These days, it is almost impossible to avoid conversations about falling revenues, rising living costs and soaring inflation. You hear them in grocery queues, on public transport and in workplaces. Wherever people gather, the cost of living has become the background noise of daily life.

The most important point to remember is that the financial pressure many people are experiencing is not necessarily the result of personal failure. It is part of a wider economic reality. When people complain that their income is falling while the cost of living is rising, they are describing the same painful reality: their purchasing power is shrinking.

Some may use these concerns to express frustration or mobilise public opinion. That is understandable. Government intervention can also be justified when prices rise suddenly and sharply. Governments have a responsibility to prevent abuse, curb excessive price increases, protect consumers and preserve social stability.

However, even when official inflation figures begin to decline after government action, the situation experienced by households may not improve immediately. Lower inflation does not mean prices return to their previous levels. It only means that prices are rising more slowly than before.

Prices are often sticky. Once they rise, they tend to remain high. Households and businesses must then manage permanently higher costs, even when inflation moderates. This is why people may continue to feel the effects of inflation long after official figures show an improvement.

Our minds also remember earlier prices. Every time we pay more for food, transport, rent, medicine or school supplies, we compare the new price with what we used to pay. Each transaction can therefore feel like a loss. This price-level shock affects nearly everyone, from low-income households to large companies.

Inflation does not only change prices; it changes behaviour. When income does not keep pace with expenses, households begin to reduce non-essential spending. People switch to cheaper brands, postpone major purchases, reduce entertainment spending and focus on necessities.

This is a rational response to financial pressure. But when many households reduce spending at the same time, the effect spreads through the economy. Businesses experience lower sales, revenues fall, and employers may respond by slowing recruitment, cutting bonuses, reducing salary increases or, in more severe cases, laying off workers.

Everything is connected. When consumers spend less, businesses earn less. When businesses earn less, workers face greater uncertainty. This creates a cycle in which anxiety about the future encourages further reductions in spending.

The gap between slow-moving incomes and permanently higher prices creates deep financial and psychological stress. It is normal for people to feel tired, worried or frustrated when they are being squeezed from multiple directions. Recognising that reality is important. But recognition alone is not enough. The next step is to change behaviour.

In a high-inflation environment, relying on willpower is rarely sufficient. What people need are systems that make better financial decisions easier and more consistent. As the saying goes, it is not only your salary that determines your financial security; your spending habits matter as well.

The first step is to rebuild the household budget. An old financial plan may no longer work when food, rent, transport and other essentials have become more expensive. Families should review their expenses honestly, identify unnecessary costs and set new priorities.

This does not mean eliminating every small pleasure from life. It means distinguishing between needs and wants, particularly during a period of financial uncertainty. Creating even a small cash cushion can provide important peace of mind when income is irregular, business revenue is declining or jobs are uncertain.

It is also important to review fixed costs. Housing, transportation and food are usually the largest expenses in a household budget. Finding practical ways to reduce these costs can have a much greater impact than becoming overly focused on every small daily purchase.

For example, households may consider sharing transport where possible, planning grocery purchases, reducing food waste, comparing prices before buying, and avoiding unnecessary debt. Small leaks may appear harmless, but they can become serious over time. As the saying goes, a continuous small leak can eventually sink a great ship.

At the same time, inflation makes it important to explore ways of increasing income. Waiting for a salary increase may not be enough when prices rise faster than wages. People should consider how their existing skills could generate additional income through freelance work, consulting, small businesses, teaching, digital services or other side opportunities.

The objective is not to exhaust oneself by working endlessly. It is to create a measure of resilience. A second income stream, even if modest, can help households cope with emergencies and prevent them from relying heavily on expensive borrowing.

Saving should also become more systematic. Setting aside a fixed percentage of income immediately after receiving a salary or payment can help establish discipline. Even a small amount placed in a savings or investment account can make a difference when unexpected expenses arise.

