Ethiopian Bank enters partnership with Service Cops

Awash Bank, an Ethiopian-based financial outfit has entered into a partnership with Service Cops, a Ugandan financial technology and business process outsourcing firm, to support the bank's digital strategy.

According to a recently issued press release, the partnership will see Service Cops provide a variety of digital technology solutions ranging from Edutech solutions such as E-School, API and Channels management solutions.

“This is the beginning of a long-term partnership that will see us support the bank's digital strategy,” reads part of the release, signed by Mathias Kamugasho, the Service Cops managing director.

He said that within the Ethiopian market, Awash becomes the second bank to sign up for their technology solutions, “which is a testimony to the value of our digital proposition and cements our position in this part of Africa.”

The partnership was signed last month (April 25) at the bank’s headquarters, in Addis Abbaba.

Mathias Kamugasho and Joseph Kiiza Ndiho, the Service Cops’ managing director and executive chairman respectively, represented the Ugandan firm while Tsehay Shiferaw, Awash Bank's chief executive officer and Yohannes Merga, the bank’s chief information officer, represented the Ethiopian bank. 

“Our long-term growth plan is to have a significant presence in all the emerging economies in Africa and Asia, targeting the major economic blocks which include the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),” said Kiiza.

He said that their E-School (School Suite) is a paperless school management system that eases the management of education institutions by creating one central data management point that enables school owners, administrators, parents and learners to play their respective roles.

Ethiopia becomes the fourth country to embrace School Suite in Eastern and Southern Africa. 

Two years ago, this solution was rolled out in Zambia, in partnership with the Government of Zambia, Financial Sector Deepening Zambia, alongside key telecoms- MTN Zambia, Airtel, ZAMTEL and partner Banks like Atlas Mara and ZANACO.

In Uganda, where the initial School Pay platform was launched in 2016, the service is being provided through 13 commercial banks and the three leading telecoms which include MTN Uganda, Airtel Uganda and Uganda Telecom. 

To date, the platform serves over 3.2 million enrolled students and has processed over 9.2 million school payments worth over sh2.8 trillion, according to the press release dated May 25.

Founded in 2009, Service Cops is a fully-fledged financial technology and business process outsourcing company servicing telecoms, finance and banking, insurance, education, microfinance organisations, trade and commerce and hospitality as well as the agricultural sectors.