Author: Farai Mudzingwa

  • “There was no comic book community in Zimbabwe, so we made Comexposed” – Eugene Mapondera

    “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 creative hub for digital artists in Zimbabwe.

    Mapondera is an accomplished animator and illustrator, having worked in film, advertising, and publishing for over 14 years. He has been the go-to storyboard artist for over 20 indie films & music videos from Australia, the USA, Canada and the UK including The Secret Princess (the UK, 2016) and Boston (the USA, 2014). Eugene is an active content creator and commentator on African pop culture and technology. He was a jury member at the 2022 Durban International Film Festival.

    In the interview which you can watch below we talked about:

    • How far Zimbabwe is from having an animation industry;
    • Hotshots: the first serialized Zimbabwean comic book;
    • The origin of Comexposed;
    • Making and distribution of comics in Zimbabwe
    • … and more

    Story Untold ZW is a media project bridging Zimbabwe’s information access gap by profiling creatives, entrepreneurs & athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • [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 also chair of the first ever pan-African PyCon (Python Conference). She co-founded ZimboPy, a non-profit that empowers young women in Zimbabwe to pursue careers in technology. In the episode Marlene shared how she transitioned from molecular biology to software engineering, what her current work role looks like, her experience starting a foundation that teaches girls to code and more…

  • “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 commodification of artists, business models Artillery has trialled, challenges of running a gallery in Zimbabwe and the future of Artillery Gallery.

    Story Untold ZW is a media project challenging stereotypical narratives on Zimbabwean creatives, entrepreneurs, and athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • “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 nursing, she turned out to be a successful businesswoman and innovator. She is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs, BAME/minorities and the health sector in developing effective inclusive digital transformation solutions.

    In Episode 16 of Story Untold ZW we sat with Fungai Ndemera & discussed her journey from immigrant nurse to health tech CEO. We also talked about the next phase of her career – starting a VC to “finance African entrepreneurship at grassroots level”.

    Story Untold ZW is a media project challenging stereotypical narratives on Zimbabwean creatives, entrepreneurs, and athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • [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 15 of Story Untold ZW, we spoke to Richard about the journey they’ve been on – with a particular focus on what they set out do, the challenges they’ve encountered and some of the successes they’ve had in their 4-year journey.

    Story Untold ZW is a media project challenging stereotypical narratives on Zimbabwean creatives, entrepreneurs, and athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • [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 can’t afford to service their load. This realization is what led to their eventual transition to providing working capital financing to the logistics industry.

    Lack of access to credit adversely affects hundreds of thousands of transporters, large and small enterprises who depend on them across the continent.

    In this episode of Story Untold ZW, we talk about all this (and more) with Gugulethu Siso, the CEO and Co-Founder of Thumeza …

    The Story Untold ZW is a media project challenging stereotypical narratives on Zimbabwean creatives, entrepreneurs, and athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • [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 into design, 2) her transitioning from being employed to becoming self-employed, 3) the importance of decolonizing design education in Africa, and more…

    Watch the full interview below:

    The Story Untold ZW is a media project challenging stereotypical narratives on Zimbabwean creatives, entrepreneurs and athletes. If that’s something you enjoy please subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

  • 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 is putting Zimbabwe on the map in the drone technology space.

    What’s in the book?

    Drone Professional 1 explores different applications of drones across a variety of industries including how drones are being used in Agriculture, Anti-poaching, Conservation, Infrastructure, Insurance, Healthcare, Education, Mining, Media and Security amongst others.

    The book defines what it is to be a Drone Professional and contains case studies, guidance, and insights from 16 experts from the global professional drone community on the value of the drone industry for a broad range of professional applications.

    DRONE PROFESSIONAL 1 was released online on Amazon a few months ago and is now available in Hard Copy. It has become an AMAZON #1 Bestseller in the categories of Commercial Aviation, Piloting and Instruction which shows the strength of the content in the book.

    Got my copy!

    What did Tawanda contribute?

    In Tawanda Chihambakwe’s chapter he explains the difference between a drone owner, a drone pilot and drone professional and describes what is needed to build the local drone industry in Zimbabwe with a focus on taking Drone Technology into Primary, High School and Tertiary Education through drones in STEM programs.

    Besides the book, what has he done on the ground?

