom and Safaricom, have joined forces to simplify remittance flows into Ethiopia.
Safaricom, having acquired the Payment Instrument Issuer Licence from the National Bank of Ethiopia in 2023, can now aid Ethiopians in receiving remittances through M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service.
At a briefing during Ethiopia’s inaugural International Day of Family Remittances in 2023, Mohammed Endris, Director General of the Ethiopian Diaspora, highlighted the significant impact of remittances, constituting up to 50% of GDP in some nations.
Despite this, remittances to Ethiopia only account for 5% of the country’s GDP, a figure they aim to double in the next five to seven years.
What the Collaboration Between Onafriq and M-PESA Aims For
The collaboration between Onafriq and M-PESA seeks to enhance the remittance rate in Ethiopia. In 2022, Ethiopians abroad sent $4.2 billion in remittances to their homeland.
Paul Kavavu, General Manager at Safaricom Ethiopia, expressed optimism about the agreement, anticipating that it would provide a seamless channel for Ethiopians abroad to send money home, potentially boosting the country’s annual remittances to $5 billion.
What is Onafriq
Founded in 2009 by Dare Okoujou (CEO), Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa) is a payments company focused on Africa, facilitating cross-border and domestic digital payments across 40 African markets.
The company’s network connects over 500 million mobile money wallets and 200 million bank accounts. In January 2024, Onafriq partnered with Alviere, an embedded finance platform provider, to enhance payments and remittances from the US into Africa.
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