High-pressure economic periods also create ideal conditions for fraudsters. When people are worried about money, they are more likely to be attracted by offers that promise quick profits, huge discounts or easy solutions.

Consumers should be cautious of “VIP-only” deals, “last chance” promotions, fake sales, limited-time offers and pressure to pay immediately. Such tactics are often designed to bypass careful thinking and push people into impulsive decisions.

Scams now spread easily through social media, messaging applications, SMS campaigns and online advertisements. They may appear professional and legitimate, making them difficult to distinguish from genuine businesses. During holiday seasons and the New Year period, these tactics often become more common.

Before making a major non-essential purchase, it is wise to pause. Give yourself a day or two to think. Compare prices, verify the seller, ask whether the purchase is truly necessary and avoid making decisions based on sudden emotion or fear of missing out.

There is an Ethiopian proverb that offers comfort during difficult times: “Kale fetari amuatesh gagri.” It roughly means, “Since the Creator has not abandoned us, do not lose courage.”

The proverb does not suggest that people should ignore hardship. Rather, it encourages resilience, patience and wise action when circumstances are beyond one’s control.

Inflation requires neither carelessness nor panic. It requires discipline, awareness and practical judgment. Depending entirely on government intervention may offer temporary relief, but it cannot replace sound financial management at the household and business level.

The background noise of inflation may not disappear quickly. Prices may remain high, incomes may take time to improve, and the gap between what people remember paying and what they pay today may continue to cause frustration.

But this is not a personal failure. It is the structure of an economic shock.

The durable response is deliberate behavioural change: build saving habits, control unnecessary expenses, reduce high-cost debt, develop useful skills, search for additional income and treat overly attractive offers with caution.

Do not lose courage. A sensible budget, disciplined spending habits and careful financial decisions can help households weather difficult times. The economic pressure may continue, but a wise approach can help individuals and families cross the valley more safely.

Pandemics are not a new thing for this generation. We lived and breathed it as recently as in 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic silently ravaged millions across the globe, as it shut down the very global and national economic, social and financial systems, affecting billions of people. An invisible microscopic virus challenged the complex global health defense system, exposing our sense of insulation. It was after concerted efforts by governments all over the world to find a solution that we were able to mitigate it. Yet not before losing millions to it and billions of dollars to invent and distribute the vaccine, distribute mask handouts, and protect those who were vulnerable to it.

By the same token, the silent pandemic of divorce is eating our social fabric. Divorce is silently dismantling social cohesion and our unified effort to build a nation capable of passing down the economic and political legacy we have achieved to the future generation. When a nation has its foundation destroyed by this silent exterminator, we cannot talk of the multigenerational legacy we are building the economy and political culture for.

The divorce pandemic

Marriage has been considered one of the most important pillars of a nation since it is an incubator of a family unit that is considered to be a building block of any society. A happy family is a happy nation. When maritally bonded couples have an environment where they can emotionally and economically support and insulate themselves from one another against the storms of life, and when they are graced with children, children find a safe place to be trained for getting ready for life. This is a really perfectly designed social institution if we understand the purpose beyond what is commonly misunderstood, which is focusing on only a singular purpose of marriage, either emotional bond or economic support, since having an integrated understanding of marriage has the power to maintain the integrity of the marital union and strengthen it, putting it firmly on its foundation.

Despite the aforementioned benefits of marital union, nowadays, this institution is being heavily assaulted and its future existence is being questioned. The value we attach to marriage is constantly reviewed, and people are defying the rules, norms and principles that are key to having a healthy marital relationship. This is the reason why we are having an alarmingly high level of divorce rate in Ethiopia and globally as never seen before. The disunion and disintegration of family unions have insurmountable personal, economic, social and psychological tolls on those involved, their families and the broader society. Especially in Western countries, the destructive effect of divorce is incalculable. From a falling standard of living for divorced women and children facing a shocking drop in income, to the psychological disorientation and confusion induced in those involved in divorce, to governments that have to come to the rescue in terms of health care costs that were covered by the family union earlier, losing billions of dollars—all point in one direction to show how divorce, though personal, has multifaceted broader socioeconomic consequences that are costing taxpayers money.