    For those of you who may not know, Tawanda is the founder of Precision Aerial, a commercial drone company that provides turnkey solutions and is the first drone company to offer drone integration services, helping organisations build internal drone programs rather than only offer drone services.

    When we spoke to him about the book, we asked him how he ended up becoming a co-author of the book and he told us that he was approached by other drone professionals after he gave his presentation at a drone conference he was invited to in South Africa in 2019.

    To add to his credentials as an expert in this field and his global footprint in the drone industry, Tawanda Chihambakwe was invited to be a presenter and speaker at the Meducation Alliance Symposium in the United States of America in 2019 where he shared his white paper on the topic of Drones in STEM Education and the Future of Work.

    He is also currently one of the only licensed RPAS (Drone) Pilots in Zimbabwe having been certified by the South Africa Civil Aviation Authority. In September 2020, he was invited to join the newly formed South Africa Drone Council and is contributing his expertise towards updating South Africa’s drone standards and regulations to align with International standards, a project initiated by the South African Government to advance their drone industry.

    He has also worked with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on Drone and Data Ethics in the lead up to them publishing their drone regulations earlier this year and he was selected as a Global Finalist for the Unusual Solutions Drone Competition that was held in Kenya in February 2020.

    We also featured his work recently where we celebrated that he and his team had successfully secured a partnership with a global drone development organisation – WEROBOTICS and THE FLYING LABS NETWORK to set up Zimbabwe’s first Drone Technology Innovation Hub called ZIMBABWE FLYING LABS to build a technology ecosystem meant to catalyse the growth of the local drone industry through training, knowledge sharing and using drones for social and humanitarian work.

    We have watched Tawanda’s passion for drones grow steadily over the years from the time we first covered the Zimbabwe Drone Racing Community he started, to his work with advocating for Zimbabwe’s Drone Regulations in 2018 and just a few months ago with his proposal to use Crop Spaying Drones to Spray hotspots during COVID-19. In the drone world, he is known as the African Drone Professional through his Youtube Channel where he freely shares information about the drone industry.

    It makes sense that he has been recognised as an expert by other global experts and we are proud to have a Zimbabwean flying our flag in drone technology. The book is available on Amazon and in hard copy by contacting Tawanda on +263773489139.

  • 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 as being lower than South Africa which has a smartphone penetration rate of about 90%.

    Econet also noted that they are lobbying government to reduce the duty regime for mobile devices to try and get these devices in as many hands as possible;

    We are working closely with the Government to review the duty regime for mobile devices to enhance the rapid adoption of digital services across the economy.

    According to the latest Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (“POTRAZ”) report, for the second quarter of 2020, “…active internet and data subscriptions declined by 2.4% to reach 56.7% from 59.1% recorded in the previous quarter.” According to the GSMA, “Governments and policymakers should implement policies to enhance access to connectivity and drive investment in more resilient digital infrastructure for the future. This is crucial to reactivating the region’s economy…”.

    We are optimistic that the Government, which also acknowledges the benefits of a digitised economy, will ensure that Zimbabweans are not left behind.

    Econet financial results for the year ending February 2020

    As a tech enthusiast who generally likes gadgets particularly smartphones that would definitely be a move in the right direction if the government decided to lower the burden of bringing mobile devices into the country for sale.

    Considering that duties for mobile phones are nearly 50% (45%) retailers end up selling the devices at nearly double the price it cost them to get the phones in the shop. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if Zimbabweans could afford to buy the phones at those prices but unfortunately the citizens can’t afford.

    The 52% smartphone penetration rate is also a cloudy number because whilst we don’t know the exact figure – there are many Zimbos who have more than one smartphone meaning the true smartphone penetration is lower than what’s quoted by Econet.

    Hopefully, Econet’s lobbying will make a difference as that could have a huge impact on so many local industries including e-Learning, application development and even media consumption.

  • 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 offer “a hassle free way to access affordable credit and the freedom to spend whenever and wherever they chose.”

