Nairobi-based Finserve Africa Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings Ltd., is targeting remittances from three million of Ethiopians living outside the country
By Bella Genga (Bloomberg)
Equity Group Holdings Ltd.’s financial technology unit is in discussions with six Ethiopian banks to collaborate on cross-border mobile payments and e-commerce.
Finserve Africa Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenya’s biggest lender by market value, is targeting remittances from three million of Ethiopians living outside the country, Managing Director Jack Ngare said in an interview Monday. Many African nations are eyeing entry into the Horn of Africa nation that’s signaled it’ll open up its economy to foreign investment.
“We’re looking to work with six banks to facilitate cross-border transactions, as well as e-commerce,” Ngare said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. In addition, the fintech business also has eight remittance companies already plugged into its platform, he said.
Ethiopians abroad sent back around $4.6 billion last year, about a quarter of the nation’s annual foreign-exchange earnings. “We are going to be doing inward remittances, and that’s a good thing for Ethiopia, because they need to attract a lot of the foreign exchange,” says Jack Ngare.
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Equity’s had to work with an Ethiopian sponsoring bank in seeking approvals, and the talks should conclude in three to six months, he said, without giving further details. Finserve received a license to operate a mobile virtual network in 2014 and uses the infrastructure of Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s local business.
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