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Central Bank Awards Second Payment Operator License

Central Bank Awards Second Payment Operator License

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has awarded Sunpay, a fintech firm, a payment operator license. The firm can now embark on its operations as a Point of Sale (POS) and payment gateway operator. Part of the Sunshine Investment Group, best known for its flagship construction company, Sunpay was incorporated last year with 100 million Br in initial capital. The figure is considerably higher than the central bank's minimum threshold of 10 million Br in paid-up capital for POS operators and three million Birr for gateway operators. Two weeks ago, the central bank had issued the first payment operator license to ArifPay. The state-owned Ethio telecom became the first non-financial institution to win a payment instrument issuer license from the central bank last year for its Telebirr mobile money platform.

Radar

CLEAN SWEEP

A young shoe shiner goes door to door, offering his services around the Stadium area. It is common in the capital to see young rural migrants engaged in physical labour, scraping change to send home. CHR Michelsen Institute (CMI) estimates that one out of three rural households has at least one family member migrating to cities. Extreme poverty and lack of access to farmland force many to look for better prospects in the city. Upward income mobility has remained stagnant over the last five years...

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WET CARRIAGE

A carriage around the Ayat area delivers water, as homes rarely access tap water in the area. Ethiopia has nine major rivers, and twelve big lakes, often called the water tower of Africa. However, UNICEF estimates that up to 80pc of communicable diseases in Ethiopia are due to a lack of access to safe water and sanitation. The second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of the population without access to potable water at 60pc, while the average daily consumptio...

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FRIENDLY SHOOT OUTS

Holiday activities at Jan Meda included penalty shoot outs for cash pay alongside other carnival games. The World Cup final in Qatar ended in penalty shoot outs this year, a global audience of 1.5 billion watched the spectacle. While the tournament's ending had stirred planetary awe, the death of 37 workers during the construction of the stadiums had given the games a sour taste early on. The tournament broke records of the biggest budget of more than 200 billion dollars and the most spectators...

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