    The eShagi websites states that the service is currently available in 4 countries; Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa.

    eShagi has 3 distinct credit services they are offering at the moment;

    1. eShagi Salary Loan – This loan has an interest rate of 12% per month and a term of 1-24 months. The minimum amount you can borrow is ZW$1 000 with an unlimited maximum amount (determined by your worthiness of course);
    2. eShagi Store Credit – The interest rates, terms and amounts are similar to the salary loan. The difference between the loan and store credit is that the store credit can be used in specific store across the country. eShagi says the credit can be used at 1000+ locally.
    3. eShagi Recharge Credit – You can borrow ZW$100-1 000 worth of prepaid electricity or airtime and pay later. The loan has a 15% interest rate, with a term of 7-30 days and

    To be eligible for these loans you need the following;

    • Over 18 years old and a resident of Zimbabwe.
    • Full-time employment in the government or private sector.
    • Receive salary or other income through a bank account.
    • Not on an active blacklist, bankruptcy or equivalent.

    The application process for the loan seems pretty straightforward if we’re going by the instructions on their site. You can apply on the site or via WhatsApp (text Hi Thandie to 0715069167). You’ll be required to share your ID, payslip and payment details. Once that process is complete eShagi says you’ll get a pre-approval in under 30 minutes.

    Once you get past the phase of final approvals (the website doesn’t specify how long this takes) you then get a payout to your bank account. We asked eShagi’s founder Mr Munyaradzi Gwatidzo how the 30-minute pre-approval differs from the final approval.

    Pre-approvals mean that the KYC documents can be verified and approved before a person applies for a loan whereas final approval is when the creditworthiness of a client is assessed, credit limit and the loan application is completed.

    Whilst the “30-minute approvals” the reality is that you probably won’t have any money in your bank account within that time slot.

    In our discussions with Munyaradzi, we also talked about their traction since launch and he said to date they had registered 50 000 customers with 10% loan conversion and average loan size of ZW$20 000 and US$500 in other markets.

    Mr Gwatidzo also shared that eShagi is currently in the process of signing up 1 000 merchants which will give people the option to apply for loans at these stores or via the web or WhatsApp.

  • 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 launch never came to be. Given that most of these features were slated to have come by Christmas of 2019, it’s surprising that we’re approaching Christmas,2020 and there’s been no word regarding these features.

    Open APIs for companies

    The biggest and probably most anticipated feature would no doubt be the Open Platform APIs. At the launch Cassava Smartech officials claimed that the open platform APIs would allow for different companies to come on to the platform.

    Sasai is meant to be a super-app. Think of China’s WeChat. Given that context, it’s no surprise that the idea was to have APIs that would allow companies to make storefronts and integrate within Sasai and Cassava’s other solutions e.g EcoCash. Unfortunately, after the launch, we never heard about the APIs again.

    The painful thing about APIs is that they would’ve incentivised a lot of companies to make use of Sasai. Food delivery and eCommerce companies spring to mind. Having them there would’ve made the application more attractive to users and everyone wins. All we are left with are hypotheticals since the feature simply didn’t materialise.

    Given that some features promised for this period did materialise (Moments and Video Streaming) the assumption is that this was something that they had tested out and seen to possible.

    Savings and donations

    There was talk of people being able to make savings groups on Sasai. We won’t spend too much time on this because its fair to say the reason this was always going to be a tall order is because of the inflationary economy of Zimbabwe at the moment. This makes most savings accounts/groups or efforts redundant as the savings are constantly chasing a weakening currency.

    EcoCash similarly had a product called Savings Club but that too was unsustainable because of inflation.

    To be fair

    Sasai did deliver on two promised features. Moments came in August of 2020 and has become the home of Sasai’s virtual talent show – Talented and African. Video streaming which is just an extension of Sasai Moments (at the… moment) was also implemented though both features missed their deadlines.

    The other features

    There were other features promised which did not have a timeline and those haven’t materialised.

    Business application

    Sasai was supposed to have a business application as evidenced by the FAQs section of the application which carried the 3 questions listed below;

    1. Is Sasai Business Available?
    2. How do I chat with businesses?
    3. Does Sasai have business products?
    4. How do I get access to the Business API?

    All of these questions have the same answer (since the launch in August), i.e “this is not yet available”. Considering that these have been in the FAQs since the launch and haven’t been updated it’s unclear if this will ever be a thing. If Cassava has aspirations for Sasai to be anything like WeChat and competitive with WhatsApp (what we currently use) then they will have to implement some sort of business application. Entrepreneurs who are reliant on features such as catalogues and auto-replies will not migrate to a platform with inferior features.

