Kifiya Financial Technology PLC, provider of ‘Lehulu’ billing system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has received the second place award at the Zambezi Prize, held at the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.

Zambezi Prize is an initiative of the MasterCard Foundation and of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship.

Kifiya, in association with Ethiopian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, launched eService Centers in February 2013. Kifiya delivers bill payment services for three utilities; water, electricity and telephone at 34 centers.

Zambezi Prize encourages entrepreneurial ventures in financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa-wide competition evaluates innovative technology-enabled services and initiatives that will deliver and enable digital financial services as a means to drive financial inclusion.

Source: Capital