Why Ethiopia's local fintechs are worried
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Loading... - Roseline Ampofo
- 08 Aug 2022
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When Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, came into power in 2018, his administration’s move to liberalize sectors which had remained closed for over a century, was initially met with optimism.
One of the biggest moves was in ending the monopoly of the telecom sector, which saw the Kenyan telcom giant, Safaricom, awarded Ethiopia’s first ever private telecom license for a whopping $850 million last year.
Now the focus has shifted to the next agenda—the liberalization of the financial sector, particularly for fintechs. While the liberalization of the telecom sector was mostly welcomed and lauded as the right move, the opening up of the fintech scene for global superpowers has some concerned, especially about aggressive timelines despite bureaucratic delays affecting local fintechs that ideally had a headstart.
The country’s financial regulator, The National Bank of Ethiopia, is amending a decade-old Payment System law, allowing foreign investors, for the first time, to set up business in Ethiopia as digital financial services providers. Read More...