    Advertising

    Again at the launch, Cassava Smartech officials promised of an advertising feature which they pitched at companies. The draw for companies here was that this would “allow different companies to be able to reach the huge number of customers we are going to be expecting on the platform”.

    I think the reason why this failed to pan out is simply because the number of customers Sasai was expecting on the platform didn’t sign up. Sasai launched to a luke warm reception, largely due to the fact that the application was broken for the most part and it has been uphill battle for them to turn that narrative around.

    It also didn’t help that Econet decided to spam users with messages requesting them to join Sasai – which then associated the brand name Sasai with something to avoid for many a customer. Maybe this feature will be implemented in future if they can get users on the platform in significant numbers.

    Beyond the above features Cassava Smartech execs also spoke of Artificial intelligence and investments but how these would work was not well defined so I think there might not even have been a clear picture on their end on how that would work.

    Whilst Sasai has come a long way from its buggy launch I still feel that for the most part the application still doesn’t do enough to move people from WhatsApp. Whilst competitions like African and Talented are great, the application is still too devoid of features for my liking and maybe starting with the ones we were promised at launch would get us using the super-app more.

  • 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 names of their contacts along with how much storage each user you were chatting to was taking up. Clicking on a contact would then take you to another menu with categories such as pictures, audio and video. Worst of all you, if you decided to delete a category you couldn’t choose files – everything had to go. That means if you had pictures you wanted to keep you had to avoid deleting from the storage menu altogether.

    I for one never used the useless feature – I only checked it out to compare what was and what will be soon.

    What’s new then?

    The new storage management which is rolling out this week (you’ll have it at some point if you don’t already) is drastically different. Users can now filter large and forwarded files. The filters are meant to help users identify content that they don’t need or want any more.

    Most Android users have file managers that could help them find these files but having it in the WhatsApp app will make it much much easier. 16GB-iPhone-Gang, this feature will certainly help you avoid the low storage notification if you have been receiving way too much media via WhatsApp.

    One feature I’m most looking forward to is the ability to delete duplicate and sent files;

    Judging from the video above this will be a way better storage manager and many of us will finally be able to delete the junk we receive from our friends and family on the green app.

    PS: Once I have the update on my phone I will use it and share some tips on managing your storage from inside WhatsApp.

    If you’re not running the latest version of WhatsApp its probably a good idea to update and start waiting for the new feature to hit your phone

  • 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.

    Within the report, Econet attributed this number to foreign exchange losses which lost the company ZW$6.1 billion;

    The Group’s exposure in foreign currency-denominated obligations resulted in exchange losses of ZW$ 6.1 billion

    Foreign exchanges losses occur when a company buys or sells goods/services in a foreign currency and the currency fluctuates relative to their home currency. In the context of Econet, the infrastructure required for their network maintenance and servicing is bought using forex and the service they sell is sold in ZW$.

    We all saw the ZW$ go on a freakish descent and lose its value in 2019 thus resulting in the currency fluctuation. Because the ZW$ (which is the home currency in this situation) lost its value after conversion – Econet made foreign currency losses (i.e exchange loss).

    Having looked at POTRAZs Q2 2020 report a few weeks ago, it’s not entirely surprising that foreign exchange losses are hurting MNOs this much. In that report, POTRAZ noted that operating costs including foreign currency losses for MNOs in the first half of 2020 amounted to ZW$21.1 billion.

    The fact that the foreign currency losses ballooned in Q2 is also worrying because it means exchange losses will probably have a big effect on Econet’s balance sheet again going forward.

    Discounting the exchange losses made by Econet, there are some positives. The company was profitable in certain regards. The MNOs profit from operations was ZW$1.1 billion.

    • Econet also increased their revenue by 31% from ZW$5.2 billion to ZW%6.8.
    • Market share for data traffic increased by 4%
    • Market share for voice traffic increased by 4%

    Time travel…

    These results were published on the 30th of October and this is a bit weird considering that the results are for the year ending February 2020. The delay was because Cassava postponed the publishing of their results because of EcoCash’s regulatory reviews earlier in the year.

    For example, in the report, Econet highlights growing their subscriber base to 12.6 million subscribers. From the most recent report from POTRAZ we know that the MNO lost a significant number of customers – 8.4% bringing their customer base down to 8.7 million subscribers.

    PS: The discrepancy between Econet and POTRAZ numbers above for subscribers is probably because POTRAZ records active subscribers.

