This week we finally had a look at the Econet circular which contains details of the impending split of the company into two distinct entities: Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited and Cassava SmarTech Zimbabwe Limited. While we have extensively looked at the technical details of the proposed split it is time to ask whether this split is a good thing.

Well the answer is it depends on who you are. Every business has people who are called stakeholders. These are people who affect and are affected by the operations of the business. Typically a business like Econet would have the following stakeholders:

• Workers also known as Employees
• Investors and potential investors
• The government-including national, local and possibly supranational governments
• Competitors
• Customers

Is this deal good for employees

Although Econet is silent on the matter (or maybe only communicated internally) such exercises ultimately affect employees in any number of ways. It will mean promotions, defacto demotions, moving and shuffling and even retrenchment as the restructuring is being carried out. Mr Edmore Chibi who will become the CEO at Cassava SmarTech Zimbabwe will no doubt see this split as a great thing since it will mean his promotion!

Conclusion: It’s hard and too early to generalise on impact to employees

How are investors and potential investors likely to view this deal

Econet is the King of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange by virtue of market capitalisation. Market capitalization is arrived at by multiplying the current share price of each Econet share and the number of shares that are currently held by Econet’s shareholders.

Currently Econet is sort of a behemoth however with a dizzying number of subsidiaries underneath it. It makes it kind of hard to accurately gauge its net worth at times.  In fact I agree with the directors of Econet that Econet is kind of undervalued at the moment as its size is hiding the current worth and potential of services like Steward Bank and Ecocash. It is even harder to appreciate the contribution of services like Ecosure and products like Ecofarmer.

Splitting it into two companies a telco and Fintech company will no doubt give clarity to investors. Plus traditionally people have always viewed Econet as an telco. Original investors might have understandably become a bit uneasy as the company became an octopus with a tentacle in every pie. A split will give investors the option to choose whether they want to invest in Fintech too or just stick to telco business. In fact some investors may now come in especially those who are interested in Fintech and view telcos as a dying breed.

Conclusion: Investors have gotta love this deal.

What the government could be thinking

Such deals would no doubt require government approval of some sort and the fact that Econet seems to be going forward means they got a nod of some sort. Governments are chiefly interested in three things: bringing prosperity to the general populace, raising taxes and preventing monopolies.

This deal is at least neutral in terms of bringing prosperity but it could mean more taxes. It is very possible that some loss making subsidiaries/products where bringing down Econet’s tax bill. Splitting will likely see these confined to one company which means more tax to the government.

Also splitting reduces Econet’s size and monopolistic threat and makes it easy to implement anti-competition regulations if say Cassava SmarTech tries to enter into sweetheart deals with Econet. It would be harder to say zero-rate the Ecocash app.

Competitors

Econet’s competitors have been choking from the dust left in its wake for years. Telecel has especially be struggling. Hopefully this deal will expose a chink in Econet’s armor that will allow them to become relevant again. But who are we kidding here it’s unlikely this deal with give much to the competition. Onemoney and Telecash are going to remain curiosities.

Customers

Too early to tell here. The split will hopefully allow Econet’s support staff to be more accessible. Otherwise there is really not much in it for the ordinary customer yet.

Econet itself

For Econet itself the deal is a double edged sword. When a business grows to the size of Econet it enjoys what are known as economies of scale. For example a while back Econet pressured its suppliers to reduce costs at which it bought supplies. That could only happen because they were Econet and their contracts are worth a lot. Economies of scale are advantages that businesses enjoy because of their size.

However like roses have thorns economies of scale come with dis-economies of scale. Maladies that only affect giant businesses. Case in point. In the early days you could expect to only wait a short time as a customer before your call was picked up by support because there were only a few services that required support. Econet called its customers Buddies and somehow when I got my first line I felt was treated like a buddy.

As Econet grew and become large it has become sort of lethargic on this front and all the responses you got sort of felt impersonal and out of touch as if reading from scripts. Splitting will allow them to hire specialized support that might even be able to attend to faults in a knowledgeable manner.

Conclusion

This deal was made for investors and potential investors. To them this is a great deal. It’s to early to see how customers and other stakeholders will benefit.

The post Is It A Good Thing That Econet Is Splitting Into Two? appeared first on Techzim.

Ever since the cash crisis began Ecocash has become the de facto currency. Most sellers especially in the informal sector accept it because all you need is a phone. My local tuckshop doesn’t even have a formal biller code, you just send the money to the guy’s mobile number and he gives you the goods unlike POS systems where you have to jump through hoops- even the most accessible ones like Kwenga and Kwik are not as easy to get on as Ecocash is.

On the other hand the Zimbabwean government is the largest employer. They employ hundreds of thousands of employees including the police, teachers, soldiers. Currently most civil servants have salaries deposited in their bank accounts and when there is need: do a Bank to Wallet Transfer. This incurs further bank charges even now when they are exempt from the 2% tax.

It makes sense for the two to join hands

It would therefore make a lot of sense for Ecocash and Salary Services Bureau to join hands. In recent days we have heard Econet adverts intimating that this relationship may indeed be now a reality. What this means is that if you are a civil servant you can now sign up for Ecocash Payroll at the Public Service’s Salary Bureau. This will see your entire salary sent to your Ecocash wallet instead of passing through the bank.

This is quite a coup for Ecocash Payroll and might even mean the service will become a mainstream service as even more employers and employees become aware of this aspect of Ecocash. It will mean one more reason to use Ecocash versus its competition.

