Issue 38: WorldRemit Terminates Service with Four Ethiopian Banks

Hello, The international remittance service provider WorldRemit has announced that it has stopped working with four Ethiopian banks raising service quality issues. Ethiopia is also teaming up with a US-based aerospace company to launch satellites for near-earth space operations and applicationsWelcome to this week's edition of Shega Weekly Newsletter ( Issue # 38) and here are the major stories from Ethiopia's startup ecosystem. If you are here because someone forwarded you this email, you can subscribe here to get future newsletters.

WorldRemit Terminates Service with Four Ethiopian Banks

One of the leading international money transfer service providers, WorldRemit, announced that it had terminated the money transfer service it renders through Abay, Oromia, Wegagen and Nib Bank.

The local online media outlet

Origins Business

 reported the news quoting a message sent out to customers that said WorldRemit takes such measures when it believes that it cannot maintain its service quality.

“At WorldRemit, we pride ourselves on offering the best possible service to our customers. Sometimes that means removing services where we don’t believe we can provide the best quality service or the widest range of options for you,” the message reads as shared by Origins.

“We’ve decided to remove bank transfers to Abay Bank, Oromia International Bank, Wegagen Bank, and NIB International Bank. From 27/06/2022, you’ll no longer be able to transfer funds to Abay Bank, Oromia International Bank, Wegagen Bank, NIB International Bank Bank accounts,” the company added.

WorldRemit assured its customers that it would continue providing the money transfer service to Ethiopia via other banks.

HelloCash Transacts 100 Billion Birr in a Year

The digital banking platform HelloCash has transacted 100 billion birr in a year. Owned by Belcash, this figure makes the total amount of money transacted via HelloCash 200 billion birr.

“It took 6 years to reach 100 Billion Birr (transaction value) on the HelloCash digital Banking platforms, and the same amount has been reached in 12 months. Thanks to all our partner banks and to our amazing team,” Vince Mountaga, BelCash’s founder & CEO, shared his message on social media.

The HelloCash service enables customers of financial institutions to carry out transactions in four key areas of financial transactions: deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and payments. HelloCash mobile money service is a shared infrastructure feature, allowing multiple banks and MFI’s to serve each other’s customers. Lion, Wegagen, and Oromia Cooperative banks as well as the Somali Microfinance Institution use the HelloCash platform.

Ministry Signs Agreement with Aerospace CompanyThe Ministry of Innovation & Technology (MinT) has signed a memorandum of understanding with a US-based aerospace company, ORION Applied Science and Technology (Orion AST), to develop and launch small satellites designed for near-earth space operations and applications.The agreement, signed yesterday in Addis Ababa, aims to onboard Ethiopia on the company's technology that’s in development and give the country access and control over its aerospace data.The Ministry plans to use Orion AST’s satellites to observe and collect information on agricultural activities, water bodies, mining, soil and moisture, cadastral mapping, disaster management, and monitoring, as well as for research and development purposes. Read More.

A look at RENEW’s, one of the most active equity investor’s in Ethiopia, performance and achievements so far.

Ethiopia Launches a New Digital Platform That Provides Public Health Emergency-related InformationEthiopia’s Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), together with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and the Mastercard Foundation, launched a digital service that will provide sustainable public health emergency information to the public in five different languages.

The Digital Platform, 8335, provides public health emergency information such as COVID-19, yellow fever, cholera, and guinea worm, and the recent outbreak of monkeypox has also been added to the information system so the public is aware and can take the necessary precautionary measures.This digital platform combines voice and text messages and reaches a large section of society, especially during urgent times when public health threats arise. This National Public Health Emergency Contact Center also provides reliable early warning information, detection, and monitoring. Read More.

Agritech Challenge Awards WinnersAn Agritech competition in Ethiopia that aimed to identify innovative tech ideas with the potential to address the challenges of smallholder farmers has come to an end announcing three winners.The 2022 AYuTe Ethiopia Challenge awarded Meskerem Yemaneh, Yishak Amdeselassie, Samuel Getachew, and Yosef Lakew, as their pitches stood out in the competition that lasted for around 20 days.Looking for ideas that could improve the production, productivity, income, access to finance, or resilience of farmers in Ethiopia, the competition made its call for application at the end of May 2022. Read More.

Microsoft Collaborates with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education to Help Digitize the Education SectorMicrosoft has collaborated with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education to implement a Higher Educational Management Information System for a successful digital transformation of the education sector.The Ministry sought to introduce country-wide education data analytics stating that it faces an urgent need for comprehensive data and insights to ensure the success of the transformation process in the education sector.With no Higher Educational Training Management Information System (HETMIS), decision-makers lacked relevant data to drive the right decisions, and the impact of the implemented strategies could not be measured. Read More.

New Platform Set To Accelerate Digital Financial Opportunities for Women in EthiopiaAn advocacy hub for digital and financial experts keen on advancing women’s economic empowerment through digital technology was launched last week in Addis Ababa.Dubbed the Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion Advocacy Hub (WDFI), the platform serves for a variety of organizations in Ethiopia to come together to strategize and align efforts to ensure that more women benefit from digital financial services and, ultimately, play an active role in the country’s transition to the digital economy.Most financial transactions to pay utility bills, receive wages, and get government payments, are still largely cash-based, and women make up a disproportionate share of the millions of Ethiopians who lack access to digital financial services. Read More.

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