Ethiopia's Digital IDs: Boosting Public Services & Identity Verification

Highlights

• Ethiopia has taken steps towards adopting digital IDs after it picked Madras Security Printers Private Limited as its partner for printing the documents. 
• The company presented a bid worth $300,000 and is set to produce 1 million digital IDs, also known as Fayda. The firm is set to produce pre-customised cards as part of the contract. 
• These digital identity documents will include biometric information, which will authenticate Ethiopians to access various public services and verify their identity when opening new bank accounts.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Africa’s digital economy is growing fast, with a population of 1.4 billion. However, according to the World Bank, around 500 million Africans still lack proper identification documents as of 2020. This highlights the importance of identity verification solutions in closing the identity gap and supporting Africa’s digital economy. As digital ID adoption continues around the world, a number of countries in Africa including Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania, are working to ensure that their citizens can easily obtain an ID—albeit often with different approaches.