M-PESA Ethiopia has reached 5 million 90-day active customers, marking a major milestone in the country’s fast-evolving digital financial services landscape and underscoring growing consumer trust in mobile money platforms.
The company said platform activity has doubled over the past three months, driven largely by everyday transactions and the expansion of its merchant and payments ecosystem. Since launching operations in August 2023, M-PESA Ethiopia has positioned itself as a low-cost, interoperable digital payments platform aligned with Ethiopia’s broader financial inclusion and digital transformation agenda.
More than 50,000 merchants nationwide now accept M-PESA, with transaction fees capped at ETB 5, a pricing strategy aimed at keeping digital payments affordable for low-income users and small businesses. The growing merchant acceptance comes amid a wider push by regulators and policymakers to reduce cash dependency and formalize retail transactions.
Product adoption has also accelerated. Errif Be M-PESA, the platform’s micro-loan service, has registered 1.6 million users, supported by what the company describes as a strong loan repayment performance. In parallel, M-PESA has expanded its utility and institutional payment services: School Pay is now available nationwide, while water utility payments are live in Bahir Dar, Jimma, and Adama, with Addis Ababa expected to follow.
On the infrastructure side, M-PESA Ethiopia is now integrated with 18 banks, reinforcing interoperability across the financial system. Its open-API strategy has attracted 2,500 developers, who have built more than 900 applications, ranging from merchant tools to sector-specific payment solutions.
The milestone comes as Ethiopia’s digital finance ecosystem experiences broader momentum, supported by regulatory reforms from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), increased competition among mobile money operators, and the rapid spread of smartphones and mobile internet. Authorities have consistently emphasized digital payments as a pillar for improving transparency, expanding access to finance, and supporting economic formalization.
M-PESA Ethiopia said it remains aligned with Digital Ethiopia 2030 and the NBE’s National Digital Payment Strategy (NDPD 2.0), particularly its core principles of inclusion, trust, innovation, and interoperability, positioning the platform as a key contributor to Ethiopia’s emerging digital economy.
