EcoCash is back with its Chakachaya/Ziyawa neEcoCash promotion, the seventh edition of the campaign which I guess is looking to rival the OK Grand Challenge.
It runs from June 19 to August 28 and promises that over 200,000 people who use EcoCash will walk away with prizes.
The big prizes are a Dubai holiday, an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, solar systems, deep freezers, smartphones, and cows. Yes, as in mombe.
To enter, all you have to do is use EcoCash. For every US$1 (or ZIG equivalent) you spend, you get 1 point. But if you use the EcoCash app, you get double points.
Clearly, EcoCash prefer that you use the app, and there’s a good reason for that, which we’ll get into later.
The rewards
Customers who accumulate at least 20 points per week qualify for weekly draws, while those with 100 points or more over the promotion period stand a chance to enter the grand prize draw. Those who reach 500 points and above become eligible for the top-tier prizes.
The promotion is built around an exciting, tiered reward system designed to reward customers based on their level of usage. Customers who accumulate between 20 and 49 points stand a chance to win airtime and instant cash, while those earning 50 to 99 points can walk away with grocery vouchers and gas stoves.
For customers who reach 100 points or more, the rewards get even more exciting – with customers standing the chance to win smartphones, deep freezers, motorbikes and even cows for those looking to invest in livestock.
At the top of the ladder, those who achieve 500 points and above will enter the draw for the grand prizes: a luxurious holiday to Dubai, a full solar power system, and a trip to the 2025 AFCON games in Morocco.
Sounds good on paper. But let’s not pretend it’s easy. 500 points is US$500 worth of EcoCash transactions (or US$250 if you strictly use the app). In this economy, that’s kind of a lot. And even then, it’s just a ticket into a draw, not a guaranteed prize.
I’ve never won anything in these kinds of promotions. Not from EcoCash, not from the OK Grand Challenge, not even a free loaf of bread for filling out a survey. So while 200,000 prizes sounds good, I’m not holding my breath.
That said, this move is all about keeping usage up and pushing people to the app and not USSD.
And since the cost of using different mobile money platforms is more or less the same these days, a promo like this could be enough to entice some.
Maybe we’ll even see the competition hit back with promos of their own. We wouldn’t mind watching a war break out if it means more rewards for users.
So, if you’re already using EcoCash, keep at it, maybe you’ll win a fridge or a cow. Just don’t start spending money just to chase points. Unless, of course, you really want that cow.
Why the double points for app users?
We are about to geek out on the answer but if digging a little into this is not your cup of tea, you can stop reading here. We’ve touched on the promotion and what you could win already.
If the transaction still goes through EcoCash, regardless of whether it’s via USSD or the app, why reward one over the other?
When users dial *151# to transact, that session must be maintained in real time over the GSM (voice) network.
Econet racks up operational costs to support USSD traffic on the voice network, which involves maintaining older infrastructure and handling real-time signaling. This is not cheap, even when you own the network.
So it actually costs more for Econet to keep USSD running than it does for people using the app, which just uses the internet instead of tying up the phone network.
GSM vs Data Networks
See, the GSM voice network and the data network are related but not the same. USSD runs on the older circuit-switched network, the same one used for voice calls, which handles signaling in real time and isn’t exactly built for heavy traffic.
Meanwhile, the EcoCash app uses the packet-switched data network, which is more modern and designed for big volumes of traffic.
Now, even though Econet zero-rates the EcoCash app (meaning users don’t pay data charges when using it), it still makes sense for them to push people toward the app.
That’s because USSD puts pressure directly on the core signaling channels in the voice network which is limited and kind of sensitive.
That’s because we can deal with not being able to scroll Instagram, but if phone calls start failing, it’s a national crisis which may see some executives summoned by Potraz to explain themselves.
The app uses the internet side of the network, which can handle whatever kind of usage we want and is less likely to face congestion.
Which means, in what could be considered ironic even though I don’t really know what irony means, the network is better at handling 10,000 people watching YouTube than 10,000 people trying to buy airtime over USSD.
Anyway, by doubling points for app transactions, Econet is encouraging a shift to a channel that’s better for network performance and easier to manage. Even if you’re not paying for your own data, the network impact is still different.
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