Techzim | Zimbabwe and regional technology news and updates

Finance Tue Jun 19 2018

Steward Bank’s Liquidity Ratio Declines To 70%

eCommerce Tue Jun 19 2018

Google Invests Half A Billion In China’s Second Biggest eCommerce Platform

Cryptocurrencies Tue Jun 19 2018

Banned Crypto Exchange, Golix, Fails To Give Customers Cryptos, Fiat

Finance Tue Jun 19 2018

National Payment System Transactions Decline, POS Transactions Decline The Most

Telecommunications

Mauritius Has Best Telecoms Industry In Africa, But Africa Still Far Behind Asia

Budde Comm released their African Market Report and this report contains the Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI) of all African countries and the TMI measures and ranks the maturity of a country’s telecoms industry on a scale of 1 to 100. All countries are placed into one of three categories: ‘Market Leaders’, ‘Market Challengers’ and ‘Developing […]

Tue Jun 19 2018 3 Comments

Fintech

Netone Celebrated Fathers Day By Giving Free Onemoney Debit Cards With $5

Netone yesterday took time to honor fathers by giving its customers (who happened to be fathers) free OneMoney debit cards as part of their celebration of Fathers day. The OneMoney debit card was launched last year in October to offer convenience to OneMoney users by allowing users to ‘Zip’ from bank accounts into the mobile account (mobile number). Netone’s […]

Mon Jun 18 2018 1 Comment

Telecommunications

Telecel Introduces The All-New ‘Power Hour Data Bundle’

You know that time when you want to download (or google) something but your airtime is just too little? Telecel is your answer. The smallest Mobile Network Operator (MNO), Telecel on Saturday unveiled a new data bundle called Power Hour Data Bundle which is designed to give “more data for less airtime”. The Power Hour […]

Mon Jun 18 2018 7 Comments

Tech In Sport

Caught The World Cup Fever? Here Are Some Stats That Prove You’re Not The Only One

The World Cup kicked off last Thursday and it’s safe to say in the few days it has been going on it has been exciting. Anyway, we are not here to talk about the soccer itself but instead, we will look at some stats that have been released by Google in relation to the World […]

Mon Jun 18 2018 3 Comments

e-learning

Learn With Skillshare: The First Two Months Are Free

People are always asking me for a Udemy alternative, well Skillshare is one such alternative. The site allows you to enrol in short courses on a number of topics and categories crafted by gurus in their categories just like with Udemy. The good news is that the first two months are free to our Techzim […]

Mon Jun 18 2018 3 Comments

Gadgets & Apps

Passing Mathematics Just Got Easier For Students With This New Platform: Mathematica

Mathematics mathematics mathematics!!! We are always told how critical it is to pass mathematics in high school. In Zimbabwe particularly, failure to pass it could make life difficult for one to get a job (to some extent) or get a place at a higher tertiary education institution (to a greater extent). Zimbabwe has bragging rights […]

Sat Jun 16 2018 33 Comments

Hardware & Software

It Costs $200million, Weighs 340 tons: America’s New Supercomputer Snatches Crown From China

As of right now, the most powerful supercomputer on the planet calls the United States its home. And powerful, it is. The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) last week unveiled a supercomputer, called Summit capable of handling 200,000 trillion calculations per second (200 petaflops). Laying claim to the title of the […]

Sat Jun 16 2018 5 Comments

Investment

Mr President Before You Give Tax Incentives To Foreign Investors For Job Creation, Have You Looked At Startups?

Today’s Herald carried a headline that said, ‘ED mulls tax incentives to lure investors.’ The Herald wrote: Tax holidays and incentives, the President said, will help attract more attract foreign investment into the country, which will go a long way in creating decent jobs for the populace and help the country to attain the Government’s […]

Fri Jun 15 2018 7 Comments

Artificial Intelligence

Mozilla Firefox Creators Working On A Voice Controlled Browser: Convenient Or Unnecessary?

The developers behind the popular Firefox browser are working on a very cool project: a voice-controlled browser and thus far they have settled for Scout as the name. Hey Scout, read me the article about polar bears. Users will be able to command their browsers using their voice instead of the traditional input devices we […]

Fri Jun 15 2018 0 Comments

Whatsapp To Discontinue Support For Older Android And Apple Phones In 2020

Back in 2016 Whatsapp discontinued support for older phones running Android Éclair (2.0-2.1) and Froyo(2.2). Most of the people affected at the time probably had no idea that the reason they could no longer use their handy messaging app was because the hardware was too old. More devices getting the axe Next on Whatsapp’s hit […]

Fri Jun 15 2018 0 Comments

Mobile Money

Ecocash Scraps Off Transaction Fees For Below $1 Transactions, Push For Kombi Fees By Ecocash

Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money services provider, Ecocash has set its site on the sub dollar economy. They have now scrapped off transaction fees for all below dollar transactions when paying for goods and services at merchants.. Their advert campaign is directly speaking about paying for kombi fees. Pay merchant and not send money… When I […]