This will also mean serious problems for banks. Banks have been making lots of money from levying transaction charges on each and every transaction with some even charging you to check your balance. If more people opt to use Ecocash instead that will mean reduced income for them.

The post Zimbabwe’s Salary Service Bureau (SSB) For Civil Servants Now Supports Ecocash Payroll appeared first on Techzim.

Below is the press release from AfricaCom:

Announcing the 2018 AfricaCom Awards winners

London, 15 November 2018 –The AfricaCom Awards show, supported by Founding Awards Sponsor, PCCW Global, was a colourful and festive Mardi Gras themed event last night.  Held in Cape Town during AfricaCom, guests celebrated and acknowledged those trailblazers who are leading digital inclusion, connectivity and digital development on the African Continent.

“AfricaCom continues to grow and with it the Awards,” commented Tom Cuthell, Event Director of AfricaCom. “I would like to thank everyone involved, our judging panel who rigorously vetted the entries, sponsors and partners for their ongoing support and all the companies who continue to show how dedicated they are to ensuring that Africa advances into the digital ecosphere.”

Here are the AfricaCom Awards stars for 2018:

Best Network Improvement – Liquid Telecom – Completion of the Cape to Cairo fibre route

Delivering Excellence in Customer Experience – Huawei Technologies – Customer Experience Management (CEM) for Ghana

Fintech Innovation Award – Econet Wireless (Cassava Fintech) and Mahindra Comviva – EcoCash Merchant Payments powered by mobiquity Money

Most Innovative use of AI Technology – Huawei Technologies – Huawei PowerStar

Most Innovative Service – Orange – Rural Electrification

Changing Lives Award – Ericsson and  Wot-if? Trust – eHUB Diepsloot South Africa

Best Sustainable Power Solution – Huawei Technologies – Huawei PowerCube 1000

IoT Product / Service of the year – Yego Innovision Limited – Yegomoto

Digital Entertainment Solution – Kwesé iflix – Best Innovation in Digital Entertainment

Also, winners on the night of two very special peer-voted awards were: Abdikarim Mohamed Eid – CEO, Telesom who was acknowledged as the AfricaCom CXO of the Year and, Priya Thakoor – Chief Digital Officer, Coca-Cola South Africa who was recognised for outstanding achievements in driving ‘Digital Africa’ forward and walked away with the award for the AfricaCom Enterprise CXO of the Year.

Cuthell concluded by saying: “Congratulations to all of the award winners.  The bar has been set high and we all look forward to seeing what next year holds.”

Econet Globa had three awards in total: Liquid Telecom, their Pan African connectivity and infrastructure player was awarded with the ‘Best Network Improvement award. They delivered on their promise of Cape to Cairo connection and thus got recognised for it.

The surprise recipient of a ‘Digital Entertainment Solution’ award was Kwese iFlix which is a product by Econet Media.

Ecocash together with their technology partner, Mahindra Comviva were presented with the ‘Innovative Fintech Award.’ This was for the Ecocash merchant payments solution. This is something we take for granted sometimes but is quite revolutionary.

By the way, the story of Ecocash is a worthy case study of how to launch products in African markets. You can buy Techzim Insights’ write up on how Ecocash came to dominate Zimbabwe’s fintech space without it even being the first nor the second mobile money solution in the market. Buy the write-up for only $19.99 via Ecocash below. For other forms of payment you can email insights@techzim.co.zw:

The post The Econet Group Were The Biggest Winners At The AfricaCom Awards appeared first on Techzim.

When I start to talk about home delivery, immediately, pizza or fast food rings a bell. But a certain start-up is delivering (home delivery) a different type of food, with fewer calories too, to homes.

Fresh in a box is a new start-up that has lately excited the hearts of many with its home delivery of vegetables. Just as easy as how you order your pizza is how you order vegetables with Fresh in a box.  

Fresh in a box success, thus far, is disproportionately owed to its use of simple technology, fresh-out-of-the-field vegetables and its competitively low prices. The Fresh in a box team visits farms, gardens, plots etc. and collect the best and ‘freshest’ of produce for its customers. By going to farms, gardens, plots etc., thus cutting off the ‘middleman’, Fresh in a box is able to secure produce at low prices and in turn, sell it at lower prices than prices you find at Food Lovers or at Mbare Musika (according to Kuda Musasiwa, Fresh in a Box’s Vendor in Chief).

How’s Fresh in a box doing it?

Fresh in a box is using one of the simplest, but apparently, effective technology, to conduct its business. Rather than creating a completely new app it is using WhatsApp for the whole process of ordering your vegetables and communicating too. You know how well WhatsApp is used in Zimbabwe due to how relatively cheap it is. In respect of this, Fresh in box decision of leveraging WhatsApp is a masterstroke because anyone can order their vegetables without having to go through the costly pains of buying extra data (for a different app).

Beyond its WhatsApp’s use, Fresh in a box also has leveraged the subtle power of Twitter to market itself and interact with its clientele.

Making your order

Like I said ordering with Fresh in a box is quite easy. You just have to save Fresh in a box’s number, which is 0774 162 442, and text them, Hi, on WhatsApp. Since Fresh in a box is using a WhatsApp bot, you will be replied instantaneously and it will send you the steps to make your order. After you make your payment to their merchant number, you then send them the confirmation code on WhatsApp. Fresh in a box will then ask you to send them your location. Your Fresh in a box order will be completed after these steps.