In Ethiopia, the economic toll of divorce is real, but the pattern is somewhat different from Western countries because Ethiopia has lower average household incomes, a larger informal economy, stronger extended-family networks, and less comprehensive social protection. Still, the fact that the government does not directly carry the burden of divorce, the social and psychological effects on those involved are apparent. Especially women receive the brunt of divorce since usually they are dependent on their husbands financially.

Next to women, children also face serious predicaments because of divorce. Studies on the topic show that children from divorced families report difficulties obtaining necessities such as food, clothing and educational support, including situations where children do not receive adequate support from the non-custodial parent. It also reports effects on schooling quality and academic performance, highlighting the multifaceted challenges innocent children who have no say in the issue have to deal with.

Statistically speaking, according to Pew Research, in 2023, about one-third (33%) of Americans who had ever been married reported that their first marriage had ended in divorce. However, for people who were married before the ’90s, the percentage is near 50%. However, recently the rate has gone down substantially to 33%. When it comes to Ethiopia, the national analysis of the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, covering 11,646 ever-married women, found that 24.9% had experienced divorce from their first marital relationship. This does not mean that 24.9% of all Ethiopian marriages end in divorce—it is a statistic for the particular population and definition used in that study. A separate study in Hosanna found marital dissolution in 26.0% of its 2022 sample, illustrating that substantial levels of marital disruption are also observed at the local level.

What are the causes of divorce?

What is commonly mentioned as a main reason across demographics and nations is economic. The stressful economic condition creates subsequent emotional pressures challenging the foundation. Hence, communication breakdown settles in, adding to and compounding the depth of the problem. Lack of empathy, misunderstanding, inability to settle conflicts peacefully, and the involvement of parents and relatives having a diverse effect can also be mentioned as causes of the divorce pandemic.

However, the cause of divorce goes deeper than simply economic burden-induced miscommunication and misunderstanding. It has broader sociocultural implications. At the outset, it comes to how men want to treat their wives. The patriarchal social structure where women are mistreated even in urban settings can be cited as one of the key social maladies we should deal with. The longstanding tradition of whatever the man says is right as he is supposed to be the breadwinner should be dealt with if we want to reduce the divorce rate. Respecting and making sure both partners are on the same page when it comes to big decisions that affect the whole family is cited here. Unilateral decisions disregarding the other partner in the marital equation are a recipe for marital disaster. Showing respect begins when both think the marriage they built is supposed to keep a firm foundation by mutual consent and consensus.

Keeping parents at bay when it comes to decisions is also important. If parents and relatives hold the thermometer of the marital relationship, dictating when to love and when to grow cold to a marital partner, this sort of norm is an indicator soon to see the marriage heading for disaster.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse of Divorce

According to psychologist John Gottman, there are the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” a term he uses to describe four communication patterns that are particularly destructive to relationships. He notes that when couples come to marriage counseling and exhibit these four elements in their interaction, he knows for sure that the marriage is heading toward divorce and that there is considerable work required to reverse course. That is why he used prophetic imagery—they indicate something ominous coming for the couple.

The first horseman on the list is criticism. Even with honest feedback to improve relationships, constantly attacking your partner’s character rather than addressing a specific behavior will, according to him, be a sign that the marriage is heading to divorce. Criticisms such as “you never think about anyone but yourself,” “you’re so irresponsible. You never help around the house,” “you don’t care about this family,” “you always put yourself first.”

The key word in those expressions is “always” as it shows no discretion, but a blind, sweeping generalization and mischaracterization of a partner without citing a specific problem. Such comments discourage the partner and widen misunderstandings that could be easily solved.

