Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
In order to facilitate remittances to Ethiopia and allow over 8 million Ethiopians abroad to send money instantly to the Horn of Africa, the continent’s leading payments technology company, Flutterwave, has partnered with the country’s largest mobile digital wallet platform, Amole.
The deal will enable Ethiopians across the globe to make money transfers into Ethiopia through Amole, to Amole Wallet, bank accounts and cash pickup locations at over 2,500 locations across the country.
Amole offers its customers digital payment capabilities and access to digital products and services to enable users to complete essential transactions at their convenience.
The new partnership with Flutterwave will serve the Ethiopian economy by making diaspora remittances easier. The country records about $5 billion annually as remittances from abroad.
Under the deal, International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and businesses on Flutterwave as well as Barter by Flutterwave users can send money into Ethiopia.
To make payment via this new service, a sender outside Ethiopia inputs the details of the receiver in Ethiopia, the payment destination (Amole digital wallet, bank account, or cash pickup location anywhere in Ethiopia), and the security question and answer with which the receiver can access the funds if the preferred payment destination is via an Amole authorized agent.
The remittance service in Ethiopia today is seen by users to be expensive, with manual paperwork and delays making it challenging and time-consuming for the diaspora community.
This partnership solves these problems by providing instant delivery of funds to the receiver at no fee, with more control of where and how to send money, including transparency from a regulatory standpoint.
According to a report by the National Bank of Ethiopia, over 75 per cent of Ethiopia’s population is unbanked, while nearly 40 per cent of all bank branches are in the capital city Addis Ababa.
This collaboration will extend financial services to these communities, by facilitating remittances from diaspora Ethiopians, hence expanding business opportunities for small and growing businesses in these communities.
Subsequently, this will boost financial inclusion within the country as users of the service will have the option to collect cash from any of Amole’s 2,500 authorised agent locations.
Speaking on the partnership, Flutterwave Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with Amole to enable digital remittances and cash pickup into Ethiopia.
“This is another significant milestone for payments in Africa as we work together to bridge the financial inclusion gap in the country and across the continent.
“Our collaboration will ensure that Ethiopian businesses are getting paid from all over the world, opening massive opportunities for business growth, a goal we are passionate about. This is just the beginning, and we hope to deepen the discussions around our partnership to the benefits of Africans, everywhere.”
Asfaw Alemu, CEO of Dashen Bank, said: “We are happy to partner with Flutterwave in delivering crucial forex that will support both our customers and Ethiopia. This partnership will play an important role in delivering even more value to our diaspora community, linking them to their country with more opportunities for global eCommerce in the near future.”
Yemiru Chanyalew, CEO Moneta Technologies, stated that, “We are very excited to work with Flutterwave and leverage our combined technologies to broaden our offering to the Ethiopian Diaspora community, our customers and merchants to enable cross-border remittance and commerce.
“At Amole, we are increasingly focused on cashless and e-commerce payments. Our combined efforts in enabling seamless and interoperable remittance and e-commerce payments will drive much desired financial inclusion in Ethiopia.”
