Nigeria’s Qore Technologies Sets Up Shop in Ethiopia, Betting on a Cloud-First Future

Nigeria-based fintech infrastructure provider Qore Technologies has expanded into Ethiopia, promising to give local banks, micro-finance institutions, and fintech start-ups the same cloud-native core-banking stack that now powers hundreds of African financial players. The fifteen-year-old company announced its plans at a ceremony attended by several bank executives at the Hyatt Regency Hotel late last week.

Qore’s flagship product, BankOne, already supports more than 500 financial institutions across seven African markets, including 19 commercial banks and north of 450 micro-finance banks and fintechs. Its clientele includes prominent institutions like Zenith Bank, Access Bank, and the United Bank for Africa.

Martin Muchine, Vice President of International Expansion at Qore, says their market entry strategy entails deploying technology first and then receiving feedback to fine-tune their offering. He indicated plans to form long-term partnerships that leverage Qore’s technology expertise and insights from financial institutions.

“We have one of the nimblest offerings in the market,” Martin told Shega.

Unlike traditional on-premises cores that demand large upfront licences and in-house IT teams, Qore offers a multi-tenant, Azure-hosted service that can go live in as little as 12 weeks. The shared model lowers the total cost of ownership and lets even small MFIs access tier-one functionality.

The platform processes transactions valued at around $11.8 billion annually and manages deposits of about ₦155 billion (US$103 million) monthly, according to company figures.

Akufada, a three-year-old Ethiopian MFI, is Qore’s first Ethiopian client, having deployed the platform across 40 of its branches. 

“We are delighted to be the first one,” says Abraham Wedajo, the MFI’s CEO.

Qore’s entry coincides with Ethiopia’s increased transition to a cash-lite economy largely reliant on digital financial services. Digital transactions have overtaken cash in some of Ethiopia's biggest banks in recent years.

Michael Hoodfar, Chief Operating Officer at Qore, said Ethiopian financial institutions “can leapfrog the legacy phase entirely,” focusing instead on customer experience, embedded finance, and open-API partnerships. He noted that their service is tailored for the African banking needs, eliminating costly third-party integrations, and is easily scalable.

If the Ethiopian deployment mirrors Qore’s Nigerian success, it could accelerate the shift from branch-centric to fully digital banking.