    Beyond this we also know that Econet’s mobile voice traffic market share dropped and the overall mobile traffic dipped in Q2.

    Anyway, this is a discrepancy that is just a reflection of how weird 2020 has been as a year and not necessarily Econet’s fault. Hopefully the MNOs profitability improves going forward.

    PS: An earlier version of this article stated that the reason for delay in publishing the results was due to COVID-19. This was incorrect. The actual reason issued by Econet was that there was a delay in the publication of the audited financial statements of Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe earlier this year due to regulatory reviews on EcoCash. Apologies for the mistake

  • 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 cards you won’t have to wait in the Econet shop at all, instead relying on their agent network going forward;

    Although we have an extensive network of over 50 shops and franchisees across the country, for the convenience of our customers, our preferred customer service approach is to interface through digital channels and our self-care portals. One of the main drivers of traffic into our shops were sim-card replacements.

    Our customers will soon be able to have a sim replacement at any of our partner agencies in addition to our shops, allowing for more service channels to be opened up.

    This will no doubt decongest the Econet shops – which is pretty vital during the Coronavirus pandemic and in general for the time saving it will present subscribers.

    Unfortunately it’s not clear when subscribers will actually be able to get a sim replacement from the partner agencies instead of going to the telcos shops.

    Beyond the SIM replacements, Econet also says PIN & PUK codes can now be reset via the self-service portals.

  • 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 to increase the price of their service since delivering the service was much more expensive.

    We saw this trend being most evident in the telco industry where the power crisis increased Telecoms companies reliance on generators and thus every month we would see tariffs change to reflect the cost of running on fuel along with the inflation present at the time.

    Econet has published its full-year results for the year ending 29 February 2020 and in the report, the company explains the impact of relying on generators on their business;

    During the year under review, our service quality and network availability were significantly impacted by power disruptions. Our network, during the peak of load shedding required over 3 million litres of diesel to operate optimally.

    Econet further explained that this was extremely cost-inefficient as 1kW of diesel power is 3 times more expensive than 1kW of solar power. The report notes that Econet had to limit the number of base stations that could be operated in this manner and that this had an effect on mobile money services.

    Our operational costs increased as we had to constantly service the generators and also run an extensive fleet of fuel refilling tankers to ensure that network availability remained at an acceptable standard.

    Going forward Econet is working on becoming more reliant on solar energy which they say will reduce their reliance of local power and along with the need for foreign currency;

    Our strategy to implement a clean energy network, driven by solar power is critical as we are cognizant of the power deficit that the country may continue to experience into the foreseeable future. Addressing this challenge will greatly reduce the demand for operational foreign currency, which is a critical national resource

    Ultimately whilst revenue increased by 31% from ZW$5.2 billion to ZW$6.8 billion, the company’s profitability took a 4% hit as the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) dropped to ZW$2.7 billion from ZW$2.8 billion.

  • 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 to actually stream live TV digitally and that South Africa might use the “relatively” new regulations in these countries to justify changing their regulation.

    Well, SABC has come out and explained that the issue is to do with the fact that the regulation in South Africa is simply too old;

    We are of the view that the regulation is outdated. Bear in mind that the Broadcasting Act was last amended in 1999, whereas the TV licence regulations are 16 years old. In that time, there has been a significant development in the manner in which content is being consumed.

    We cannot play in the media environment as much as everyone else is doing because the legislation is outdated.

    SABC Head of TV Licences Sylvia Tladi

    The Head of TV Licences also described how this collection would work and it’s a bit different from what people were suggesting would happen on social media;

    With regards to the likes of Netflix, what we are talking about here is streaming services, and what we are looking at is that where streaming services are available in the market and people are able to stream SABC’s content, there needs to be valid or paid-up TV Licence. We are not saying they should physically go out there and collect; we are looking at a process of making sure that there is compliance.

    For example, instead of saying Netflix collect TV Licence fees, there are various ways of doing it. We can negotiate with the streaming service about a percentage of whatever people are streaming that is content which belongs to the SABC.

    From the description above it does sound like if implemented there will be a price increase to a number of services like Showmax and Netflix as they’ll have to give a percentage of what they earn to the SABC.

