- The partnership between M-PESA Safaricom and Onafriq transforms remittances in Ethiopia by improving financial accessibility and security.
- The collaboration is essential to Ethiopia’s economy since it uses remittances to promote growth and lower poverty.
M-PESA Safaricom and Onafriq, one of Africa’s top digital payment networks, have formed an innovative international money transfer alliance.
Remittances are about to undergo a revolution thanks to this partnership, especially for Ethiopia, where citizens will find it simpler to receive money from overseas, as echoed by crypto influencers at X, Wrath of Kahneman.
M-PESA signed an Xborder $ transfer agreement with #Ripple partner Onafriq to streamline remittance flows to Ethiopia. Onafriq use what was formerly called ODL (#XRP) in some instances. https://t.co/l0xzXckEmB
— WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman) March 20, 2024
Improving Ethiopia with Remittances
With operations in forty African countries, Onafriq is a major participant in the digital payments market. M-PESA and Onafriq hope to greatly broaden their reach by bringing simple and safe financial transactions to millions of people through this partnership.
Making financial services accessible is M-PESA’s primary goal in this collaboration. By enabling consumers to conduct transactions with just a mobile phone and a Safaricom SIM card, it lowers barriers to traditional banking and increases access to finance.
So, Ethiopians now have the option to directly receive international remittances using M-PESA thanks to this agreement, which the Ethiopian National Bank approved in 2023.
In sub-Saharan Africa, remittances are a vital source of income. The World Bank estimates that remittances to the region will reach $54 billion in 2023, therefore, the need for effective and dependable remittance services is growing.
And then, the goal of this collaboration is to accelerate this growth while boosting economic resilience and reducing poverty.
Establishing an Unified Financial Network
M-PESA’s cutting-edge financial solutions and Onafriq’s huge network—200 million bank accounts and 500 million mobile money wallets—should improve domestic and international transactions and financial inclusion across the continent, echoing earlier coverage by ETHNews.
Of course, considering that Ethiopia receives remittances worth over $5 billion annually, this partnership marks a noteworthy achievement.
It plays a vital role in supporting the stability and development of Ethiopia’s economy by giving the country’s diaspora quick and easy ways to help their relatives back home. For a deeper dive into these developments, you can check out this YouTube video.