1. Who controls your data
MakeChapa is the controller of the personal data described here. Contact: support@makechapa.online. Registered entity details: Pending finalization by legal/tax adviser.
2. What we collect
- Account data — name, email, phone, password hash, preferred language, role (client or freelancer).
- Profile data — headline, bio, skills, portfolio, city, profile photo, availability.
- Verification data — identity documents and business registration details you submit for verification.
- Financial data — wallet balances, contract amounts, payout requests, bank or mobile-money details, and payment references from Chapa. We never see or store your full card details; those stay with Chapa.
- Tax data — see section 3.
- Communications — messages exchanged on the platform (stored encrypted), support tickets and attachments.
- Technical data — IP address, device and browser information, and security event logs.
3. Tax data
To meet Ethiopian tax and record-keeping obligations we collect and retain:
- your TIN, where you provide one or where the law requires it for a payment;
- your legal or trading name and address as used for invoicing;
- a full record of every contract, commission charged, VAT calculated, and payout made to or from your account;
- earnings statements generated from those records.
We use tax data only to (a) issue and support invoices and earnings statements, (b) calculate and, once activated, remit VAT on our commission, (c) meet our own filing obligations, and (d) respond to a lawful request from a tax authority. We keep tax and transaction records for 10 years from the end of the relevant financial year, or longer where the law requires it. Tax data is never sold, never used for advertising, and is not shared with other users of the platform.
4. Why we process your data
Contract performance (running your account, contracts, escrow and payouts), legal obligation (tax, accounting, anti-fraud, know-your-customer), and legitimate interest (platform safety, dispute resolution, product improvement). Where we rely on consent — for example optional marketing — you may withdraw it at any time.
5. Who we share with
- Chapa — to process payments and payouts.
- Our hosting and database providers — to run the platform.
- The other party to your contract — the profile data and messages you choose to share with them.
- Authorities — where required by Ethiopian law or a valid legal request.
We do not sell personal data.
6. Security
Traffic is served over HTTPS. Messages between clients and freelancers are encrypted at rest. Access to the internal control surfaces is restricted to a fixed list of authorised staff accounts, protected by a hidden gate, an authenticator app, password re-entry, and full audit logging of every action.
7. Retention
Account and profile data is kept while your account is open and for 12 months after closure. Financial and tax records are kept for 10 years as described in section 3. Message content is retained for the dispute window and then purged. Security logs are kept for 24 months.
8. Your rights
You can access, correct, download or ask us to delete your personal data by contacting support. Deletion requests cannot remove records we must retain for tax, accounting or fraud-prevention reasons; in that case we restrict the data instead of erasing it.
9. Children
The platform is not for anyone under 18.
10. Changes
We will announce material changes in the app and, where they affect your rights, ask you to accept the updated policy.
11. Platform Communications
By accepting this document you agree to receive platform communications from MakeChapa in your in-platform inbox.
- Operational notices — policy and fee changes, security alerts, verification requests, escrow and payment issues, and dispute updates. These are required to run your account safely and cannot be switched off while your account is open.
- Promotional messages — product news, tips, offers and community updates. These are optional: you can turn them off any time under Account -> Notifications -> Promotional announcements, and turning them off never affects your operational notices, payouts or contracts.
We deliver announcements to your MakeChapa inbox so a permanent record stays with your account. We do not sell your contact details, and we never ask for passwords, PINs or one-time codes in any announcement.