Safaricom Ethiopia has crossed a historic milestone, reaching over 10 million active customers as of mid-2025. But beyond the subscriber numbers lies a deeper story of technological adaptation. While M-PESA is a household name in Kenya synonymous with “sending money home,” its rollout in Ethiopia is driven by a fundamentally different economic problem: the physical bulk of cash.
Based on insights from Safaricom’s newsroom and CEO Wim Vanhelleputte, here is a detailed look at how M-PESA Ethiopia is diverging from its Kenyan predecessor to conquer a new market.
The Core Problem: It’s Not About Transferring Money
In Kenya, M-PESA was born out of a need to transfer money safely across long distances. Before 2007, Kenyans relied on handing envelopes of cash to bus drivers to deliver funds to relatives in rural areas.
In Ethiopia, that challenge does not exist to the same extent. The country boasts an extensive banking network with approximately 30 active banks and over 8,250 branches and ATMs serving its 125 million people. Ethiopians largely have access to money storage and transfer systems.
The real pain point in Ethiopia is the currency itself.
First-time visitors to Addis Ababa quickly notice that the largest denomination note in Ethiopia is equivalent to roughly 200 Kenyan Shillings. For substantial transactions – such as grocery shopping – citizens are forced to carry large, cumbersome bundles of notes.
Consequently, M-PESA’s value proposition in Ethiopia is not peer-to-peer transfer, but digital payment substitution. As CEO Wim Vanhelleputte explains, “We are not solving the money transfer problem, what we are solving in Ethiopia with M-PESA is the digital payment, the cash payment to be replaced by digital payments”.
Leapfrogging: “18 Years in 18 Months”
Safaricom Ethiopia is executing a strategy of aggressive acceleration. In Kenya, M-PESA was launched seven years after Safaricom’s telecom network was established. In contrast, M-PESA Ethiopia arrived just seven months after the commercial launch of the GSM network.
This compressed timeline is intentional. Vanhelleputte describes the strategy as “leapfrogging,” attempting to achieve in 18 months what took 18 years in Kenya. By leveraging the pre-built M-PESA platform, the Ethiopian subsidiary can customize and deploy services rapidly without the decade-long learning curve faced in Kenya.
Tech-First Adoption: App vs. USSD
A critical difference in the user journey is the technology interface. In Kenya, the “original use case” was built on USSD (text-based menus) because smartphones were rare in 2007.
In Ethiopia, Safaricom is pushing a “digital-first” approach. The company is actively educating customers to bypass USSD and go straight to the M-PESA app. Using a smartphone for USSD transactions is viewed as inefficient.
The CEO notes that “once you’re hooked to the app, there is no way you go back to USSD transactions”.
Financial Roadmap: BankTech and Beyond
Safaricom Ethiopia is not waiting to roll out advanced financial products. In Kenya, it took 5 to 10 years to launch “BankTech” services like loans and savings. In Ethiopia, these are part of the roadmap much earlier.
The company plans to introduce:
- Fuliza: An overdraft service for completing transactions when funds are low.
- Long-term Loans & Savings: Products designed to deepen financial inclusion.
- Insurance: Micro-insurance products integrated into the platform.
By The Numbers: Safaricom Ethiopia’s Growth
Integrating recent data with Safaricom’s internal reports highlights the scale of this operation:
- Customer Base: Safaricom Ethiopia has surpassed 10 million active customers.
- Investment: The operator has invested over $2.27 billion (300 billion ETB) to build its infrastructure.
- Network: 4G coverage now reaches over 50% of the population with more than 3,000 active sites.
- Cross-Border: As of October 2024, M-PESA now supports cross-border transfers between Kenya and Ethiopia, further integrating the two economies.
- Early Traction: In its very first month (November 2022), the telco signed up 740,000 customers, proving the immense demand for an alternative to the state-owned Ethio Telecom.
Conclusion
With a population of close to 125 million and approximately 2.5 million young people turning 18 every year, the potential market in Ethiopia is massive. Safaricom is not merely copying its Kenyan homework; it is rewriting it for a market that needs digital wallets to replace physical bundles of cash. As the CEO puts it, “If you want to be successful with a new product, you need to be relevant… That pain point we are solving for Ethiopia with digital payments”.
