Safaricom receives major loan from Standard Bank for Ethiopian business

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Investment; 11 December 2025; 9733 views

Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest bank by assets, says it has partnered with Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, to provide funding of US$138 million as part of investment towards operator Safaricom Ethiopia.

This financing, the bank says, facilitates Safaricom’s ongoing rollout of digital infrastructure and services in Ethiopia. It adds that the two businesses worked side by side in the development of the financial solutions that were bespoke to the business while responsive to the market’s needs. The bank adds that it acted as the sole arranger, lender, and facility agent on the term facility to the Ethiopian business and played an advisory role.

This is a not a new alliance. Safaricom acquired a licence to operate in Ethiopia in 2021, and Standard Bank was one of the advisors and financiers who worked with it as it deployed services and built the network in the country.

Safaricom recently announced 10.1 million three-month active customers, after only being in the Ethiopian market for four years. In July the only other player in the market, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, estimated its mobile voice subscriber count at 80.3 million.

Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom Plc Chief Executive Officer, says: “As a business, we are guided by innovation and strategic partnerships [and] we aim to transform lives at scale – empowering youth, entrepreneurs, and underserved communities to fully participate in Ethiopia’s digital economy and realise the promise of shared prosperity by 2030.” He adds: “Through this partnership we are given the opportunity to pursue this goal and grow further to digitally enable Africa,” adds Ndegwa.