ZimSwitch has just rolled out a pretty huge upgrade to the ZIPIT platform. Before the upgrade, ZIPIT had one use case really – Transferring funds. ZIPIT Smart changes this up and now allows consumers to make purchases using ZIPIT Smart (as it is now known).
Whilst it wasn’t impossible for merchants to take ZIPIT payments before today, it was a terrible process. In the event that a merchant accepted ZIPIT as a payment method they had to do so using their account number. This wasn’t safe and made for many errors and thus no one used ZIPIT for purchases.
The new upgrade enables all that. Consumers will now be able to pay bills, school fees, buy groceries etc using ZIPIT Smart. Merchants signing up will simply display a merchant code that consumers can then use when buying.
How to make the “Smart” transaction
Banked Zimbos will be able to initiate the ZIPIT Smart transaction in 3 ways; i) via USSD ii) your banks mobile application iii) merchant initiates transaction via POS.
Via USSD you can follow the steps below;
- Enter your mobile banking code via USSD;
- enter 4 digit PIN to access banking menu;
- select ZIPIT Smart option;
- select option 1 pay merchant;
- enter smart merchant code displayed by cashier;
- enter amount;
- accept confirmation.


I bank with Steward Bank and at the time of writing, I can’t initiate a ZIPIT Smart transaction via USSD/App. During the launch event ZimSwitch shared a list of the following banks as being “ZIPIT Smart Pace Setters”;
- CABS;
- NMB;
- BancABC;
- FBC;
- MetBank;
- Agribank.

What’s your take?