The second horseman on the list is contempt, which is communicating superiority, disrespect, ridicule or disgust. “You’re unbelievable. How could anyone be so stupid?”, “Wow, you’re actually complaining about that? Pathetic.”, and “You really think you know everything, don’t you?” Such condescending comments dehumanize a marital partner and leave an indelible scar by damaging the relationship irreparably. Gottman considers contempt particularly damaging because it communicates that the other person is beneath you.

The third horseman for him is defensiveness, which is protecting yourself from criticism by making excuses, counterattacking or refusing responsibility. “It’s not my fault. You do exactly the same thing!”, “I only came home late because you kept calling me!”, “Why are you blaming me? You’re the one who started this.” Such behavior prevents partners from honestly discussing issues as one accuses the other instead of taking his or her own fair share of responsibility.

The final on the list is stonewalling, which is withdrawing from the interaction, shutting down or refusing to engage. Here partners are engulfed with deafening silence, looking away, leaving the conversation or emotionally checking out instead of choosing open communication. The refusal to engage in healthy and peaceful conversations frustrates the partner.

What does it take to safeguard it?

We should understand that our speech has a lasting effect on our partner. He or she might forgive us, but he or she will not forget what we say. Our tongue, as soft and slick as it appears to be, has the power to break and bring about massive emotional damage to our partner.

Limiting the involvement of those around a married couple is also important, as the decision-making responsibility, fairly and squarely, should rest only on the married couple, no matter what economic or financial support comes from others.

Married couples should also know that the emotional heat that was a catalyst at the beginning of the relationship will not be there. Psychologists claim that emotional energy can only last for two years. After that, it is the responsibility of the married couple to rekindle and ignite their romance by consciously contributing meaningfully to their relationship’s nourishment and nurturance. Spending quality time together has paramount importance since financial burdens and economic pressures can also be effectively dealt with when they collaboratively discuss their future and ways to overcome challenges instead of frantically trying to solve them independently. They should understand that no single person is responsible for making the marriage work and it is only their mutual, collaborative effort that can withstand the storms of life. Daring to ask for forgiveness when one makes mistakes is also really important for having a smooth relationship. No one can guarantee that a relationship will be frictionless, but if they build a system to honestly discuss issues frankly, they can protect themselves and their children from the adverse consequences of divorce.

Finally, knowing the love language of your partner, which is knowing what makes him or her feel loved, is very important. Rebuilding this foundation does not require importing alien frameworks; it starts by revitalizing community-level accountability, equipping young couples with emotional literacy, and treating marital stability as infrastructure for national human capital and resilience.

However, at times when the relationship involves physical abuse and continuous infidelity, asking for support should be a priority, as the marriage institution is not a place to be abused and subjugated.

All in all, this institution, despite being challenged, is meant to experience one of the most valued human emotions everyone craves to have: being unconditionally loved.

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Introduction

In the fast-evolving landscape of modern business, organizational leadership is undergoing a profound metamorphosis. Leaders are increasingly judged not by their ability to maintain rigid control over every minutiae of daily operations, but by their capacity to inspire, empower, and cultivate autonomy within their teams. Yet, a persistent paradox continues to plague boardrooms, public sector institutions, and private enterprises alike: micromanagement. Characterized by excessive supervision, obsessive control over minor details, and a profound reluctance to delegate authority, micromanagement remains an insidious obstacle to sustainable institutional growth.

For growing economies navigating competitive regional and global markets, the cost of this leadership style is exceptionally high. When leaders operate as bottlenecks rather than enablers, they stunt employee development, crush innovation, and ultimately sabotage the very organizational excellence they seek to enforce. Understanding the anatomy of micromanagement—its underlying psychological drivers, its cascading operational limitations, and the pathways toward transformational leadership—is critical for cultivating resilient and high-performing institutions.

