The Begi-Mao of Ethiopia

The Begi-Mao of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 70,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Ethiopia. They are an Indigenous people, in the Omotic people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Hozo.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Begi-Mao

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Omotic
Primary Language(s): Hozo (hoz)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 70,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011553
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Begi-Mao of Ethiopia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Hozo
Language Family: Blue Nile Mao

%

Media Resources in Hozo:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Bible Resources in Hozo:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Or check out the Hozo bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Begi-Mao

The Begi-Mao are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Begi-Mao

The Begi-Mao are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Begi-Mao

The Begi-Mao are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Begi-Mao of Ethiopia

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
readRomans 12:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, knowing that this is their spiritual worship.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Begi-Mao (ROP3 - 101204) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

Scroll to Top