Besides ordering through WhatsApp, you can also make your order through Fresh in a box’s very-simple to-use website (https://freshinabox.co.zw). I love their website, it’s so simple and direct and it has no clutter.

Delivery of your order

How long does Fresh in a box take to home-deliver your order you might ask? According to its Vendor in Chief, Kuda Musasiwa he said it depends with your location, some get their order in just a few minutes, some in a few hours and some in the day after (that is if you order at the end of the day), although it happens sporadically.

Although still young, Fresh in a box has already made, what I can guardedly say is, a strategic partnership with Hwindi Taxi. Hwindi Taxi is one of the pioneers in the ride-hailing space in Zimbabwe. According to Kuda Musasiwa, Hwindi sometimes helps Fresh in a box with its delivery when its overwhelmed with delivery orders. In other words, Fresh in a box outsources to Hwindi Taxi. Since Hwindi is seasoned in transportation (it brings its logistics know-how) and logistics is key for Fresh in its business model, it makes sense for them to work together.

How much is Fresh in a box’s vegetables and home delivery?

As its name implies, the vegetables literally come fresh whilst in a box. Depending on your order, the prices of the vegetables range from $20 to $60. The prices are quoted in bond notes or mobile money (EcoCash or One Money). The delivery cost is included in the price so don’t worry, you won’t fork out extra money to pay for delivery.

After seeing the quality and amount of vegetables, Fresh in a box sales, we, as Techzim, have decided to order one box for ourselves. After the delivery of order, we will tell you more about Fresh in a box.

Where you can find Fresh in a box

https://freshinabox.co.zw

WhatsApp 0774 162 442

Twitter

The post Meet Fresh In A Box, A Start-up That’s Winning The Hearts Of Many With Its Home Delivery Of Vegetables appeared first on Techzim.

DStv has dismissed a Facebook page that claims to make online DStv subscriptions using EcoCash.

DStv Customer Alert!

It has come to our attention that a scam has surfaced on Facebook under a page called ‘@DStvsubs’ that is falsely advertising  “DStv online subscription via EcoCash” and implying customers can make online payments via EcoCash in Zimbabwe.

Please be advised that this page is not affiliated to DStv or MultiChoice we urge you to not respond as it is not true. Should we introduce new payment options in Zimbabwe, we will inform our valued DStv customers accordingly via our official communications channels including email info update, website: www.dstv.com, SMS, Decoder Messages and on our social media handle @DStvZimbabwe

The said Facebook page has been alive since March 2018 and, one of my colleagues says he knows some people who have successfully made DStv subscriptions through this Facebook page. One can wonder why DStv has now decided to vilify the Facebook page now when it has been around for the past 8 months. Is it because they only got to know about the existence of the page today?

But still, why is DStv angry when this Facebook is making it possible for people to pay their subscriptions using EcoCash, something which increases its subscription revenue?  I think that maybe its because this page is using DStv’s name. DStv has a reputation to protect mind you. So maybe if the page was using a totally different name( with no DStv letters), DStv might have ignored it.

A lot of local hustlers are doing it

While this is the only page that DSTV seems to have singled out there are a number of local agents ( one example here) who offer similar services although most do it in person and thus might be flying beneath DSTV’s radar. DSTV has consistently refused to accept bond notes/RTGS and Ecocash as payment methods ever since the cash crises struck. This leaves a lot of people with two very difficult choices: watch ZBC or use these agents who often use black market rate.

The post DStv Dismisses A Facebook Page That Allows Online Ecocash Payments As “Scam” appeared first on Techzim.

When your relatives want to send you money from the UK through EcoCash dont be in fear anymore that you will receive (get) the money as Bonds notes or local currency RTGS balances here. Because EcoCash has finally (and officially) unveiled an EcoCash foreign currency account (FCA) wallet.

The new EcoCash FCA wallet allows you to cash out, the US dollars or pounds your relatives would have sent you, as foreign currency (US dollars) at any Econet Shop and at Steward Bank branches. Additionally, the EcoCash FCA wallet will allow you to even make forex payments, in situations where you are required to pay in foreign currency. In that case, you can make a payment just like when you use the normal EcoCash wallet (the one for local currency), only that you will be making the payment using the new FCA wallet.

EcoCash FCA wallet comes at the right time

Conicidentally, The FCA wallet has been introduced at the right time when taxpayers are now required to pay duty for imports (like cars) in the currency with which they bought the imports. It would have been risky for someone to travel with thousands of US dollars to go and offload it at Zimra offices. Now they just have to carry their cellphone and make the forex (duty) payment using their phone.

With banks having already separated US dollars and local currency RTGS balances, the onus was now on mobile money platforms to follow suit. And natuarally, EcoCash is the first mobile money platform to separate US dollars and local currency RTGS balances in the form of (this new) EcoCash FCA wallet and ECoCash local currency RTGS wallet.

What does it take to have an EcoCash FCA wallet?

Nothing really. Its already available to you, so there is no need to register to have this EcoCash FCA wallet. If someone sends you money now on EcoCash, it will automatically get into your EcoCash FCA wallet and, if you decide to keep the money for whatever months or years, its stays in that FCA (wallet) as forex. Its as simple as that.

The post EcoCash Launches The ‘EcoCash Foreign Currency Wallet’ That Allows You To ‘Cash Out’ Forex appeared first on Techzim.