Fri Jun 15 2018 18 Comments

Business

Farmvest: An Agriculture Investment Platform That Will Help Zim Farmers To Source Capital

You know the story in Zimbabwe, inadequate capital for farmers is disturbing the agriculture output of Zimbabwe. But Farmvest is here to make life easier for farmers while simultaneously offering attractive rewards to investors. Farmvest is essentially an agriculture investment platform that ‘aims revolutionize the local agriculture sector by connecting small-scale and communal farmers with […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 13 Comments

Finance

The List Of Econet Shops Where EcoCash Users Can Collect Remittance Funds In US$

EcoCash Diaspora allows users to remit money from outside the country back into Zim. Little known ,however, is the fact that not all Econet shops allow EcoCash subscribers to remit money in US$. There’s a select number of shops where people can remit in US$ and I’m sure having the information will be handy for […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 6 Comments

Startups

[Press Release] Seedstars World Pitching Competition For Startups Kicks Off On The 29th Of June

10 startups will be pitted against each other on the 29th of June, with an eye to secure funding and other prizes. The Seedstars World Tour 2018 has begun and the next step on their tour is in Harare. Of the ten startups, only one will get a chance to compete in Switzerland at the […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 0 Comments

Blockchain Technology

Deploying The Blockchain Against Cryptocurrencies, Giving Regulators An Edge Over Criminals

Whenever cryptocurrencies go under the spotlight by regulators, the conversation quickly descends into what has become a cryptocurrency cliché, the use of crypto assets to fund criminal activities and terrorism. The point which regulators omit to also emphasise on is the fact that terrorism, drugs and all the other illicit activities under the sun pre-date […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 2 Comments

Fintech

Mobile Trading On ZSE To Be Finally Introduced By The End Of This Month

By the end of this month, traders will be able to do online and mobile trading in securities listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and Financial Securities Exchange. The mobile trading platform will enable traders, both local and foreign to actively manage their portfolios even when they are away from a desktop/laptop. Mobile Trading is […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 2 Comments

Miscellaneous

Econet Subsidiary Cumii Has Registered Over 2500 Tasknites To Date

The Econet group is a large and sprawling entity that is constantly growing. In this ecosystem there are a variety of companies and avid Techzim readers probably know of Cumii by now. This is the division responsible for solutions such as the Connected Home, Connected Car, and Connected Health among other IoT products. Last year, […]

Thu Jun 14 2018 0 Comments

Miscellaneous

Tsitsi And Strive Masiyiwa Honoured By The British Prime Minister Theresa May For Their Philanthropy Work

Zimbabwe’s telecoms entrepreneurs (yeah they are kind of a tag team) Tsitsi and Strive Masiyiwa have been recognised by the British Prime Minister Theresa May for their work in the education of underprivileged children through the Higher Life Foundation, the non profit they started way back in 1996, even before Econet became operational. Their work […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 4 Comments

Cryptocurrencies

Apple Bans Cryptocurrency Mining On Both IPhone And IPad

Apparently, Apple is coming for cryptocurrency miners on both the iPhone and the iPad. The company announced a new update to its developer guideline where it said apps may not run on unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining. In the interest of all those who know little or nothing about how cryptocurrency mining works, […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 0 Comments

Broadband

Will Wallet-To-Wallet Transfers Really Change The Fortunes Of OneMoney And Telecash?

It is no secret that the government is not too chuffed about EcoCash’s dominance in Zimbabwe. The minister of ICT, Supa Mandiwanzira is on record multiple times saying as much. The fact that the government has two products of its own in direct competition with EcoCash and yet combine to command a pitiful 2% market […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 17 Comments

Miscellaneous

Government Acknowledges Facial Recognition System In The Works

The facial recognition system that our government was reported to be working on deploying is now official. A statement released by the government confirmed the plans to deploy such a system. The Office of President released a statement on the development and you can read it below: RE: Press Statement from The Office of The […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 5 Comments

Do You Want To Smile All The Way To Morocco This Summer? DEMO Africa’s Got You!

This upcoming dry season may just see you smiling on a plane to Morocco that is if you have an idea to turn an innovation into a business venture. Ever heard the about the DEMO Africa Innovation Tour? In brief DEMO Africa conducts events in 12 African capital cities every year, these events, code named […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 1 Comment

Connectivity

Zimbabwe Banned From Accessing New York Stock Exchange Website

The largest equities-based exchange in the world, The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has banned users in Zimbabwean from accessing its website. NYSE has blocked the country’s IP address hence its preventing people located in Zimbabwe from accessing NYSE’s website. Check out what; IP address blocking can be used to restrict access to or from […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 6 Comments

Mobile Money

Orange Money Users In Botswana Now Able To Send Money Directly To EcoCash Wallets

Back in March, EcoCash partnered with Botswana telecoms company Orange to enable money transfers from Orange Money to EcoCash. The old agreement was a great one but it wasn’t the most convenient solution as recipients had to go collect the money at Econet shops. Now the partnership is evolving to ensure that EcoCash users can […]

Wed Jun 13 2018 2 Comments