At Friendship Park in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s digital finance story entered a new era as EthSwitch officially unveiled EthioPay, a national brand set to redefine how money moves across the country.
The launch, attended by senior government officials, financial sector leaders, and key ecosystem players, marked more than the introduction of a new name. It signaled a shared national ambition: to bring Ethiopia’s fragmented digital payment systems under one trusted, interoperable identity.
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Opening the ceremony, Ato Solomon Desta, Vice Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the EthSwitch Board, framed EthioPay as a national asset built on collaboration, not competition. He stressed that the platform’s success will depend on collective ownership, through adoption, consistent use, and shared responsibility by banks, fintechs, and users alike.
For EthSwitch, EthioPay is the bridge between today’s systems and tomorrow’s digital economy. EthSwitch CEO Ato Yilebes Addis described the brand as a unified national payment layer supporting instant transfers, interoperable e-commerce, mobile banking, and card schemes. Designed to be secure, affordable, and inclusive, EthioPay enables instant and seamless digital payments across Ethiopia’s financial ecosystem.
Rather than replacing banks or mobile money providers, EthioPay integrates them, allowing different platforms to speak the same language. In doing so, it moves Ethiopia from a landscape of isolated solutions to a connected, easy-to-remember, and trusted national payment experience.
The brand’s identity tells its own story: a bird symbolizing speed and reach, paired with orange, representing constant energy and motion in the financial system. And its vision goes beyond domestic payments. EthioPay is positioned as the foundation for future regional and cross-border transactions, placing Ethiopia firmly on the map of modern digital finance.
First introduced at the Ethiopia Digital Payment Conference II earlier this month, EthioPay now officially takes center stage, uniting institutions, technologies, and users around a single vision: one Ethiopia, one interoperable digital payment ecosystem.