Econet is going ahead with the demerger of Cassava Smartech after getting (Econet) a unanimous shareholders approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting. Cassava Smartech which is meant to provide relevant and innovative digital solutions in Zimbabwe, is a diversified “SmarTech” group that shelters companies like EcoCash, Steward bank, Econet Life and whole lot of tech-focused companies.

The demerger will consequently see Cassava Smartech listing separately in what is expected to be the largest initial listing on Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Something which is expected to happen on the 11th of  December 2018, the day of its listing.

At best, the demerger will see Cassava Smartech wholly give its undivided attention and resources on its “smartech” business, a strategic decision in the eyes of Econet. Whilst the two companies are divorcing, there will be serious collaborations in the future such that (probably) we won’t even notice that they are totally different companies. Surely you can’t expect Econet to stop zero-rating the EcoCash app just because the “smartech” company is no longer under its immediate sphere of influence. As Emilia Chisango, Cassava Zimbabwe’s Finance Director, puts it;

The demerger still affords EWZL and Cassava Zimbabwe scope to continue collaborating and expand independently of each other, whilst recognising and exploiting the inherent synergies between them

The post Econet Going Ahead With Cassava Smartech Demerger After Getting Unanimous Approval From Shareholders appeared first on Techzim.

Netone silently introduced payroll services on its mobile money platform, One Money this recent Sunday. The introduction of the payroll service means employees can now receive their salaries straight into their OneMoney wallet. But unlike the EcoCash payroll service which serves everyone (both public and private sector employees), OneMoney’s payroll service serves civil servants exclusively. That is the OneMoney payroll service only processes salaries of government employees (who are on the Salary Service Bureau).

It’s not a big issue for OneMoney to wholly offer this services to government employees because the government has a large workforce that’s enough to give OneMoney a good return on investment.

Anyway, I’m just surprised that with the enticing ‘onboarding benefits’ (benefits for signing up to receive your salary through OneMoney) that OneMoney payroll service is offering, which eclipse EcoCash’s payroll service’s onboarding benefits, it didn’t make ‘noise’ in introducing the payroll service.

OneMoney sign up benefits

Just like many services OneMoney (and Netone) introduces there will be add-ons that will entice you to tag along. To begin with, by just registering to get receive your salary through the OneMoney wallet you will get funeral cover through OneCover.

But that’s not all OneMoney can come up with. Sickness usually comes when we least expect it and more often than not, we will be broke such that dependants could suffer each day we spend in a hospital bed. But when you join the OneMoney you are automatically eligible for a cashback health plan. A cashback health plan is a medical insurance that provides cash back towards everyday healthcare bills and a wide range of other wellbeing benefits. So the cash back health plan you get will provide a simple, affordable way to cover healthcare cost and safeguard the health and wellbeing of you and your family.

And one more enticing offer of signing up to receive your salary on OneMoney’s payroll service is that you can even get your salary 3 days in advance. Thus you will be able to cover your ‘zvipande’ (debts and obligation) a bit earlier. Furthermore, in the first 2 months of registration to receive salary through OneMoney you will get free OneFusion bundles.

How to start receiving your salary through OneMoney

You just have to go and collect some forms at any Netone shop and fill it in. Or if you clueless as to where the nearest Netone shop is you just Netone’s call center at 123.

OneMoney’s payroll service is being introduced just a few weeks after Ecocash started supporting the Salary Service Bureau. So OneMoney’s introduction of its payroll service is most likely to be a ‘counter-attack’. And its a counter attack that could garner success (with the onboarding benefits its offering in mind) only if it is well-marketed.

The post OneMoney Now Offers Payroll Services: You Can Now Receive Your Salary Straight Into Your OneMoney Wallet appeared first on Techzim.

It’s year-end, and though most companies would be having their calendar fizzle out as people are going into holiday-mode, it seems Steward Bank isn’t taking their foot off the necks of their competitors.

In fact, they are launching what might be one of their most significant services yet. Anyone of the 7 million + Econet subscribers will now be able to open their bank account from their mobile device. The service will be called *236# Bank.

With *236# Bank it won’t matter whether you’re using a smartphone or a mbudzi (feature phone) as this process is open to any and everyone who is using a mobile phone via the *236# USSD code.

No need for KYC

So previously you’ve had to go to the banks to fill out paperwork and submit your proof of residence and what not.

Well, when opening your bank account from your mobile phone using the USSD there won’t be need for any of that. Steward will just use AI to link your number to Econet’s database along with the EcoCash database. You already went through KYC when you signed up for EcoCash so it’s pretty safe to say the Steward Bank fellas will know who you are by this point.

Once you’ve chosen the type of account you’ve opened you will be sent an OTP (One Time Passcode) at which point you can now visit any Econet shop, or Steward Bank agent and present your ID and collect your bank card. Once you’ve collected the card you can then complete the signing up process (which we’ll write a separate article on soon) and link your account to the card you would have just received. Going through this entire process for me took less than 5 minutes.

Personalised cards

Because you’ll get to collect your card after signing up you can pick a more personal card that either has your totem or some of the more popular tourist sites in the country.

Can other banks compete with this?

I honestly don’t see how other banks will be able to compete. This move means Steward Bank is now really tapping into the network effects offered by simply being a part of the Econet. No other bank has an MNO and because no other bank has an MNO no other bank can make you a client as seamlessly as Steward Bank can right now. At the time of writing, this is the most frictionless way of signing up for a bank account and frictionless processes are more attractive.

