Established in 2010, Kifiya is a technology and services company that developed scalable and secure technology platforms over the past nine years. The company has a distribution network covering the whole of Ethiopia through 16 regional offices, employing 734 people. In 2019, Kifiya transitioned into a technology ventures holding company focused on launching an ecosystem of vertically integrated digital businesses across various sectors.
Kifiya is a technology holding company dedicated to improving the lives of people by creating and leveraging digital infrastructures. Headquartered in Addis Ababa, it helps to build sustainable livelihoods through its businesses that offers speed and innovation in various sectors.
To make a contribution to simplifying and improving the lives of people by enabling markets and transactions to be simple, affordable, secure, and within reach.
The businesses primarily fall into five main focus areas – access to market, logistics and mobility, and access to finance, payment, and agriculture and last-mile distribution. Our marketplace businesses focus on solving market inefficiencies and information asymmetry by more effectively connecting market supply to market demand. Kifiya developed an e-commerce marketplace platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (Shega), a marketplace for informal sector workers (Shega Muya), a marketplace for online hotel and tourism packages (Shega Travel), a digital contract farming platform and marketplace (Shega Fre), and a last-mile distribution agent network (Shega Zenbil). The logistics businesses focus on better utilizing available transportation assets to reduce the transaction costs of delivery. Kifiya has a point-to-point delivery business serving individuals, businesses, and networked operations (Che), a freight and logistics digital platform (Che Freight), a long-distance bus ticketing platform (Che Bus), and an e-prescription and pharmaceutical delivery platform (Che Med). The financial services businesses focus on enabling digital payments and providing access to credit with innovative credit scoring tools. Kifiya has a mobile wallet and super application that allows payments to other Kifiya businesses and merchants (MelaPay) and a digital lending platform that uses a credit scoring algorithm to provide unsecured loans to individuals and companies (Qena).
The marketplace, logistics, and financial services businesses are designed to be integrated into complementary business lines, allowing us to be more efficient and unlock value. For example, the point-to-point delivery business fulfills all orders on the e-commerce marketplace.
In addition to our new businesses, Kifiya also has an airtime distribution business, a bus ticketing platform (Yene Guzo), and maintains membership platforms for St. George Football Club and the Red Cross. Kifiya’s airtime distribution business operates across Ethiopia with approximately 14,000 agents and 19 distribution centers.
Kifiya is a for-profit enterprise focused on creating social impact through job creation and livelihood improvement using innovative digital technologies. Kifiya has received grants from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, KPMG, and the MasterCard Foundation to support the company’s social impact initiatives and enable innovative scale-up projects.
