In the bustling Piassa neighborhood of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, mobile money agent Ziyada Seid is helping her community engage with the digital economy. Operating from her small grocery store, she assists customers with paying utility bills, settling traffic penalties, and other digital financial services. Supported by Highlight Trading, a leading Ethiopian distributor collaborating with telecoms, income from digital transactions now makes up over half of her daily revenue, enhancing both her earnings and financial independence. Ziyada’s experience illustrates a broader shift across Ethiopia, where agent networks are becoming vital links between rural and urban populations, particularly in a country where 81% of people live in rural areas and access to financial services remains limited. Weak agent networks, low digital literacy, and limited trust in mobile money have historically restricted rural participation, slowing the growth of Ethiopia’s digital economy.
To address these challenges, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), through its Digital Finance for Resilience (DFS4Res) programme funded by the European Union and the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States, partnered with Highlight Trading in May 2022 to pilot a novel approach to agent network expansion. Highlight Trading, one of Ethio Telecom’s master distributors, initially struggled with inactive agents and low mobile money adoption. UNCDF provided catalytic funding and technical assistance to introduce the ‘Tegera’ digital agent management platform, digitizing the onboarding, monitoring, and support of local shopkeepers as mobile money agents. This transition enabled real-time performance tracking and empowered agents to become a critical component of Ethiopia’s digital financial ecosystem.
By the end of 2023, Highlight Trading had onboarded 319,000 customers, far exceeding the original target of 50,000, including significant numbers of women and youth. The company recruited 11,000 mobile money agents, with 3,000 active, surpassing goals and ensuring 25% were women and 59% youth, often in rural and peri-urban areas. Agent activity increased substantially, and Telebirr, Ethio Telecom’s mobile money platform, grew from representing 1.66% of total sales in April 2022 to over 52% by mid-2023, reflecting a major shift in consumer behavior.
The 2024 evaluation of the partnership highlighted systemic impacts using the Adopt, Adapt, Expand, and Respond framework. Highlight Trading adopted data-driven interventions through Tegera, implemented a commission-based sales model, expanded into underserved regions like Tigray and Somali, and formed strategic partnerships with Dashen Bank, NGOs, and agricultural processors to enhance liquidity and expand financial services. The project also advanced gender inclusion, with women agents’ activity rates more than doubling, providing both income and social empowerment.
UNCDF’s catalytic support was critical, de-risking Highlight Trading’s investment in digital tools, enabling broader industry adoption, and facilitating partnerships for liquidity and humanitarian cash disbursement. Initiatives included digital literacy campaigns, targeted deployment of Point-of-Sale terminals, and gender-focused recruitment and training. These interventions helped build a scalable, high-performing agent network that is inclusive of women and youth.
The UNCDF–Highlight Trading collaboration represents more than a localized success story; it provides a blueprint for systemic change in Ethiopia’s digital finance sector. By combining strategic support, local innovation, and inclusive design, the partnership demonstrates how digital financial services can be scaled equitably, driving financial resilience and economic opportunity across previously underserved populations.
