General News
Is Ethiopia Africa’s sleeping fintech giant?
By Yohannes Tsehai – Country Manager Onafriq Ethiopia
The fintech sector has been one of Africa’s biggest technology success stories. According to one report, the continent’s 678 fintech startups raised more than US$2.7 billion between 2021 and August 2023. Additionally, almost all of the continent’s unicorns (startups valued at more than US$1 billion) are in the fintech sector.
The majority of that success has, however, come from the continent’s three biggest startup markets: South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. In fact, 68% of African fintech startups come from these “big three” markets. But things are steadily changing. More and more countries are realising the benefits that come with an active fintech ecosystem, with a growing number of entrepreneurs in those countries also looking to enter the space.
One such country is Ethiopia. Home to more than 120 million people (making it the second most populous country in Africa), the country has many of the right ingredients to become Africa’s next big fintech giant. In addition to the country’s population size, it’s home to large numbers of unbanked people. At the same time, the country continues to experience high economic growth and rapidly increasing connectivity levels. With those and other enabling factors in place, could Ethiopia be Africa’s next big fintech giant?
A changing landscape
A few years ago, that’s not a question many would have dared to ask. More recently, however, several things have changed, which suggests that Ethiopia is waking up to, and embracing its fintech potential.
Take telco licensing, for example. Ethiopia has previously been closed off, with only the state-owned Ethio telecom allowed to operate. But Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sees the liberalisation of the country’s telecommunications sector as key to its economic future. As such, the country has opened up to other operators. In October 2022, Safaricom became Ethiopia’s second official operator.
In the ensuing months, it has built up a 4 million-strong customer base and added 1.2 million users to its M-Pesa mobile money platform. Over time, those numbers will continue to grow. And while the bidding process for a third telco license has had to be put on ice for the moment, Ethiopia’s strong economic growth means that it’s only a matter of time before one is granted.
Those telcos will play a critical role in establishing an Ethiopian fintech ecosystem too. Right now, the country has a 53.5% mobile penetration rate but mobile connections grew by nearly 18% between 2022 and 2023. With 75% of the country’s population reportedly unbanked, increasing connectivity levels is one of the most powerful ways of giving people access to financial products, both from telcos and third parties, as demonstrated by Ethio telecom’s mobile money app Telebirr having 39.3 million customers.
Another significant move is the establishment of an Ethiopian stock exchange. The exchange, which is set to open in 2024 or 2025, is designed to be a source of funding for the small and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of the country’s economy. For local fintechs looking to raise the capital they need to expand at scale, it could prove critical.
Developing supportive policies
The Ethiopian government has also made significant strides when it comes to developing policies that encourage the growth of a fintech ecosystem. One of the most significant such policies is the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
According to a research paper published by the GSMA, the aim is to increase financial inclusion from 46% to 70% of all adults by 2025. One of the key avenues it’s identified for doing so is by scaling digital payments through mobile money services. The country additionally aims to increase the use of digital payments from 20% of all adults in 2020 to 49% by 2025.
These policies could be dramatically transformative for both the Ethiopian economy and its people. According to the GSMA, mobile money services “could lift 700,000 people out of poverty, add US$5.3 billion to Ethiopia’s GDP, increase tax revenue by US$300 million and provide a cushion for the economic shocks experienced by almost 40% of Ethiopian households.”
There is, admittedly, a long way to go before mobile money can drive those advancements. GSMA figures show that just 4.2% of adult women and 5.1% of adult men had mobile money accounts in 2022. That said, those numbers are significantly higher than the 0.1% and 0.6% who had accounts in 2017. This suggests that, as much as there’s significant room for mobile money growth in Ethiopia, there’s a sizable and growing appetite too with increasingly accessible outlets.
Putting policy into practice
For policy to be effective, however, it has to be matched with practices that encourage the growth of fintech. Here, too, there are encouraging signs from Ethiopia.
The government has, for instance, used the mobile banking service HelloCash to digitise social protection payments under the flagship Productive Safety Net Programme (PNSP). Additionally, it’s increasingly accepting digital payments for public services such as utilities and has mandated digital-only payments for fuel purchases. The Ministry of Trade, meanwhile, has adopted Ethio’s Telebirr services and now allows traders to pay for services like commercial registration, trade licences and trade name-related service fee payments.
In conjunction with the adoption of mobile money by government departments, its growing use by private sector players such as mid-sized brands like supermarkets, petrol stations, and SMEs should help further drive their adoption.
Growth beyond mobile money
Of course, there are still other things that need to be put in place before Ethiopia really starts to achieve its fintech potential. Reliable interoperability, for example, remains a challenge, as does a shortage of access points and a lack of high-quality agent networks.
None of those challenges are, however, insurmountable. And, given the success that’s already accompanied the adoption of mobile money, overcoming them will help unlock other services that enable digital financial inclusion which have commenced (such as insurance, micro-financing, and savings products).
As more and more of those solutions fall into place, Ethiopia will be well on its way to unlocking its potential and becoming Africa’s next fintech giant.
