Ethiopia partners with Safaricom to run digital ID enrollment in 7 regions

Safaricom Ethiopia has signed an agreement with the country’s digital identity authority to take over biometric enrollment to the national ID for residents in seven regions.

Ethiopia is about to embark on the next stage of the National Fayda Digital ID Registration Project and the Joint Venture Agreement signed by Safaricom and the National ID Program (NIDP) expands the private sector’s role in ID registration, according to an announcement on LinkedIn. The next stage is described in the announcement as “Lots 3 and 4.”

The government gets an expanded pipeline for bringing people onto its digital platform for access to services from both the government and the private sector. Safaricom is Ethiopia’s only competitor to state-owned Ethio Telecom, which was an early registration partner of NIDP.

Enrollment for Fayda includes capturing fingerprint, face and iris biometrics.

NIDP Executive Director Yodahe Zemichael said that Fayda and the broader Digital Ethiopia agenda “play a vital role in promoting financial inclusion, improving service delivery, strengthening governance, and creating new opportunities for economic growth.”

Zemichael said yesterday during Biometric Update’s webinar MOSIP that Ethiopia is up to 46.5 million people registered for Fayda digital IDs so far, up from 16.4 million as of June 4, 2025.

Safaricom will take responsibility for enrollments in  Afar, Amhara, Tigray, Sidama, South West Ethiopia, Central Ethiopia, and South Ethiopia regions under the agreement.

So far, enrollment for Fayda has been concentrated in Addis Ababa, where mass enrollment began in 2024 before rolling out to other cities across the country.

“The initiative is expected to deliver significant national benefits by accelerating digital inclusion, enabling more citizens to access essential public and private services, and strengthening the foundation for a modern digital economy,” says Safaricom Ethiopia CEO Wim Vanhelleputte.

Ethiopia is also considering recruiting “Super Agents” to help accelerate Fayda registrations through a $54 million procurement.

While the country is just past halfway to its goal of reaching 90 million registrations for Fayda by 2027, NIDP has staked a clear strategic direction to get there based on integration with relying parties.

Article Topics

biometric enrollment  |  digital ID  |  Ethiopia  |  Ethiopia National ID Program (NIDP)  |  Fayda  |  national ID  |  telecom