Introduction: Mobile Money as a Gateway to AI

M-PESA, the mobile money service pioneered by Safaricom in Kenya, has operated in Ethiopia since 2023 through Safaricom Ethiopia. In February 2026, M-PESA Ethiopia and the Ethiopian-founded tech company Gebeya launched the Dala AI Bundle — described as the first time a mobile money service in Africa has packaged AI creation tools as a subscription that customers can buy directly from their phone wallet.

What the Dala AI Bundle Offers

Gebeya Dala is an AI creation platform. With it, users can build simple apps and AI agents, design games, generate comics and produce content in Amharic, Afaan Oromo and other local languages — areas often neglected by global AI products. The bundle is sold as a package of AI credits paid for with M-PESA.

To use it, customers register a Gebeya Dala account, open the AI mini app inside the M-PESA app and choose a package. After paying through M-PESA they receive an SMS voucher code that activates the AI credits on the Gebeya platform. According to reports, each bundle purchase also includes 1 GB of complimentary Safaricom data.

Why Mobile Money Matters Here

The key barrier the partnership addresses is payment, not technology. Most international AI services require a credit card in a foreign currency, but credit-card ownership in Ethiopia is below one percent and access to foreign exchange is difficult. By selling AI access through a mobile wallet and airtime, M-PESA turns a phone number into a way to pay for global-grade digital tools.

“We’re not just adding another product, we’re handing the keys of building and creation to every Ethiopian with a mobile phone,” said Gebeya CEO Amadou Daffe. M-PESA Ethiopia CEO Elsa Muzzolini described the move as part of M-PESA “evolving beyond payments into a gateway for digital services.”

What It Is — and What It Isn’t

The Dala AI Bundle is a distribution and payment partnership: it brings AI creation tools to M-PESA users. It is not, as some coverage implied, an AI system running M-PESA’s own banking functions such as fraud detection, credit scoring or biometric login. Those are separate questions for Safaricom Ethiopia, and the companies have not announced AI-driven lending or authentication as part of this launch.

The Road Ahead

For M-PESA, the bundle is a step toward a “super app” model in which the wallet becomes the storefront for many digital services. For Ethiopian students, freelancers and small businesses, it lowers the cost of experimenting with AI in their own languages. Its success will depend on pricing, network quality and whether the local-language output is good enough for real work.

Conclusion

M-PESA Ethiopia’s partnership with Gebeya shows how mobile money can widen access to AI where cards and foreign currency are scarce. It is a modest but practical step: not an AI revolution in banking, but a new way for millions of Ethiopians to pay for and use AI tools.

Sources: TechAfrica News, 25 Feb 2026; BusinessDay: M-PESA Ethiopia pioneers Africa’s first mobile money AI bundle