Anonymous Nigeria, hacktivism, known for launching coordinated cyberattacks and protests in support of socio-political movements, has threatened to leak stolen South African government data unless its demands were met.
The group, called for the department to stop xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, or it will expose the data.
“They call themselves correctional services, but they can’t correct the citizens. What a shame,” the group said in its Telegram channel, MyBroadband reported.
“They killed a lot of Nigerians while the so-called correctional services watched and the ministry of justice.”
It is immediately know if Anonymous Nigeria is affiliated to Nullsec Nigeria.
But in a post on a hacker forum, Nullsec Nigeria included a link showcasing an example of data stolen from the department.
It included two bid invitation notices, bid results, a copy of the bids received, and a notice of a bid awarded in various formats.
“We’ll expose all your evil deeds for the world to see, unless this attack stops. But if not, we’ll leak everything they got,” Nullsec Nigeria said.
“Unless the government of South Africa ends these xenophobic attacks on Nigeria, we’ll expose everything about you, your evil deeds will be exposed, and the world shall know.”
MyBroadband asked the Department of Correctional Services about the claimed breach and Nullsec Nigeria’s demands, but it did not immediately respond to our questions.
Nullsec Nigeria also claimed responsibility for breaching several other entities in South Africa, while responding to an X post about its OpSouthAfrica campaign in its Telegram channel.
“I wanna express something here. I saw a report on the #OpSouthAfrica hack by Nullsec Nigeria, but it was stolen by another person,” it said. “Tag the real breachers next time.”
In a separate thread on the hacker forum, Nullsec Nigeria also claimed responsibility for breaching the Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality’s systems.
It claimed to have hacked the local government’s website and threatened to expose “everything you got for others to see how heartless you are. You killed mothers, brothers, students.”
Nullsec Nigeria said the breach and the threats were in response to the xenophobic attacks on and killing of Nigerians and the South African government’s supposed silence on the issue.
“These attacks are still going on in the dark, and we’ll expose them all. If the South African government doesn’t act first, the whole of South Africa will suffer,” it said.
“This is just a wave. These documents are about 11GB, but we decided to pull just this one.”
Its post included two images: one for a public hearing and another, a handwritten tender document for the appointment of an insurance service provider.
It also included a link to several other documents, including an old annual report, council resolutions, financial statements, and various other notices.
The Nigerian Government recently announced plans to bring citizens back to the country from South Africa after violent protests over foreign nationals in the country erupted earlier in May.
President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the protests and criminal acts directed at foreign nationals in his From the Desk of The President weekly newsletter on 11 May 2026.
He emphasised the recent demonstrations and attacks did not represent the views of the South African people, nor the government’s policy.
“These are the acts of opportunists who are exploiting the legitimate grievances, particularly those of the poor, under the false guise of ‘community activism’,” The President said.
“Some of these people are assuming functions that only state officials are permitted to perform, including stopping people to check identification and conducting searches of private property.”
He added that such lawlessness would not be tolerated, regardless of who the perpetrators or victims were.
World Bank has restricted comments on its Instagram page after thousands of Nigerians flooded the platform begging them to stop lending money to Nigeria.
The protest erupted after reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is seeking a fresh $1.25 billion dollar loan for approval on June 26.
Some Nigerians asked the World Bank to provide more details about the purpose of the loan and how the funds would be managed.
Others said the country should reduce dependence on foreign loans and focus on improving local revenue.
The federal government has continued to defend its borrowing plans.
Officials say the funds will support economic reforms, development projects and efforts to strengthen the economy.
Nigeria remains one of the major borrowers from the World Bank in Africa, with different administrations securing loans over the years for infrastructure, social programmes and economic support.
The Lagos State Government plans to establish a Cybersecurity Operations Centre to strengthen protection of government systems, digital services and citizen data amid rising cyber threats linked to the city’s expanding digital economy.
Tunbosun Alake, Lagos commissioner for innovation, science and technology, said the centre would help secure the infrastructure supporting online payments, e-government services, cloud platforms and technology-driven business operations across the state.
According to Alake, the facility will monitor, detect and respond to cyber threats targeting government networks, digital transactions and sensitive public data.
The move comes as Lagos accelerates its smart city agenda through investments in broadband infrastructure, digital identity systems and automated public services.
Alake said Lagos had already deployed 109 Data Protection Officers across Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which he described as the highest number among Nigerian states, to strengthen compliance with data protection regulations.
Alongside the proposed cybersecurity centre, the state also launched the Lagos Campus Network Upgrade project aimed at improving digital infrastructure within the public sector.
The upgrade is expected to improve network performance, automate internal government processes and enhance digital engagement with residents. The cybersecurity initiative follows the release of Lagos State’s cybersecurity guidelines in April.
The framework recommends measures including multi-factor authentication, vulnerability testing, encrypted backups and tighter endpoint security controls.
The guidelines align with Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act 2024, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy 2021.
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