BirrLink Receives Payment Gateway License from National Bank of Ethiopia

A subsidiary of the eleven-year-old Faris Technologies has received a Payment Gateway Operator license from the National Bank of Ethiopia. BirrLink Financial Technologies S.C. secured regulatory approval from the central bank two weeks ago and is preparing to launch operations in early next year. The 24-shareholder strong subsidiary becomes the 12^th operator to receive such a license as incumbents eye to diversify their service offerings in an increasingly competitive market.

Muluken Alemu, CEO of BirrLink, says the system was fully developed in-house over six months by a team of twelve. He expects their extensive research into market gaps and untapped segments to grant them a competitive advantage over current operators.

“We have identified several critical points of entry,” the CEO told Shega.

The company entering the sector with 3 million Birr paid-up capital has already set up integration arrangements with 10 financial institutions as it prepares for a broad roll-out. Muluken indicated that one of their first market segments will entail payment functionalities for Addis Ababa’s transport network.

“An integrated fare solution will be among our first offerings,” he says.

The CEO disclosed the conclusion of preliminary negotiations to create a seamless payment system for the city’s 1082 bus fleet. Addis Ababa’s Light Rail Transit and its blue minibus taxi network are being eyed by the payment operator 

BirrLink also plans to deliver an integrated revenue collection system for several public agencies in the capital. Preliminary market research revealed significant customer frustration over payment channels amid limited interoperable functionalities.

A multilingual interface that currently hosts Oromiffa, Amharic, English, Tigrigna, and Somali has been developed, while more languages are being incorporated into BirrLink. The CEO also pinned future success on one of the lowest commission rates possible, targeted innovation, and competitive pricing.

In the four years since Ethiopia’s central bank issued its first license to ArifPay, which reportedly handled over 60 billion Birr in transactions in the year that ended March 2025, over ten firms have entered the market. Companies like Sunpay Financial Technologies have had their licenses revoked due to failure to meet regulatory requirements, while others like Santimpay have managed to turn 86 million Birr profits in two years.  The latter has also recently launched a digital remittance service; a market segment also being eyed by the freshly licensed Birrlink.

Elias Yirdaw, Founder and CEO of Faris Technologies, says Ethiopia’s demand for digital financial services is far from being addressed, considering a population size of over 120 million people. He foresees BirrLink applying significant efforts in deploying its services in rural Ethiopia and other remote areas.

“We are also endowed with latecomer advantages,” Elias told Shega.

Faris Technologies has been providing digitization, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services for businesses, research, reengineering, and capacity building throughout Ethiopia. Elias expects integration with financial service providers to be relatively easy, partly due to the company’s previous experience working with a varied range of international technology companies.

“Neighboring markets outside Ethiopia are also within reach,” he says.

Numerous use cases, targeted entry points and extensive market research will give BirrLink a competitive edge, according to the Founder.