The Anatomy of Micromanagement

To address micromanagement effectively, one must first recognize its manifestations. It rarely announces itself with explicit authoritarian declarations; instead, it creeps into daily operations through subtle, pervasive behaviors that undermine trust. A micromanaging leader is typically consumed by the how rather than the what. They dictate not only the objectives to be achieved, but every incremental step required to reach them.

Common behavioral indicators include:

• The Redundancy Trap: Insisting on reviewing and approving even the most trivial routine communications, reports, or expenditures.
• The Marginalization of Initiative: Rewriting completed work not to correct substantive factual or strategic errors, but to alter stylistic elements to match personal preferences.
• Information Hoarding: Retaining critical institutional knowledge and decision-making power at the top, creating operational paralysis when the leader is unavailable.
• Hyper-Focus on Metrics over Outcomes: Measuring productivity purely through physical presence, hours logged, or rigid adherence to fixed procedures rather than tangible results and strategic impact.

Psychologically, micromanagement is rarely driven by malice; rather, it is almost invariably rooted in anxiety. Leaders who micromanage frequently struggle with deep-seated fears of losing control, a lack of trust in the competencies of their subordinates, or perfectionistic tendencies that convince them that “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” Ironically, this self-fulfilling prophecy ensures that the work is never truly sustainable, as the organization becomes entirely dependent on a single, overburdened individual.

The Hidden Costs: Why Excessive Control Fails

The limitations of micromanagement are multidimensional, eroding an organization from the inside out across psychological, operational, and strategic domains.

1. The Erosion of Employee Morale and Psychological Safety

Human beings thrive in environments where they feel trusted, valued, and autonomous. Self-determination theory posits that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fundamental psychological needs. When a leader constantly hovers over an employee’s shoulder, correcting minor missteps and demanding justification for every autonomous choice, these fundamental needs are systematically violated.

The immediate casualty of this dynamic is intrinsic motivation. Employees transition from a mindset of proactive problem-solving to passive compliance. They stop asking, “How can we solve this challenge creatively?” and instead ask, “What does the boss want to see?” Over time, this breeds learned helplessness. Talented professionals become disengaged, initiative plummets, and voluntary turnover rates spike as high-performing individuals seek out environments where their capabilities are respected.

2. Stifling Innovation and Organizational Agility

In today’s dynamic business environment, agility is a primary currency of success. Market conditions shift rapidly, customer expectations evolve, and operational bottlenecks can prove fatal to a firm’s competitiveness. Micromanagement introduces profound latency into decision-making.

When every decision—no matter how minor—must ascend a steep bureaucratic hierarchy for approval and descend back down, organizational responsiveness grinds to a halt. Innovation requires experimentation, calculated risk-taking, and the freedom to fail and learn. In a micromanaged culture, the fear of making a minor error that will invite reprimand eclipses the courage to innovate. Employees learn that conformity is safer than creativity, starving the organization of the fresh perspectives and adaptive solutions required to navigate complex economic landscapes.

3. Executive Burnout and Strategic Myopia

Perhaps the most ironic limitation of micromanagement is its devastating impact on the micromanager. Human cognitive capacity and time are finite resources. When a leader chooses to spend their energy auditing formatting, rewriting routine emails, or managing low-level tactical tasks, they are inherently neglecting their core strategic responsibilities.

Leaders are meant to look over the horizon—anticipating market shifts, fostering strategic partnerships, allocating capital wisely, and cultivating institutional culture. A leader trapped in the weeds of operational minutiae is perpetually overwhelmed, stressed, and reactive. Executive burnout becomes inevitable, accompanied by acute strategic myopia where long-term vision is sacrificed for short-term, obsessive control over immediate outputs.

The Cultural and Systemic Dimensions

Micromanagement is not merely an individual flaw; it is frequently reinforced by broader cultural and systemic paradigms. In many traditional institutional settings, leadership has historically been conflated with paternalistic oversight. Power is centralized at the apex of the hierarchy, and obedience is prized above critical inquiry.

