A new partnership between majority state-owned Ethio Telecom and Ethiopia’s most profitable private commercial bank, Awash Bank, was unveiled today, introducing a menu of collateral-free micro-credit, savings, SME lending and device-financing services. The offering, branded Tilla, will be delivered through Telebirr, the telecom operator’s fast-expanding mobile money platform.
The rollout comes at a moment of extraordinary growth for Awash Bank, which reported gross profits of more than 22 billion Birr for the 2024/25 financial year, a 113 percent jump from the previous year. The bank has been working to deepen its digital footprint in Ethiopia’s financial sector. Earlier in the day, its investment-banking subsidiary received a license from the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority, marking another milestone in the sector’s slow but steady shift toward modernized, regulated financial services.
At the heart of the new service is a tiered credit system that ranges from short-term micro loans to large salary-based financing. The micro-credit products start with a 15-day loan from 500 Birr upward, extending to a six-month salary loan that climbs as high as 1 million birr and can be repaid over 16 months. Facilitation fees start at 1.25 percent for the briefest loans, with additional daily charges between 0.5 and 1.25 percent. For the 40-day and 75-day loans, the same daily fees apply, although first-day facilitation fees rise to 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.
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