    If the regulation effected though you can imagine our own Government coming up with similar tactics. Whilst there was a lot of outcry regarding this when it was first announced, TV licences are a way of government to make revenue and since these services are being consumed by citizens I can understand why governments would want to update legislation to tax those consuming digital services.

    Maybe the outcry in South Africa is warranted because the citizens have seen the government abuse funds and thus the enthusiasm to pay taxes in such a setup is pretty low.

  • 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 ZW$200 you spend using EcoCash you’ll get 1 point and these are points you can later on redeem

    We sent the most commonly asked questions in the previous article to EcoCash reps and they gave us more detail;

    “What are the prizes to be won?”

    This is probably the most common question that was asked by many of you. What’s up for grabs? Well, for every point you earn you get ZW$0.40. Upon redemption, customers can either buy airtime or cash the money into their EcoCash wallet.

    Now I’m not using EcoCash that much these days so I therefore have 7.4 points. This means I can only get $2.8 worth of airtime – which seems pretty low from where I’m seated. I’ll still claim the $2 because I might as well.

    The 40c/per point did fascinate me in the context of the current EcoCash limits. At the moment there’s a ZW$35 000/weekly limit on mobile money transactions which means users can get a maximum of 175 points a week – if they are reaching that threshold. This translates to $70 (a maximum of $280) which you can either cash out or turn into airtime.

    EcoCash’s promotional material for this promotion is a bit misleading as it centres a lot of objects that seem to be prizes;

    I guess the objects in the picture are what you’ll go and buy after redeeming the points

    “When can I redeem the points!?”

    The EcoCash Rewards points can only be redeemed at the end of the month. The points you have can then be redeemed by dialling *151*300#. Because a lot of people assumed there would be a draw of sorts many asked when that would be but as aforementioned, there won’t be a draw since when you redeem your points you’re getting value.

  • 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 weeks ago and announced that the convention will continue albeit online this time around from 25-27 November.

    The theme for this year’s event will is EMERGE and it is linked to the tough times everyone has faced this year;

    The African Digital Arts Community has remained resilient and will emerge stronger from these difficult times. Join us online as we showcase and celebrate breakthrough African comics, animation, digital arts, film, gaming and more.

    Call for digital artists

    Comexposed also announced that submissions are now open for digital creatives to apply to showcase their art during Compexosed Converge 2020 (Online Edition). This includes comic artists, illustrators, digital painters and CGI artists.

    Comexposed said only a few top artists will be selected and successful applicants will be able to sell their art on Comexposed’s online store. If you’re interested in showcasing your work you can submit samples of the work you want to showcase together with your bio to comexposed@gmail.com by 4 November.

  • 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 from these countries will be able to remit funds which can be collected at any First Capital branch. First Capital’s branch network is made up of 24 locations.

    I asked First Capital for the charges associated with using the remittance service and they explained that the fees will be charged on the senders end and not for the recipient which makes sense;

    Good day, thank you for the interest in our exciting new product. All charges associated with the money transfer from the diaspora will be charged directly to the sender. Hence the receiver can collect their cash in full.

    First Capital support via Twitter

    How much will the sender get charged? When I pressed First Capital to share more information regarding charges they said the details are only provided once the money sending process has been initiated;

    These details are provided to the sender upon initiating the transaction.

    First Capital support via Twitter

    At the time of writing since Zimbabwe is yet to be listed on the RIA site making it impossible for us to calculate any charge to have an idea of the region within with the charges will be.

  • 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 learn as you go.

    I then recalled that YouTube has a Creator Academy offering free online courses to help serious users create better videos and improve channel performance. I’m yet to watch the courses but I think for anyone looking to understand how to grow their channel, this is probably one of the best places to start considering that it’s made by YouTube and its free.

    So what kind of content is available?

    So, I’ll be taking the course and sharing in-depth thoughts later on but from glossing over the Creator Academy you’ll learn the following;

    • A quickstart guide to YouTube – You’ll learnhow to quickly set up your channel, upload videos and align your branding. Oh and some important guidelines for being part of the YouTube community.
    • Getting noticed – Enhance your channel’s search and discovery potential on YouTube using metadata, collaborations, captions and promotions.
    • Earning money on YouTube – You’ll learn about being part of YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and what you need to actually qualify for Monetization
    • Policies & Guidelines – You’ll learn more about the general policies of YouTube along with navigation of Copyright and how to manage copyright permission
    • and more…

    The majority of the courses I came across have an expected completion time of 15-90 minutes which means you’ll be able to breeze through most of the content.

