Safaricom extended its M-PESA Global service to Ethiopia in October 2024, enabling cross-border mobile money transfers between Kenya and Ethiopia and connecting M-PESA customers in Kenya with M-PESA customers in Ethiopia through a direct mobile money remittance corridor.
The expansion is powered by M-PESA International Remittance, the cross-border layer of the M-PESA platform that supports the transfer of funds across national boundaries. Customers of M-PESA Ethiopia — the mobile money service Safaricom Ethiopia launched in August 2023 — can now receive transfers sent by Kenyan M-PESA customers directly into their M-PESA wallets.
KENYA AND ETHIOPIA
Kenya and Ethiopia are East Africa's two largest economies.
Since its launch in Kenya in 2007, M-PESA has evolved into a platform used by tens of millions of customers for payments, savings, credit, and international remittances.
Ethiopia has been opening its previously state-dominated financial system to greater competition, and telebirr has expanded mobile money penetration since its launch.
M-PESA International Remittance already supports a number of corridors linking African countries with each other and with diaspora communities in Europe and North America.