This top-down heritage can create a generational and cultural friction point. Younger, highly educated professionals entering the workforce expect collaborative, communicative, and empowering leadership styles. When they encounter rigid, hyper-controlling administrative structures, the cultural dissonance leads to acute frustration and alienation.

Furthermore, performance management systems that rely heavily on compliance rather than output-driven accountability inadvertently reward micromanagers. If an institution values the illusion of order over genuine progress, leaders who maintain tight, visible control over their units may appear effective on the surface, even as their teams suffer from systemic underperformance, stagnation, and hidden inefficiencies.

Transitioning from Control to Empowerment

Dismantling a culture of micromanagement requires intentional effort, structural self-reflection, and a deliberate shift in leadership philosophy. Moving from a paradigm of control to one of empowerment involves several core pillars:

• Cultivating Radical Trust: Trust must be treated as a foundational baseline rather than a prize to be earned after years of probationary surveillance. Leaders must communicate clear expectations and boundaries, and then grant their team members the dignity of figuring out how to achieve those goals within agreed parameters.
• Shifting from Process to Outcome Accountability: Instead of monitoring how many hours an employee spends at their desk or the exact sequence of steps they take to complete a task, leaders must evaluate performance based on clear, measurable results and strategic deliverables. This shifts the organizational focus from compliance to impact.
• Investing in Capability and Delegation: Often, leaders micromanage because they genuinely doubt their team’s capacity to execute. The sustainable remedy for this is rigorous training, mentorship, and progressive delegation. Leaders must view mistakes not as proof of incompetence, but as vital coaching moments that build institutional capability over the long term.
• Fostering Open Feedback Loops: Psychological safety must be deliberately constructed. Leaders must invite feedback from their subordinates regarding management style, creating channels where employees can respectfully express when supervision crosses the line into suffocating control.

Conclusion

The ultimate measure of a truly great leader is not how smoothly an organization functions while they are directly intervening in every task, but how resiliently and creatively it operates in their absence. Micromanagement offers the seductive illusion of security and perfection, but it pays for that illusion with the currency of human potential, institutional agility, and long-term viability.

By relinquishing the urge to control every variable and instead embracing a philosophy of trust, empowerment, and strategic alignment, modern institutions can unlock extraordinary levels of productivity and innovation. In an increasingly competitive world, organizations that abandon the shackles of micromanagement in favor of empowered leadership will not merely survive—they will set the standard for excellence

The author is instructor of Business, Accounting, Management, Curriculum, Instruction, and Economics at different capacities since 1998 G. C in public and private higher education institutions. You can reach him via bedlusamson@yahoo.com/bsamsonworku@gmail.com

For decades, banking in Ethiopia meant distance between a farmer and the nearest branch or between a trader and a loan officer. Today, that gap is closing not with new buildings, but with keystrokes on a mobile phone. A quiet revolution is reshaping how millions of Ethiopians save, borrow, pay and trade.

There are numbers that tell an incredible story. Launched in May 2021, the telebirr, Ethio Telecom’s mobile money platform, went from zero to becoming a popular financial utility in just five years. As of early 2026, telebirr had amassed a little under 59 million users and made a total of 6.8 trillion Birr worth of transactions – with 1.9 trillion Birr transferred in the previous six months alone.

Ethio Telecom has amassed over 87 million subscribers to its service, making it an unrivalled financial player in the country of 125 million people. Beyond just being a platform for money transfer, telebirr, by collaborating with banks and microfinance institutions, has linked more than 16 million customers to the credit services of the latter and managed to mobilize more than 34 billion Birr worth of digital savings. Currently, telebirr operates a network of over 300,000 merchants and agents and has started disbursing billions of Birr worth of micro-loans to first-time borrowers, most of whom had never had a credit score until a few months ago.