When I attended the pre-launch event for this new service; I was part of the unbanked. I never felt the need for having a bank because EcoCash was serving my needs just fine and also the banks themselves didn’t have cash for the majority of the year (I’m not sure what that situation is like right now).

But because this service just works I’m now part of the banked and granted I could end up moving on to another bank but because I’m already a Steward Bank client; it will now be harder to have me move to another bank, This is the same convenience that is going to be offered to an entirely separate group of people who were not banked before and I think competing banks should be very afraid at the prospect of this…

We will be following this article up with an article on how you can sign up for an account with Steward Ban from your phone. Keep an eye out for that

The post [Breaking] You Can Now Open A Steward Bank Account From Your Phone appeared first on Techzim.

Cassava SmartTech (who are in the process of demerging with Econet) is making sure they end the year with a bang. Shortly after announcing that Econet subscribers will now be able to open accounts with Steward Bank from their mobile phone using the *236# Bank service, it was revealed that both EcoCash and Steward Bank clients will now be able to get collateral-free loans from their mobile phones.

Yuhp! No need for you to go and wait in line and fill out some paperwork and go through all the hassles it takes for you to get a loan from microfinance institutions. Using KaShagi (as the product will be known) you can just get a loan in a few clicks from your phone.

Are MFIs in trouble?

The logic behind this move is that there are times when you need a loan just to sustain you until the next payday or if you need to pay ZESA. For something like this you wouldn’t want to stand in-line at a microfinance institution filling out paperwork and having to wait 3-days until you get your money.

There’s also the issue of interest rates. Most MFIs have interests rates that are considered excessive. Early last year the interest rates for MFIs were capped at 10% per month and this is still quite high. Using the KaShagi facility you’ll only part with a 5% handling fee and there will be no interest rates on your 30-day loan. If you manage to repay the loan within 48 hours you’ll be able to apply for another one.

To access KaShigi from your Steward Bank account

1. Dial *236#
2. Select Option 3 – Nano Loans
3. Select Option 1 – KaShagi Loan

You’ll be notified of the loan you qualify for or your outstanding loan balance. From there you can either apply for the loan or repay the loan

To Access KaShagi from EcoCash

1. Dial
2. Enter your EcoCash PIN
3. Select Option 6 – EcoCash Save
4. Select Option 3 – KaShagi Loan
5. Either request loan (option 1) or repay loan (option 2). You can also check your credit limit (option 3).

How much can you actually get?

The minimum amount you should be able to qualify for when using the KaShagi on Steward and EcoCash is $5 and $10 respectively and the maximum is $100.

According to Natalie Jabangwe-Morris (the EcoCash CEO), the first 100 people to get a loan using KaShagi will get their double whatever they are requesting and they only get to payback for the amount they requested.

The post EcoCash and Steward Bank Now Offering Collateral-Free Loans From Your Phone. No Paperwork Required appeared first on Techzim.

Ever made exhaustive rounds between your bank and a shop just trying to retrieve your money as a result of a failed transaction? One way these failed transactions happen is when you try to make a payment and your account is debited but without getting a notification that the payment was a success and you end up having to pay again.

From now on you will be spared that horrible experience as ZimSwitch has introduced what it calls a ZimSwitch Query and Dispute Management System (ZQDMS) which will make it way easier and much quicker for customers to resolve their queries, e.g failed transactions. With a disproportionate majority of people and companies now using electronic money in the back of chronic shortages, ZimSwitch thought it wise to come up with ZQDMS to improve the customer experience in its ecosystem.

Before the introduction of ZQDMS, you had to suffer waiting for weeks or a month at most to see your transaction reversed and have your money in the account. It was a frustrating experience for a customer. But ZQDMS improves on that by significantly cutting down the weeks of having your money back into just 48 hours. Which is laudable. It would have been way nicer if the queries were resolved within a day or in a matter of hours because most of the times you’d want to use the money urgently. But anyway 48 hours, is now relatively better.

This 48 hour is in some cases way shorter than the time EcoCash takes to return my money back in the wallet. I remember one time I accompanied my friend to tread the streets of Harare for 3 consecutive days just to retrieve his money from Ecocash. And of course, there was a bit of paperwork that was involved in that whole process.

In light of that, even though ZQDMS now reduces weeks into days, the process is still the same, you still have to make do with signing papers and filling in forms to get your money back. Accordingly, even so, ZQDMS will still need to be improved to do away with the awful paperwork and have customers retrieve their money by just interacting with ZimSwitch online.

The post ZQDMS, ZimSwitch’s New System Makes It Possible To Retrieve Your Money In 48 Hours, Not Weeks appeared first on Techzim.

So the official EcoCash App is a great alternative to USSD. The only problem with the application is that though it’s supposed to be zero-rated it seems your mileage will vary. On my phone it works quite perfectly but it seems all my colleagues have a hard time actually getting it to work when they don’t have data. In fact they were actually shocked when I said mine works for free.

If you’re having a similar experience you may want to use Instant EcoCash – which is a great alternative to the EcoCash app.

Why an app is a good idea over USSD

One of the problems with USSD is that you’re entering so many details at different steps and there’s a likelihood that you may miss something which is not ideal when you’re dealing with financial transactions. With a visual interface, that’s less of a problem. You’re less likely to actually make similar mistakes in an application which is why I always prefer the application route over the USSD.

How does Instant EcoCash work?

