What was announced
On 12 March 2026, Safaricom Ethiopia (which operates the local M-Pesa service since its 2023 launch in the country) and Dahabshiil, the largest Somali-owned remittance company in the world, confirmed an integration that lets an Ethiopian M-Pesa wallet receive directly from a Dahabshiil sender — bypassing the traditional cash-pickup or bank-deposit step.
Dahabshiil has roughly 25,000 agents across more than 150 countries and dominates the Horn-of-Africa diaspora corridor (UK → Somalia/Somaliland/Ethiopia, Gulf → Ethiopia).
Why Ethiopia matters
Ethiopia is Africa's second-most-populous country with more than 120 million people and a remittance market worth more than US $1 billion annually in formal channels alone. The country is a major diaspora-receiver in absolute terms, though per capita flows are lower than for Nigeria or Kenya. Until recently, most inbound remittances landed at a bank counter or at a cash-pickup agent. The Dahabshiil + M-Pesa integration shortens that to a direct wallet credit.
For users in rural Ethiopia where bank branches are scarce, receiving directly to M-Pesa removes a costly trip and removes the need for the recipient to convert cash to digital later.
Dahabshiil's network and origin geography
Dahabshiil was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Hargeisa, Somaliland, with operational hubs in Dubai and London. Its agent network is densest in the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the Nordic countries more broadly, and across the Horn-of-Africa diaspora communities. The largest single source of inbound flows to Ethiopia via Dahabshiil is the UK Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora; the second-largest is the Gulf-based Ethiopian domestic-worker population, particularly women working in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Telebirr competitive context
The M-Pesa Ethiopia + Dahabshiil partnership is set against the dominant position of Telebirr, the mobile money service launched by state-owned Ethio Telecom in May 2021. Telebirr captured the bulk of the initial Ethiopian mobile-money market because Ethio Telecom was for years the only licensed telecom operator. Safaricom Ethiopia's M-Pesa launched in August 2023 as the first private-sector challenger; the Dahabshiil deal is one of several partnerships M-Pesa Ethiopia is using to differentiate. Telebirr has its own inbound partnerships, but the Dahabshiil network reach gives M-Pesa Ethiopia a competitive advantage on Horn-of-Africa diaspora corridors specifically.
Currency context
Following the National Bank of Ethiopia's July 2024 reform that moved the Birr to a market-determined exchange rate, the Birr devalued approximately 30% against the USD in the immediate aftermath. For inbound remittances, this means that USD-denominated transfers via Dahabshiil → M-Pesa now translate to materially more Birr than they would have under the prior administered exchange-rate regime. The reform is broadly positive for remittance recipients in real-terms purchasing power on the formal channel.
Cross-link
For other inbound options into the Horn-of-Africa region, see the receive-to-Ethiopia coverage hub. For Kenya inbound, see send-to-Kenya.