FORTUNE+ VIDEO SPONSORED CONTENTS ADVERTORIALS FORTUNE AUDIO Fortune Careers New TRADE AFRICA New

Fortune Logo
Kifiya Financial Technology Plc built the fan engagement software for Saint George Football Club.

Kifiya Financial Technology Plc, which has been losing major government contracts of late, has automated the membership platform of the oldest football club, St George.

The new system will enable fans of the club to register, pay monthly membership fees, make donations, buy club outfits and other paraphernalia using a mobile application developed by Kifiya and launched three weeks ago. Users are to download the application and register using their ID club numbers.

The club has embarked on the project with the main aim of creating efficiency and accessibility, according to Yohannes Barnabas, an IT expert and technical advisor to St George.



"The team will benefit from the system financially by widening its fan base," Yohannes told Fortune.

Kifiya, a payment service provider which has invested over 200 million Br since its establishment in 2010, will receive one Birr from every transaction.

Since the launch of the new application, a total of 1,000 people have registered, according to Abenezer Wondwossen, product support manager of Kifiya, which employs a total of 735 employees including 40 senior managers.


"On a daily basis, 50 to 60 people are registering," said Abenezer.

Haider Abrar, a member of St. George Sports Club for three years, has already registered on the system hoping the hassle to pay membership fees and buy club accessories will be alleviated.



"The club has only one branch from which it handles all transactions, and the service was inefficient," said Haider.

One of 16 football clubs in the National Premier League and the only club with more than 60 trophies, St. George claims 35,000 members across the country.


Supporters who do not use the mobile application can go to one of 10,000 Kifiya agents to conduct the transactions. Fans can also use Kifya Wallet Card, a debit card that is expected to be launched next April, as another alternative.

Though the membership registration started three weeks ago, all transactions are expected to start on March 30, according to Yohannes.


"In the meantime, we will aggressively promote the platform to attract many users."

A prominent football commentator for the past decade, Mensur Abdulikeni, commends the agreement between Kifiya and the club.

"Football clubs in Ethiopia are weak in their financial status and ability to monitise their sport merchandising business," commented Mensur. "Digital platforms have the potential to accelerate these side of the business."

Recently, the club announced that it is going to establish a share company and issue public shares in a bid to raise close to half a billion Birr.

Two years ago, Kifiya partnered with the Ethiopian Football Federation to automate booking and ticketing services of Yidnekachew Tessema Stadium, known parochially as the Addis Abeba Stadium.

Along with the new payment system, Kifiya has been the sole venue of all electronic public utility payment services including telecom, water, electricity and traffic fines and under its one-stop billing system Lehulu.


But recently government institutions started diverting their e-payment services away from Kifiya to a new electronic platform launched by Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to accept utility payments. Ethiopian Electric Utilities and Ethio telecom have already started to switch their e-payment system away from Kifiya to CBE, and the transfer is expected to be completed by the end of this fiscal year.

Kifiya is still distributing mobile cards bearing metered telephone and online access as an agent of Ethio telecom. On a monthly basis, Kifiya disburses 250 million mobile cards through its 15 distribution centres.

The company has designed other payment systems, one of them is Mela, used by the Ethiopian diaspora to remit payments to pay bills, such as insurance and school fees, in support of relatives residing in Ethiopia. The other platform, YeneGuzo, is an electronic ticketing system used for cross country transportation.

"We are planning to launch an electronic commerce system before the end of this fiscal year," Frezer Alemu, chief e-com and distribution officer of Kifiya, told Fortune.


PUBLISHED ON Mar 02,2019 [ VOL 19 , NO 983]

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.



Related Posts

Editors' Pick

Exclusive Interviews

State Enterprises from Oracles to Apprentices

Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW

Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...

Agenda

Rising Costs, Inflation Threaten Insurance Industry

Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO

Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...

Agenda

BREWING DISCONTENT

Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW

Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...

Fortune News

Electric Vehicle Push Leaves Investors in the Lurch

Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO

Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...

Commentaries

Fossil Fuels Arent Going Anywhere Despite Great Energy Transition Myth

Ideas and the words we use to frame them matter. For example, as the Cold War wound d...

Conflicts Upend Growth Story, Plunging Development Goals into Jeopardy

Once regarded as a rising economic star on the African continent, Ethiopia now finds...

Fineline

Leaders of the National . . .

Leaders of the National Election Board are in a charm offensive mood, of a sort. Last week, they organised a rare tour for members of the me...

When the country’s most. . .

When the country's most senior diplomats and envoys return back to their posts after two-week debriefings, they leave behind a point or two...

Editorial

Addis Abeba's Gleaming Facade Masks a Parched Metropolis

Dec 21 , 2024

The main avenues and thoroughfares of Addis Abeba have undergone an impressive faceli...

When More of Everything Leaves Less in the Bank

Dec 14 , 2024

Ethiopia's monetary policy has shifted conspicuously in recent years. Gone is the era...

Fueling Reform, the Petroleum Sector Caught Between Monopoly Missteps, Market Liberalisation

Dec 7 , 2024

For decades the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE), a state-owned giant ent...

Crafting Public Service Reward in a Cash-Strapped Economy

Nov 30 , 2024

In the corridors of government offices worldwide, the question of how much to pay mem...

Gallery

Parliament Approves New Cabinet Members

Oct 6 , 2021

Parliament Approves New Cabinet, Incorporates Opposition Leaders Lawmakers have approved today the nominations of 22 ministers, including three opposition leaders. Two MPs have voted against, while 12 abstained...

2020 in Posterity

Jan 5 , 2021

TIGRAY VOTES DESPITE "NULL & VOID" THREAT

Sep 9 , 2020

IN-PICTURE: LAUREATE'S RECEPTION  

Dec 14 , 2019

PM Abiy Ahmed (PhD) at a Gala Dinner Called for the Awarding of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize

May 6 , 2019

Faces, Voices of Addis Abeba

Apr 26 , 2019

Sunday With Eden

Overcoming Emotional Impulses in Decision-Making

Have you ever made a split-second decision and later wondered, "What was I thinking?...

The Daily Struggles of Power Outages, Water Shortages

Addis Abeba was eerily silent over the past weekend, shrouded in darkness. The blacko...

Life Matters

Inadequate Regulation Leaves Tenants Vulnerable to Arbitrary Rental Hikes

The rental market in Ethiopia, like in many developing economies, is characterised by...

Lasting Treatments Instead of Temporary Relief

I have always avoided taking pills unless absolutely necessary: when I am genuinely u...