APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Visa has unveiled plan to expand digital payments in Ethiopia through introducing two new initiatives to help advance fintech innovation and support women-led small and medium businesses.
The new initiatives were announced on Monday during a visit by Visa’s Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Andrew Torre to Ethiopia,
Visa unveiled plans to hold a second edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) fintech competition and launch its She’s Next women’s empowerment initiative.
Through VEI, Visa will invite fintech start-ups in Ethiopia to share innovations to solve payment challenges of tomorrow.
In 2021, ArifPay, Ethiopia’s first point of sale payments systems operator won the first VEI Ethiopia challenge. Since 2015, VEI has helped start-ups from over 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding.
Visa’s She’s Next program is a global advocacy program that supports women-owned small businesses through funding, training and mentorship. Since 2020, Visa has invested over $3 million through more than 250 grants and coaching for women owned businesses through the program.
Since establishing a presence in Addis Abeba in March 2020, Visa has been working across the the financial ecosystem to bring the benefits of digital commerce and money movement to consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government partners.
Ethiopia launched its Digital Transformation Strategy 2025 in 2020 with the aim to transform and drive a digital and financially inclusive economy, expected to contribute up to 39% percent of GDP by 2025.
“Visa is committed to helping strengthen the payments ecosystem in Ethiopia, and since 2020 has been working with partners to expand digital payments by building a truly local presence” Torre said.
MG/abj/APA
