Author: Farai Mudzingwa
“There was no comic book community in Zimbabwe, so we made Comexposed” – Eugene Mapondera
This is a guest post. Views and opinions contained in the content represent the views of the original creators and does not necessarily represent the views of Techzim. In the most recent episode of Story Untold ZW, I sat with Eugene Ramirez Mapondera – the creative director at Kay Media Africa and Co-founder of Comexposed, a […]
[Video]”I started my first job at NVIDIA without a degree!” – Marlene Mhangami
This is a guest post. Views and opinions contained in the content represent the views of the original creators and does not necessarily represent the views of Techzim. In the most recent episode of Story Untold ZW sat with Marlene Mhangami – a software engineer currently working in Developer Advocacy at Voltron Data. Marlene was […]
“RealArt allows us to expand our gallery into people’s homes” – Peter Kaunda, Artillery Gallery owner
In the 17th episode of Story Untold ZW we sat with Peter Kaunda, the owner of Artillery Gallery and self-styled Patron of the Arts. Artillery Gallery was established in 2018 with a mandate to shine a spotlight on Zimbabwean contemporary art. In this conversation Peter shares his journey from the inception of Artillery Gallery, the […]
“I want to invest in Zimbabwean entrepreneurs at grassroots level” – Fungai Ndemera, Checkup Health CEO
Fungai Ndemera is a successful multi-entrepreneur, angel investor business mentor and STEM ambassador. Fungai has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, digital transformation, culture and BAME ((black, Asian and minority ethnic) health behaviours. She arrived in the UK as an immigrant and could barely speak English. With her GCSE level and a Diploma in […]
[Video] “People in the community we serve can’t afford data, so we used WhatsApp” – Richard Fani, Mbilez24 Founder
Richard Fani is the Founder and Director of Mbilez24 – a community newsletter which provides access to developmental information on what is happening to young people in the communities of Mbare, Hopley, Epworth, & Hatcliffe. The organisation bridging the gap between these communities and service providers, and government office was established in 2018. In Episode […]
[Video] “We are solving the problem that nearly put us under” – Gugulethu Siso, Thumeza Founder
Thumeza has been active in the logistics industry for the past 4 years. The company started out as a last-mile service provider. Thumeza then transitioned to a freight-centric platform connecting small-scale transporters to large enterprises with goods to be moved. Thumeza has experienced the joys of landing large clients & the lows of realizing they […]
[Video] Elevating African narratives through graphic design with Fungi Dube
In this episode of Story Untold, I chat with Fungi Dube – a Scientist turned self-taught creative solopreneur. She took the bold and scary move of making a career pivot from working in sports conditioning to now being a Brand and Visual Identity Designer. In my interview with Fungi Dube we discussed, 1) her journey […]
Zimbabwean drone expert publishes book on drone technology
Tawanda Chihambakwe is no stranger to avid readers here, he is probably Zimbabwe’s foremost Drone Technology expert and he has done it again, this time in the form of a book called DRONE PROFESSIONAL 1. Tawanda co-authored the book which was written by leading drone professionals from around the world, including his own chapter that […]
Econet lobbying for reduced customs duties on smartphones
Buying a phone or most electrical gadgets in Zimbabwe has been a nightmare for citizens because of duties. The excessive customs duties on these devices have made it a struggle for Zimbos to buy smartphones and Econet recently claimed that there is a 52% smartphone penetration rate in their latest annual results. This they noted […]
This Fintech is offering instant loans you can apply for via WhatsApp
The process of taking a loan is riddled with paperwork and back and forths to either the bank/Microfinance institute. eShagi is a fintech that promises instant loans that are given out under a 100% online process. What is eShagi? eShagi is a Fintech that claims to be different from banks and microfinance companies. How? They […]
A list of Sasai features that were promised at launch but never came to be
On August 1 2019, Cassava Smartech drew the curtains on their newest shiny object – Sasai. They pitched a social payments app that would combine the best of messaging and payments rolled into one. That vision is yet to materialise, and a big reason for that is because many features that were promised at the […]
WhatsApp finally makes it easier for users to delete files taking up space
This week, WhatsApp is rolling out a new storage management solution that will be found inside the messaging app. For a while now WhatsApp has had a storage tab within its settings. The problem being solved? The old (still in place for some users) WhatsApp storage management wasn’t exactly intuitive as users were greeted by […]
Econet posts ZW$1.35 billion loss for last financial year
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s financial results for the year ending February 2020 are out. The country’s largest mobile network operator (MNO) ended the 2010s on a financially challenging note. For the first time in the decade, Econet posted a loss of ZW$1 352 966 000. Yes, over a $1 billion in losses – quite the number. […]
Subscribers will no longer need to go to Econet shops to replace SIM cards
Econet recently published its full-year results and in the report was a small detail I and (I believe) many other customers will appreciate greatly. The idea of fewer minutes NOT waiting in an Econet shop sounds like a dream and that’s what the company is promising. In fact, for those looking to replace their SIM […]
Econet reveals they used 3 million litres of fuel during the power crisis of 2019
2019 was a dark year for Zimbabwe and I mean that in the most literal sense. We had a power crises for over half the year and its impact on small and big business alike was pretty brutal. For many small businesses the power crisis of last year resulted in closure and larger businesses had […]