    The courses don’t come with any certifications but that’s not really the point. The point is for creators to put what they’re learning in to practice so the lack of certificates makes perfect sense from where I’m seated.

    Beyond the video lectures there are also Learning Toolkits which are sets of resources designed to help you optimise your channels.

    Overall, YouTube Creator Academy looks like a pretty compelling place for those looking to get started out or at least take their existing channels more seriously.

  • 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 ABAN are energized to build on that momentum during Africa Early Stage Investor Summit.

    What’s in store?

    • Both days will feature insightful keynotes, fireside chats, expert panel discussions, technical sessions and pitches from the most promising companies part of the VC4A Venture Showcases
    • The first-ever VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed will take place on 3 November and the Series A companies will pitch on 4 November
    • In accordance, the theme of the first day is ‘Seed’, and the second day is ‘Series A’

    Some of the investors that will be leading the conversations. Rebecca Enonchong will sit down with McKinsey Africa Chairman, Acha Leke, on 3 November to discuss macroeconomic and geopolitical forces that are shaping Africa.

    VC4A Venture Showcases – Seed and Series A – in partnership with AWS Activate

    For the first time in its history, VC4A is hosting a Venture Showcase for companies seeking seed funding. The VC4A Venture Showcase – Seed will take place on 3 November with opportunities for deep dives with the entrepreneurs. Participants can then watch and engage with the Series A companies on 4 November.

    Companies in the two portfolios hail from Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Egypt, Ghana, Tunisia and beyond, and offer services or products in e-commerce, finance, energy, AI, and even satellite propulsion. VC4A’s Venture Showcase companies have gone on to secure more than $100M in deals.

    Register via: www.AfricaInvestorSummit.com. To ensure the investor community is able to connect and continue important discussions during these times, VC4A and ABAN are offering investors the opportunity to join free of charge. Feel free to invite your networks, but keep in mind the Summit is investor-only.

  • 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 of costs. According to reports the property removed include;

    • A green Sofa;
    • 2 black Sofas
    • 5 swivel chairs;
    • 5 office chairs;
    • LG TV;
    • 5-piece computer set

    It’s pretty surprising that NetOne is failing to pay rentals when the network seemed to have been the biggest beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when their rivals were losing subscribers on both the mobile network and mobile money front, NetOne was surging.

    EcoCash (the industry leader) and Telecash lost 7.6% and 34% of their subscribers respectively.  During the same period, OneMoney gained 60% mobile money subscribers – 337 708. Econet and Telecel lost 8.4% and 12.2% of their subscribers whilst NetOne lost just 0.5%.

    On top of all this NetOne market share of mobile data and internet traffic grew by 10% to reach 38.1% whilst Econet (7%) and Telecel (3.4%) declined again. All this to say, one would expect that NetOne wasn’t necessarily the biggest affected Telco.

    A closer look at the data however suggests that mobile network operators took a huge hit in terms of operating costs vs revenues. The mobile networks (collectively) rose by 45.8% but because of operating costs POTRAZ reports that the telcos lost “operating costs inclusive of foreign currency losses grew by 217.7%”.

    Whilst this is only speculation, it could be one of the big reasons why NetOne has been facing issues. Others have speculated that the failure to pay is due to the fact that NetOne has been in a long court battle with suspended CEO Lazarus Muchenje for the better part of 2 years. It’s not clear how much NetOne has dedicated to legal fees during this period so it’s hard to know just how accurate those claims are.

    The government generally has a track record of raking up debts as TelOne will testify and that is another likely reason why NetOne (which is government-owned) is in the mess they are in now. Or maybe it’s all 3 reasons. Who knows!?

    Update: NetOne’s spokesperson denied that the incident occurred, saying, “Have you been to our Sam Levy shop? It’s open for customers and fully operational. Even over the weekend it was open”.

  • 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 wrote about when it was announced back in 2019 and then when it was effected in 2020. After looking at the payment options on Ownai, they simply made something similar to what OneMoney-ZIMRA had done except their solution is web-based unlike OneMoney’s which is USSD-based.

    The partnership announced back in July allows businesses and individuals to pay their assessment and business partner numbers on Ownai. The BP number is used as an identification number for businesses whilst taxpayers can use the assessment number to identify their tax arrears before making payments. Previously, I described it as an invoice-of-sorts.

