Lersha’s Inclusive Agri-Finance in Ethiopia and the Role of National ID
This case study explores how Ethiopia’s National
ID system, Fayda, combined with Lersha’s phygital agrifinance model, is improving smallholder farmers’ access to credit. Ethiopia’s agricultural finance gap remains large, with only 2% of the ETB 2.58 trillion demand met due to weak identification, fragmented data, rigid collateral requirements, and high rural transaction costs. Fayda enables secure KYC and digital credit scoring, while Lersha supports last-mile onboarding and value-chain financing. Pilots supported by National ID, Ethio Telecom and partners achieved more than 96% repayment rate, proving smallholders are bankable when identity and data are integrated.
