Dashen Bank Passes 25 Billion Birr in Telebirr Lending

Dashen Bank has disbursed more than 25 billion birr in loans through its digital lending partnership with Ethio Telecom on the Telebirr platform, more than four years after the service launched in August 2022. As of September 2026, the bank had processed more than 15.7 million loan contracts for 3.2 million individual borrowers under its Telebirr Mela and Endekise credit products.

The volume of contracts relative to borrowers indicates substantial repeat borrowing: there were roughly five loan contracts for every borrower on average. The figure is a population average across 3.2 million borrowers, however, and does not show how often any individual customer returned to borrow.

Dashen frames the milestone as evidence of progress on financial inclusion, extending credit to a segment of the population that has historically had limited access to formal bank lending. The average loan size across the period works out to at least roughly 1,592 birr per contract, indicating the scale of the lending activity was concentrated in relatively small loans. Dashen has not disclosed how the total splits across Daily, Weekly, Monthly, 50-Day, and Medaresha loans, so the precise product mix behind that average cannot be determined from public information.

What the Published Tariffs Show

The Mela and Endekise products are structured around facilitation fees, with some longer-tenor products also carrying recurring daily fees. Terms vary substantially by product and loan size, according to Ethio Telecom’s published tariff and contract terms.

Product	Loan Range (birr)	Term	Facilitation Fee	Daily Fee	Penalty
Mela Daily	100–2,000	1 day	1%	—	2% per day
Mela Weekly	100–5,000	7 days	1%	0.35%–1.2%	0.11%–2%† per day
Mela Monthly	600–15,000	30 days	3%	0.30%–0.80%	0.11% per day
Mela 50-Day	3,000–18,000‡	50 days	6%	0.50%–0.70%	0.11% per day
Endekise (overdraft credit)	1–2,000	Up to 30 days	2.5%§	0.30%–1.1%	0.11% per day
Medaresha (salary-linked)	Up to 30% of salary	3/9/12 months	10% / 16% / 20%	—	0.5% per day

† Ethio Telecom’s published materials contain different figures for the Mela Weekly penalty: 2% in its main product table, 0.50% in a separate summary table, and 0.11% in the numbered contract clause. The applicable rate could not be independently confirmed.

‡ Ethio Telecom’s detailed tariff table lists Mela 50-Day amounts up to Br18,000, while separate text on the same page states a Br30,000 maximum. The lower, tiered figure is used here because it is the amount shown in the detailed tariff.

§ Ethio Telecom’s detailed Endekise tariff and contract section lists a 2.5% facilitation fee, daily fees of 0.30%–1.10%, and a 0.11% penalty, while a separate summary table on the same page lists a 3% facilitation fee and a 0.50% penalty.

The cost structure varies substantially across the product range. Mela Daily carries the highest stated late-payment penalty, at 2% per day, while Medaresha, the salary-linked product available to employees paid through Telebirr, carries the highest facilitation fees, ranging from 10% to 20% depending on the repayment structure. The 20% fee applies to the three-month salary Medaresha product, which is repaid over 12 months.

Ethio Telecom also states that early repayment of certain Medaresha loans carries a 3% charge on the outstanding principal.

Separately, under Council of Ministers Regulation No. 576/2025, a mandatory 1% contribution is deducted from the requested credit amount before the remaining amount is disbursed to the borrower’s Telebirr account.

Why a Revenue Estimate Isn’t Possible

Dashen does not publish revenue or profit figures specific to the Telebirr partnership, and the split of fee income between the bank and Ethio Telecom under their revenue-sharing arrangement is not disclosed in public materials.

A defensible estimate of gross fee revenue would require knowing how the more than 25 billion birr in disbursements breaks down across products. Facilitation fees range from 1% on Mela Daily to 20% on the three-month salary Medaresha product, while Endekise and other Mela products have different fee structures. Daily fees and late-payment penalties can add further charges.

Dashen has not published that product-level breakdown. Applying a single blended rate across the entire loan book would therefore produce a figure based on an assumption that the available data cannot support. Without a disclosed product mix and revenue-sharing arrangement, no reliable revenue or profit figure for Dashen, Ethio Telecom, or the partnership as a whole can be calculated from public information.

The Bigger Picture

The 25 billion birr milestone illustrates the scale that mobile-based lending has reached in Ethiopia’s financial system, particularly for borrowers who may have limited access to conventional bank credit because of collateral, documentation or other eligibility requirements.

But the fee structure behind that access can impose high costs on borrowers, particularly where longer-tenor fees or late-payment penalties apply. Without disclosure of the revenue split between Dashen and Ethio Telecom, the product mix behind the 25 billion birr figure, or default and rollover rates within the portfolio, the full financial picture of the partnership—for the bank, the telecom operator and the borrowers—remains incomplete.