Instant EcoCash is kind of a hybrid between the EcoCash application and the USSD menu. The application just gives you a bunch of popular options such as Send Money, Pay Merchant, Check Balance, WhatsApp Bundle and so forth. If you select any of these, the application then just dials the USSD code for that respective function and you then you just enter the necessary details.

So how exactly is it better than USSD? Where you normally *151# and then going through with the USSD prompts for whatever function you want to complete, this then skips all those processes and just dials in the shortcode for you.

When sending money, you can also select a contact from your Phonebook which is a cool touch as you won’t have to remember that number by the head or even copy-paste it. There’s also a bank to wallet and wallet to bank option which is another significant addition.

If you’ve got a great memory and you can remember all 12 of these USSD codes there’s no need for this app. Personally, I would rather let my phone handle these kinds of tasks which is why I’ll continue relying on the EcoCash App and if ever that fails for me I will be moving to Instant EcoCash.

Download Instant EcoCash for Android

The post Instant EcoCash Is A Useful App That Makes USSD Codes A Thing Of The Past appeared first on Techzim.

Over the weekend, several people experienced some problems using their EcoCash, including two of my colleagues here at Techzim. The problems were characterized by failed transactions which entail someone’s Ecocash being debited (taken money) but the merchant’s account not confirming that it received a payment.

I suppose this problem didn’t make much noise because it only happened to EcoCash users who tried to make payments when a merchant dialed their number on the POS so as to produce a prompt on their phones. Otherwise, if you tried to make payments by dialing the USSD or using the EcoCash app, you wouldn’t have experienced ‘failed transactions’.

After experiencing that, one of my colleagues got refunded his money on Monday morning. To no surprise, he was refunded just the amount he had tried to pay to the merchant, that is, $31.74. Allow me to use my colleagues’ case as an example on behalf of everyone (me also).

The problem

Now here is the issue, paying $31.74 gets you charged around $1.32 in transactions fees. But EcoCash only refund him $31.74. What about the $1.32 transaction fee? He should have been refunded that because he didn’t buy anything. After all the problem was theirs, not his, as their system was at fault in failing to process his transaction. Instead, EcoCash should refund have refunded him ($31.74+$1.32) $33.06.

Wait! there is that awful 2% tax which is charged for any transaction of $10 and above. So on top of that transaction fee, you are charged (by the government whom EcoCash collects on its behalf) 2% for a failed transaction. That’s doubly unfair, isn’t it? As we pointed out above, its EcoCash’s system fault not the customer’s so EcoCash should not only refund the paid money but also refund the transaction fee and 2% tax. In my colleagues’ case he should have been refunded: {$31.74+$1.32+($31.74×2%)} 33.72 (Don’t pay particular attention to the correctness of my math, it’s just a point I want to put across in mathematical terms).

Some may say the transaction fees and 2% are not that much to whine about. But that’s much to some of us (myself in particular). And behold, those seemingly few cents (transaction fees) are the ones that make EcoCash (the company) accumulate profits. So I won’t listen to that argument which says $1.32 is not that much.

It may not be much if you don’t consider that you have to pay for a kombie to go to an EcoCash shop or drive to an EcoCash shop. Actually, I even think that EcoCash should cover that too. Yes I mean they should also pay your (busfare or fuel cost) for coming over to their shop to get a refund of a failed transaction. As I said twice, it’s their system’s problem, not ours.

But I suppose that’s too farfetched and too much to ask from EcoCash. They can’t give everyone who comes to claim their money, bus fare or fuel money. Rather, the best thing is for EcoCash to be innovative and resolve customer issues (like failed transactions) online. That way customers will be spared the trouble of walking or commuting to an EcoCash shop.

I understand that the issue of data comes into play here. Some will say they wouldn’t have data to go online and try to get their refunds. I guess EcoCash will have to develop a new app (dedicated to solving EcoCash issues) and ask Econet to Zero-rate it. Or a solution for those without smartphones in rural Zimbabwe, EcoCash could perhaps come up with a USSD code that customers can use to get their issues resolved. Frankly, I’m not sure how the USSD solution would work, I’m just wildly speaking.

Anyway, my simple point is that EcoCash should refund us the transaction fees and the 2% tax as well. Period!

The post EcoCash Should Refund EcoCash Charges To Customers For ‘Failed Transactions’. Agreed? appeared first on Techzim.

If you open EcoCash’s menu there’s a lot that may pass you by because we often use a few particular functions. One such feature that has been there for a long time and we constantly missed was the EcoCash I-nvesta menu.

I-nvesta is (and has been for quite a long time) available on the EcoCash menu under Make Payments > Regular Payments > EcoCash I-nvesta. The platform allows EcoCash users to buy shares on ZSE through C-Trade.

C-Trade for those without the application

If you’re more familiar with the EcoCash USSD or application and installing C-Trade is not high-up your to-do list you can just use I-nvesta instead. From this platform, you can actually create a  C-Trade account (which might be an easier way of going about it as the C-Trade process was a bit muddy last time we checked). On I-nvesta you’ll only be asked for your PIN and your account is created whereas on C-Trade you’ll have to select custodians and a bunch of other things you may not be entirely familiar with.

You can buy/sell shares

Most importantly, I-nvesta allows you to buy and sell shares. You will need some details regarding the company’s shares you’re buying. For example, you need the CSD (Central Securities Depository) number, the company code for the specific company’s shares you want to buy and the number of units (basically shares) you want to buy.

You also have options to buy either primary orders or secondary orders. The difference being that investors buying primary orders are buying the shares directly from the company selling them whilst the secondary orders involve investors selling and buying among themselves.

