Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Today, March 30, 2023: A Ugandan financial technology (Fintech) firm has partnered with Ethiopia’s Awash Bank in a deal that will enable about 12 million customers to access digital microloans.
In a statement released at the weekend, Mr. Joseph Kiiza Ndiho, the Service Cops executive chairman, said the partnership was a testimony to innovativeness, noting that customers today “want great service and want it fast.”
“Technology has proved to be a great opportunity to innovate on all fronts, including customer experience and payments. We are taking center stage in creating homemade Fintech solutions that are not only improving customer experience but also helping organizations,” he said.
Awash Bank is the largest privately run bank in Ethiopia, with a chain of more than 800 branches.
Service Cops and Awash Bank have since last year worked on a number of innovations, among which is the school suite solution.
The instant microloan offering will be phased in initially to serve Awash Bank customers but will gradually be extended to other non-bank customers.
Mr. Mathias Kamugasho, the Service Cops managing director, said the partnership will innovate other digital products across the financial value chain.
“We will support the bank in rolling out several digital platforms in the insurance sector, retail outreach, disaster relief, and aid distribution, in addition to strengthening the bank’s capacity to integrate and add several digital offerings to its customers,” he said.
Service Cops is the first Ugandan-based fintech to enter Ethiopia and one of the few to operate outside Uganda.
Ugandan fintechs have been innovating in a number of financial service areas, among which are mobile and digital loans, insurance, and banking. Service cops enter one of Africa’s 10 largest countries by gross domestic product and the second-most populous.
Ethiopia provides a strategic market for Service Cops expansion and innovation.
Credit: Uganda Monitor