Another mobile money service that has made itself at home in Ethiopia is M-Pesa, provided by Safaricom company. Having integrated its service into the national payment system – EthSwitch, M-Pesa managed to grow its active user base into millions. By the end of 2025, there were 5.2 million active M-Pesa users, proving that the mobile money market in Ethiopia has become competitive rather than experimental.

From Cash Economy to Digital Ledger

The wider picture of financial inclusion shows some tangible progress despite significant unevenness. According to World Bank’s Global Findex Database, the share of mobile money users among Ethiopian adults increased from meager 4.7 percent in 2021 to 19.4 percent by 2024 – a quadrupling in just three years. As for the supply-side data, National Bank of Ethiopia reports an increase in the number of digital financial accounts from 94.7 million in June 2022 to 222.1 million by March 2025.

And for a typical trader, this process has several tangible advantages. First of all, a vegetable vendor in Merkato does not have to walk back home with the daily earnings through busy streets. Secondly, a minibus driver now has access to the system that allows him or her to collect payments electronically and create the transaction history which will be used eventually as a basis for the first ever loan taken by this trader. Lastly, a relative working in another country can now send the money home instantly without the risks involved in informal transfers.

The Gap That Remains

Yet, constructive analysis must not shy away from mentioning unaccomplished goals. The overall number of adults who own either traditional banking or mobile money accounts was 49% of Ethiopians in the latest Global Findex survey, growing only modestly from 46% in 2021. It is an alarming figure if one takes into account the impressive growth in volume of mobile money transactions. Opening millions of accounts is not sufficient to achieve universal financial inclusion because many accounts still remain unused after being used for the payment of some governmental service or registration bonus program.

There are three gaps that particularly require further actions of the policy makers, banks, and telecom companies:

First, the gender gap. According to the Findex data, 57% of adult males in Ethiopia own a formal financial account against only 42% of adult females – thus, the gender gap ranges between 15 and 18 percentage points. To solve the problem of the gender gap, it is important to consider more than technologies but rather to design an agent network with women in mind, conduct targeted financial literacy programs, and develop products suitable for female entrepreneurs and traders.

Second, the rural and literacy gap. According to the recent study of Ethiopian researchers based on Findex data, internet usage and educational level are the strongest predictors of account ownership while urban residents are almost two times more likely to own such an account than rural people. When the infrastructure is rapidly developing – for instance, the proportion of areas with 4G internet coverage increased from 37.5% to 70.8% in a fiscal year – it is necessary to make sure that this coverage turns into expanded usage.

The trust and security gap. With rapid digitization come new forms of crime, ranging from SIM swap scams to social engineering targeting customers and employees of banks alike. The National Bank of Ethiopia reports that most banks in the country faced attempted fraud during the previous reporting period. But this is not an excuse to slow down the process; quite the opposite—it means that now is the time for a rapid increase in the capacity of cyber security, consumer education, and fast-acting anti-fraud mechanisms to accompany it.

Building on Momentum

The strategy chosen by the country—integrating mobile banking inside the state telecom operator and linking it to national projects, such as Fayda digital ID and EthSwitch interoperability platform—has yielded such results that are rarely achieved even in African countries. Over 30 million Fayda digital IDs have been issued to date, and by 2028 the government plans to reach the mark of 90 million of such IDs. Tightening the link between such infrastructure and banking and mobile money registration would allow significantly to reduce the paperwork barrier that prevents many potential users from accessing services.

The challenge is not to make another revolution but to take the current one further: to expand the networks of agents to reach the final mile, to design the right savings and credit products for informal traders and smallholder farmers, to close the gender gap intentionally, and to keep up with the pace of digitalization in terms of consumer protection.

The mobile phone proved to be an efficient banker in Ethiopia—reaching those who cannot get to the physical branches of banks and other financial institutions. But the next step of this quiet revolution would not be about opening new accounts but about using them in a meaningful way by consumers.

The writer can be reached via moges4994@gmail.com