Visa has had a long-standing presence in Ethiopia, with Ethiopian banks relying on the payment giant to issue debit cards. However, Visa has even greater ambitions for its role in Ethiopia. The company’s leadership team has been visiting the country, and the Ethiopian chapter of its global fintech competition is tagged as a “special edition.”

Recently, Visa appointed Yared Endale as the new Country Lead for Ethiopia. Before taking on this new role, Yared held the position of Senior Director of Digital Financial Services and Digital Transformation at the Cooperative Bank of Oromia.

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Yared sat with Shega’s editor-in-Chief Kaleab Girma for his first interview since taking office in which he shared Visa’s past achievements, ongoing initiatives, and exciting new ventures in Ethiopia.

Visa envisions to become actively involved in the local payment landscape and expand its presence beyond a mere representative office. At the same time, Visa emphasizes that it does not view itself as a direct competitor to local startups and states that local fintech startups are better equipped to address and resolve local problems.

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Shega: Can you provide an overview of your role as Visa Country Manager for Ethiopia? What are your key responsibilities and objectives in this position?

Yared: As the Visa Country Manager, I am tasked with leading the development of strategic planning in Ethiopia. Some of the fundamental questions to address within the scope of strategic planning are related to how Visa intends to operate in Ethiopia, what contributions Visa will make to the Ethiopian market, and the identification of key stakeholders along with the necessary steps for their support.

The second role of a Visa Country Manager involves business development and relationship management. It is crucial to foster the development of new partnerships with entities such as banks and fintechs while also upholding existing relationships.

Another significant task I am responsible for is the revenue generated by Visa in Ethiopia. A fundamental aspect of any successful business is its financial robustness and sustainability. Visa must prioritize its own financial stability while also considering methods to enhance revenue, both for itself and its partners. If a partner financial institution is not in a position to generate revenues from the partnership with us, the cost-benefit analysis will not be considered valuable to move forward. So, we might need to support them.

With all factors considered, I bear the responsibility for Visa’s business operations in Ethiopia. This encompasses monitoring metrics such as payment volume facilitated through Visanet, the number of merchants successfully onboarded, the extent of individuals adopting the Visa brand, as well as our involvement within global communities and related domains. These aspects collectively contribute to a core objective of ours: promoting acceptance, wherein customers seamlessly embrace Visa for their transactions, obviating the requirement for physical currency.

With its entry into the Ethiopian market, Visa brought along a wealth of experience spanning over 60 years. This expertise encompasses digital transaction practices renowned for their precision and security. Hence, our aim is to expand the issuance of cards, also referred to as credentials in industry, within the country.

Lastly, I am also responsible for public relations and maintaining the security, health, and safety of my staff.

Shega: Visa has played a significant role in promoting global financial inclusion. However, it wasn’t until 2020 that Visa established its representative office in Addis Ababa. Some might consider this entry to be relatively late. Do you agree with the assessment?

Yared: Visa conducts robust operations across Africa. Ethiopia’s local office finds itself among the ten Visa offices present in Africa. Visa is making strides to establish a strong presence in Africa as a whole, with a particular focus on Ethiopia, the second-most populous country on the continent. This demographic factor played a pivotal role in Visa’s decision to open a local office in Ethiopia.

Since the launch, our engagement has yielded notable progress and success stories. For instance, within just one year of opening our offices, we hosted the inaugural Visa Ethiopia Digital Payment Forum. This event featured longstanding partners in Ethiopia, such as banks, and facilitated a better understanding of market interests while paving the way for the introduction of market-based products and services.

As of now, Visa serves eleven banks in Ethiopia, including the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Dashen Bank, and the Bank of Abyssinia. Furthermore, we have expanded our services to include value-added offerings like enabling e-commerce. This allows individuals from abroad to purchase services and products using cards without physically being present in the country.

Visa has also issued over seven million active cards and established relationships with approximately 37,000 merchants. While it’s true that starting earlier could have been advantageous, it’s noteworthy that our presence in the local market has grown significantly in a relatively short period of time.

Shega: Could you elaborate on the specific initiatives and tasks that Visa has undertaken since its establishment in Ethiopia? What are the collaborations and partnerships that Visa has established with local banks and fintech startups?

Yared: There have been several prolific initiatives before and after the opening of the local office. While the traditional goal of Visa was primarily focused on card business, the evolving landscape of technology and digitization has expanded its objectives.

Visa is actively involved in innovative solutions, such as e-commerce and inbound remittances, facilitated through the Visa CyberSource Payment Gateway. This gateway is utilized by platforms like CashGo and MamaPays.

Another great initiative in which we are involved is the National ID Project Program (NIDP). We have collaborated with NIDP to integrate its digital identification systems with payments. The initiative aims to establish a system where social accounts are generated for customers acquiring digital IDs. Attaching a bank account to the rollout of Ethiopia’s digital ID can help Ethiopia significantly improve its financial inclusion. We are initially working with the Cooperative Bank of Oromia but will soon collaborate with other banks. Users will have the flexibility to select their preferred bank for the account.

We are also making efforts to strengthen our social commitments. Visa has supported a project that ran for three years under STEM Power Ethiopia, benefiting over 3600 students ranging from high school to universities. This project focused on nurturing capabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and Visa contributed to the establishment of the necessary labs. Visa invested over $150,000 in this initiative.

In addition to maintaining our existing relationships, the establishment of new partnerships is of paramount importance. We have recently formed such partnerships, the details of which will be disclosed in due course. Furthermore, we have ambitious plans to furth