SABC wants Netflix users to pay a TV licence because regulation is outdated
When we wrote about SABC’s upcoming streaming service we touched on the fact that SABC and the Ministry of Communications want South Africans to pay their TV Licence for digital services like Netflix, Showmax and DStv (Satellite). In that article, I mentioned the fact that in the UK people must have TV licences in order […]
More details revealed regarding EcoCash rewards – Here’s what’s up for grabs
We wrote an article on EcoCash Rewards – a promotion by EcoCash that rewards the mobile money service’s users for transacting. Unfortunately, that piece was devoid of detail and as a follow up to some of the questions readers have asked in the comments section, I’ve decided to write a follow up. PS: For every […]
Comexposed Converge Digital Arts convention to be hosted online this year
Comexposed Converge is an event I look forward to every year since I first attended it. For a long time I thought this year’s event wasn’t going to pan out – seeing as we’re in a pandemic that requires that we hide from each other and all. Fortunately, Converge took to their Facebook a few […]
First Capital Bank launches remittance service – Zimbos can receive money from 150+ countries
First Capital Bank has announced the opening of a money transfer service. The bank partnered with Money Transfer agents RIA Financial Services, the 3rd largest remittance company in the world. Under what they are describing as an “exciting partnership” First Capital Bank will take advantage of RIAs 160 country & 385 000 location network. People […]
YouTube’s Creator Academy has courses for content creators looking to grow their channel
I’ve had a YouTube channel for the better part of 6-7 months now and whilst I wasn’t posting content to it seriously, I decided to to do so. There was one problem, I had no idea where to start and apart from reading a few articles on the interwebs most of the stuff has been […]
7th Edition of Africa Early Stage Investor Summit Announced – Here’s how you can follow
Venture Capital 4 Africa (VC4A) and ABAN are eager to announce the 7th and virtual edition of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (#AESIS2020). The Summit will take place on 3 & 4 November online. With a number of record-level deals making the headlines over the last year, Africa’s startup industry is ripe for investment. VC4A and […]
NetOne kicked out of Borrowdale office after failing to pay rentals
On the 24th of October NetOne was kicked out of their Borrowdale office due to rent arrears of nearly ZW$800 000. The telco was served with a notice of attachment as well which saw the seizure of all removable property from the offices. NetOne reportedly owes Mutual Finance $684 281 rising to ZW$775 182 because […]
Here’s how to pay your taxes using Ownai
ZIMRA recently published their Q3 revenue report and in it was this interesting detail; During the quarter, additional tax payment relationships with OWNAI and One Money platforms were introduced for payment convenience. ZIMRA Q3 report This made us wonder what this payment relationship with Ownai was and when it was struck. The OneMoney-ZIMRA relationship we […]
Free eLearning platform launched for all African countries
A German-backed free e-Learning platform called Atingi was recently launched in order to (among other things) fill the gap created by COVID-19. The pandemic left school kids on the continent without access to education and so Atingi is now available in 54 countries across the continent. Atingi particularly focuses on reaching marginalised populations that previously […]
Local drone tech hub launches – Here’s what you need to know about Zim Flying Labs
Avid readers or drone enthusiasts will most likely remember WeRobotics. We wrote about their Unusual Solutions competition since Zimbabwean drone expert Tawanda Chihambakwe was part of the finalists of the competition earlier this year. WeRobotic’s subsequently decided to partner with Precision Aerial – the local company started and led by Chihambakwe- to create ZimbabweFlying Labs […]
ZESA to acquire electric cars next year as they look to reduce abuse of vehicles and fuel
ZESA Chairman, Dr Sidney Gata recently announced that in 2021 ZESA will begin transitioning to electric cars to reduce abuse associated with fuel-powered vehicles and avoid cars being used for anything other than the intended purpose. No one will say his car has no fuel, the cars are rechargeable, they will recharge overnight whilst in […]
NetOne silently adds new board members, whilst former member resigns
For 2 years now, NetOne has been engulfed in a cycle of administrative chaos- from board members being charged with lying under oath to facing expulsion and mass resignations, it has been something akin to a movie. The two most recent developments that are board related at NetOne are as follows; Winston Makamure resigned under […]
Local startups looking to finance using equity might finally have a lifeline
We last wrote about the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) back in March. At the time, FINSEC was formulating a draft framework for the online platform designed for SMEs looking to raise capital. GEM then underwent a pilot phase in January which resulted in fine tuning of the GEM Portal platform based on feedback from targeted […]
Local online betting company betPawa suspends mobile money betting
Local online betting company – betPawa has announced that people betting from Zimbabwe will no longer be able to use mobile money to bet on their site. Visitors to betPawa.co.zw are being met with the following banner on the site’s homepage; Dear customer. Due to mobile money issues in Zimbabwe, we’ve suspended depositing and betting […]
Gizmo Tech Store is an eCommerce store we’ve used to buy gadgets and we’re impressed
You ever wanted something on sites like Amazon or eBay but you’ve been scared away because of the shipping fees? Usually, the shipping fees are more expensive than the thing you’ve actually bought which makes for a terrible. It costs more to ship the thing over to Zimbabwe than it does to actually buy. Therein […]