In a bid to transform its services and forge a successful partnership with Safaricom Ethiopia, a delegation from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia traveled to Kenya this week to learn from the experiences of Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).
The CBE team met with Safaricom officials to understand its popular M-PESA mobile money service, which has been successful in Kenya.
Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, M-PESA has seen success in Kenya, with over 29 million active users transferring nearly one billion dollar each month. This scale has helped reduce poverty, drive financial inclusion and boost economic growth.
CBE President Abie Sano led the delegation following the bank’s partnership agreement with Safaricom Ethiopia signed in March this year.
On the first day, the CBE team met with KCB Group CEO Paul Russo to understand the nature of KCB’s partnership with M-PESA and how it has contributed to M-PESA’s success.
Safaricom entered the Ethiopian market in 2021 and received approval for its mobile money service last month. It chose CBE as its local partner, while rival Ethio Telecom partnered with Dashen Bank.