I-nvesta users will also be able to make portfolio enquiries to see the performance of all the stocks they are trading for separately.

How long has this been around?

It seems to me that I-nvesta existed even before the formation of C-Trade. Earlier this year it was reported that Untu Capital (a microfinance institution) was integrating with EcoCash and the integration was under the very same I-nvesta menu we speak of today. This platform also allowed for the purchase of tradable bonds but it seems the partnership was more of a short-term move as it was meant to raise $1 million in debt financing for start-ups and small businesses over 30 days. Now that the short-term agreement is over, the only option left under I-nvesta is C-Trade.

Also read, C-Trade Answers Some Of The Frequently Asked Questions About Their Trading Platform

The post EcoCash’s I-nvesta Platform Allows Users To Trade Shares On C-Trade Through EcoCash appeared first on Techzim.

EcoCash’s new promotion seems to be flipping the finger on any budget plans you had during this festive season with their cash back promotion.

Earlier on today Econet subscribers started receiving the following texts:

Lets Go 50:50 EcoCash Bonus Cash back promotion on SEND MONEY starts today, 22/12/18. Your December target is $x. Send money to earn cash back

What exactly does this message mean?

The message itself is a bit cryptic and like most of these promotions it’s not as clear as it seems.

EcoCash’s Twitter account was bombarded with questions of what exactly this promotion meant and their response to one of the enquiries was;

Kindly note that you have the opportunity to earn something back when you transact above your set target. You get 1% on every dollar transacted above your set target plus there will be a grand draw at the end of the promotion with exciting prizes to be won. ^ZOD

Essentially you have to meet the target you’ve been sent and then once you’ve met the target you start earning 1%.

I’m not entirely sure where the 50:50 name comes from as that kind of suggests that you getting 50% back but there’s nothing of that sort here.

The post EcoCash Encouraging Users To Spend With The 50:50 Cash Back Promo appeared first on Techzim.

People are now on a spending spree as the festive season reaches its climax. Whilst we are in the festive season mood many hardly pay regard to the cost of buying things or send money because we are just elated.

However, some remain cheapskates whether it’s festive or not, to the extent that they don’t even want to pay a cent of tax. The tax I’m talking about here is that 2% tax. Some pennywise people are managing to avoid paying this tax. They are avoiding the tax when they use EcoCash (simply because its used by many people), I’m not sure if other platforms are being used to do this. So my explanations will be in relation to the use of EcoCash.

How are they doing it?

As you well know the 2% tax starts to take effect when you spend or send above $10. So what some ‘clever’ guys are doing is; they send money in batches that don’t exceed $10 hence they don’t get charged the 2% tax. Suppose they want to send someone $20, they send $10 in two transactions (to make it $20) rather than send $20 in one transaction where they will be charged 2% tax (since $20 is over above the $10 threshold). Ingenious and tedious right?

I know you see getting charged EcoCash fees twice (by sending $10 twice to make it $20) and you start to think that the transaction becomes pricey more than just sending the $20 once and getting charged EcoCash fees and the 2% tax. But NO it doesn’t make the transaction pricey. Let’s do the math on this $20 transaction and you’ll see it for yourself:

• If you send $20 in one transaction you are charged: 0.37 (EcoCash fee) + 0.40 (2% tax)= 0.77 cents. You are charged 0.77 cents for sending $20 in one transaction.
• If you send $20, as two $10 separately, you are charged: 0.16 (EcoCash fee for the first $10) + 0.16 (EcoCash fee for another $10)= 0.32 cents. (Remember you are not charged the 2% tax for transactions of $10 and below, you are just charged EcoCash fees that’s why there is no 2% tax in that math). So you are only charged 0.32 cents for sending $20 as two transactions of $10.

As you can see this kind of tedious ‘tax avoidance’ is only feasible when you want to send money to another person instead of paying a merchant. Yes, it’s still cheaper to make payments that way (send money in batches) but it’s not feasible. Will a cashier in Pick n Pay tolerate you to pay for a cake in batches? No, I don’t think so.

Forgive me for throwing the word ‘tax avoidance’ in the middle of nowhere. As it happens, I’m no expert at tax but I’m curious to know if this practice is tax evasion (illegally dodging taxes) or tax avoidance (legally dodging taxes). Let us know in the comment section below

The post Here Is How Some People Are Dodging Paying The 2% Tax appeared first on Techzim.

Last year ended with Cassava Smartech releasing a string of new products and services. Among these was the Enda education insurance cover product that offers school fees benefit for primary and secondary education in the event of the death of a student’s parent or legal guardian. This way students can continue going to school long after their parent or guardian dies.  

The question as to where the insurance will take them, in terms of their educational journey, depends on the packages parents or guardians pay. There are primary school packages, secondary school packages and the comprehensive package which covers both.  Anyway, I’m not here to get too deep about what Enda offers. Rather, I’m here to tell you how can register for Enda.

Step 1

You just dial *900# and enter you EcoCash pin

Step 2

Select option 2 which is labelled “Enda Education Cover”

Step 3

Select option 1 which is labelled “Accept”. Here, you will be accepting the terms and conditions of Enda

Step 4

Select option 1 which is labelled “Register”

Step 5

Here you will be verifying your EcoCash details; your name, surname, date of birth and gender. If they are incorrect you may need to visit EcoCash to get them corrected

Step 6

After verifying your details, you then start to enter the beneficiaries (the child you will who will be insured) details, starting with their date of birth

Step 7

You enter the beneficiary’s date of birth

Step 8

You chose whether the beneficiary is your child (Biological Child) or its someone else’s that you are in charge of (Legally Adopted Child).

