Yesterday, we wrote about the restructuring that’s going on at Econet right now, thus, Econet’s demerger arrangements. So now I’m going to outline what each and every strategic business unit does, that will be ‘parented’ by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited after the demerger process is done with.
Econet Wireless
This needs no introduction I guess. This is the Mobile Network Operator, the one which sells (to you) sim cards to broadcast the Econet Network on your phone. This is the company, which started 20 years ago, that bred what is all Econet-related today.
Pentamed Investments
It’s perhaps one of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited’s (EWZL) least known business unit, both in name and what it does. Pentamed Investments is EWZL investment arm which holds 63% into a bottling company know as in Mutare Bottling Company. And Mutare Bottling Company is a bottling company based in Mutare which bottles CocaCola International products for Zimbabwe’s southern region.
EW Capital Holdings
This company does a bit of everything. It’s EWZL’s investment vehicle through which it holds investments listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Transaction and Payment Systems
There is not much information concerning this business unit. But our guess is that it offers merchant solutions, transaction processing solutions, Stratus FT Server System, ATM Services, integrated Retail etc.
Steward Health
Steward Health company was born out of Econet’s acquisition of TN Medical the company in 2014. It is Econet’s gateway to the health insurance sector as the company provides custom-made health medical insurance solutions.
Econet Media
You don’t need any introduction to Econet Media if you have been reading Techzim for the past few days. That’s the company which shelters the Kwese brand (Kwese TV, Kwese iflix and Kwese Play). With Econet’s continued adoption of the TMT business model, expect Econet media to shelter many brands.
Liquid Telecom
Let’s talk about, internet service provider (ISP), Liquid Telecom is exactly that. The company, which was founded in 2004 is the fastest growing internet service provider, not only in Zimbabwe but in Africa. Four months ago, Liquid Telecom struck a deal with Egypt to install the first Fiber Network from Cape to Cairo.
3 comments
Good idea to demerger. Then each business unit can be monitored independent of the others as well as raise its own capital without cannibalising other business units. Diversifying away risk..
Where is EcoCash in all this. Is it under econet wireless or transaction and payment system. The word ecocash is silent in all this demerger reporting
Ecocash fall under Cassava Smartech now. They will be absolutely separate to EWZ which I think is a good move by the board of EWZ it will unlock shareholder value for them.