Access to rural based financial services

Project number

FDOV12ET05

Country

• Ethiopia

Location

• Five regions in Ethiopia

Sector

• Agriculture
• Services
• Financial services
• ICT

Project budget

Partners

• Kifiya Financial Technology plc (KFT)
• Enclude BV (Shorebank International/Triodos Facet BV)

Project description

The project enables the rural population in Ethiopia to have access to financial services through the setup of a network of agent banking services, thus making a contribution to the alleviation of poverty and contributing to agricultural production and food security. Currently, only an estimated 8% of the Ethiopian population has access to financial services. In the rural areas of Ethiopia on average access to financial services requires the travel of 50 km and/or two days walking distance. Besides, due to the high costs of branch set up of Ethiopian banks an average customer has to pay very high transaction fees to gain access to financial services. The partners in this PPP propose to upgrade an existing and verified mobile banking system and platform technology to render financial/credit services to smallholder farmers in four regions in Ethiopia, using existing relations with MFIs and ATA (Agricultural Transformation Agency). The platform technology is such that it can be extended in line with future demand and expansion of data networks in rural areas of Ethiopia. Farmers will be in a financial position enabling them to buy agricultural inputs and increase yields and contribute to higher, sustainable food production and food security.

Note:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is formal partner in this project.