Step 9, 10, 11,…..

In these steps, you will provide the beneficiary ’s full name, sex, ID number packages etc.

I know the steps to register Enda are too many and tedious (the problems that sometimes come with using a USSD) but does that matter in making sure your child gets their primary or secondary education after you die?

The post How To Register For Enda, Cassava Smartech’s Education Insurance appeared first on Techzim.

Finally, we got to understand why Zipcash has been quiet. According to Zipcash’s Managing director, Sifundo Moyo, the electronic money transfer service hasn’t been experiencing growth of late. Zipcash which graced the electronic transfer scene in 2013, replacing the redundant paper-based money order service, is said to owe its recent stunted growth to a lack of business on the South African side. As reported by Newsday, Mr Moyo said:

Zimpost’s money transfer service, Zipcash, has not experienced growth to the levels that had been anticipated, mainly because the South African corridor has not been performing well…..We are currently engaged in discussions with our South African counterparts so that we can come up with measures that will increase the visibility of this service…The service is adversely affected by cash shortages as customers fail to access cash at post offices at their preferred times

To some extent, I agree that “poor visibility” (lack of marketing or poor marketing strategies) of Zipcash is contributing to the service’ stunted growth because at some point Zipcash experienced exponential growth.  With its far-reaching postal network and close relations with foreign postal services, this shouldn’t be happening, Zipcash should be experiencing exponential or at least a steady growth.

But growing Zipcash is not that easy. One of the unwritten factors in becoming a serious electronic money service contender is building a brand name. This involves extensive marketing (which apparently seems to be lacking right now). Despite this being an expensive undertaking, its one that Zipcash really need to revive its growth trend.

Whilst the marketing of the service may have been poorly, I think another factor that contributes to the sluggish uptake of Zipcash is because the service is not on mobile platforms like the of EcoCash service. It’s evident that the world is going extremely mobile, and finance/money based services that cannot be accessed anyway anytime are at the risk of not being heavily adopted.

The issue of customers failing to get their money at their convenient times is obviously playing some part in slowing down the business for Zipcash. Instead of using Zipcash, the diaspora will then use other electronic transfer services such as HelloPaisa, Western Union, Moneygram etc., to send money to their loved ones in Zimbabwe.   

The post Poor Marketing Taking A Toll On Zipcash’s Growth-Zipcash MD appeared first on Techzim.

So we’ve talked about Yo Mix and how much value for money their bundles tend to offer (your mileage may vary it seems). I’ve been using the bundles for quite some time now and when purchasing the bundles you could either do so through your EcoCash and your airtime balance.

It seems the EcoCash option has been pulled off and now you’ll only be able to purchase the bundles through your normal airtime balance.

Why the shift?

Buying straight from EcoCash was more convenient but now you’ll have to purchase the airtime first and then buy the bundle. The only problem is that EcoCash wasn’t really working as advertised so there was no point.

Just by way of doing a “EcoCash Yo Mix” Twitter search it quickly becomes obvious just how many people were buying bundles via EcoCash only to get their balance deducted but without the bundles becoming active.

This has been going on for a while and fortunately for me the only time I tried to buy a Yo Mix bundle through EcoCash the transaction wouldn’t even go through. Every time I’ve bought the bundles using my airtime balance I haven’t faced any challenges and they have worked as advertised.

Is it about money?

A colleague I work with also suggested that the removal has to do with EcoCash standing to make less money as people would now be able to buy data under a $1. Remember back in 2017, EcoCash made it such that you could not buy airtime for less than a dollar. My colleague believes that through Yo Mix people could now buy airtime for less than a dollar which is precisely what EcoCash didn’t want. Granted this isn’t something I hadn’t personally tested for myself I’m hedging my bets on the errors more than anything else.

We contacted EcoCash and Elevate on via their Twitter channels and they are yet to respond.

The post You Can No Longer Buy Econet’s Yo Mix Bundles Using EcoCash appeared first on Techzim.

So Econet’s decision to follow the government directive to switch off the internet has more casualties than just the repression of the flow of information in the country during the labour protests happening right now. The flow of money has been affected too.

Limited use of Ecocash

As soon as Econet threw the switch turning off the internet they made some services available through Ecocash inaccessible. Ecocash, which was until a few weeks ago a subsidiary of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is the country’s dominant mobile money service provider with 97% market share.

The service is now an integrator of various third party services and is the primary way for making payments for most people in the country. However, the third parties that are integrated on Ecocash have to communicate with the Ecocash platform via the internet and by switching off the internet, Econet has made that impossible.

Most folks are now using Ecocash to pay for their electricity (ZESA) prepaid vouchers and unfortunately as long as Econet internet is down, this can’t be done. Buying stuff from integrated shops is also impossible using Ecocash right now.

You still can do some stuff

You can still send money from your Ecocash wallet to another. This is because such a transaction happens internally on the Econet network hence is unaffected by the internet blackout. You can of course do your cash out and cash in but who is still doing that in Zimbabwe?

Cash has been replaced by Ecocash and now our new ‘cash’ can become useless at the flip of a switch!

The post You Can’t Buy ZESA And Other Stuff Using EcoCash Because Econet Has Switched Off The Internet appeared first on Techzim.