    When ZIMRA announced the partnership with OneMoney, commissioner Faith Mazani mentioned that their intent was to ensure that more ordinary citizens would pay their taxes and that’s probably the same thinking with Ownai’s ZIMRA portal;

    I’m speaking here about the ordinary honest citizen who does not own up, not because of a lack willpower, but a lack of know-how. People discover that they owe an obligation to ZIMRA at the point where we come to collect, whilst, in other cases, the knowledge was available but a convenient method of meeting the obligation was not, until now.

    Faith Mazani – ZIMRA Commissioner General

    At the time we also speculated on whether the partnership would remain exclusive. It seems for mobile users OneMoney is still the exclusive partner but Ownai’s addition broadens the number of people who can pay their taxes online.

    The addition of such an option is more critical during a pandemic when people aren’t as confident travelling as they once were;

    The Ownai Convenience Store will help businesses operating in these trying times to settle their statutory obligations with great ease and at minimum cost, given the current COvID-19 pandemic and the restrictions in movement that come with it.

    Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe’s chief executive officer Eddie Chibi

    How to pay customs/Domestic taxes on Ownai

    1. Go to https://cs.ownai.co.zw/zimra;
    2. Choose between Customs taxes and Domestic taxes;
    3. Select your province;
    4. Select the tax obligation;
    5. Enter Business Partner Number &/or Assessment Number
  • 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 have not had access to high-quality education, offering what they consider to be “best-in-class learning content for Africa’s citizens”.

    By connecting people with free, premium educational resources, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (a German development agency) seeks to support African economic growth by closing the skills gaps on the continent.

    Atingi grabbed my attention with the following statement;

    Unlike other eLearning platforms, the atingi learning content is developed in cooperation with specialised local African partners, and carefully considers local needs and market, making it unrivalled in contextual relevance. Furthermore, learners that have successfully completed courses are awarded certificates as proof of their learning achievements.

    They are claiming to offer free education that fits the context of the African countries education system. That sounds like a sweet deal and one I had to try and verify.

    Whilst signing up I was a bit concerned as there was not a single African language among the language options but I soldiered on and chose my colonizer’s language – English. French and Portuguese are also some of the language options which are selectable. GIZ GmbH probably assumed these would cover most countries on the continent.

    The rest of the sign-up process had two languages, English and French which is a nice accessibility touch. After signing up it became clear that at the moment Atingi dosn’t have much content for kids in primary and secondary school – which goes against most of the stuff in their press release.

    This doesn’t necessarily make the site a waste. Secondary school kids can still take courses on entrepreneurship and financial planning which they probably aren’t being taught in the classroom.

    For people generally looking to up-skill there are many courses on the platform and I think the e-Learning platform is generally worth a look. I haven’t taken any of the courses yet but there are many and the nice thing about free content is you can try it and if you hate it you can leave without much of a loss. You only stand to lose the time invested. But then again, time is money so that might be a hurdle. HAHA.

    Beyond the content itself – Atingi also links to Vodafone’s Future Job Finder which curates your interests, likes, dislikes into career and study options. I feel that’s a thoughtful touch since most people studying are doing so to advance their career. Might as well figure out what the right path is before committing to anything.

    Visit Atingi and check out the educational content on the website

  • 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 (ZFL). ZFL is a drone technology and robotics innovation hub that will be working to solve social challenges through the use of appropriate drone and robotics technologies in a sustainable, and responsible manner.

    The following are some of the key areas ZimbabweFlying Labs will be focusing on;

    Catalyzing Business

    Zimbabwe Flying Labs will help build up the local drone industry by organizing “Drones as a Service” incubation programs that facilitate project opportunities and support for local entrepreneurs. Their focus will predominantly be on agriculture & smart farming, disaster mitigation & management, environment management, and healthcare delivery.

    The team has already trained students on using drones for disaster risk planning and post-disaster assessment and management with a local NGO. This training helped community leaders in rural areas understand how drones could help them and afforded many of them their first opportunity to see and operate the technology themselves

    Facilitating the Drone & Robotics Ecosystem

    Zimbabwe Flying Labs will work with innovators, manufacturers, service providers, academic institutions, NGOs, and the government to nurture the drones for a social good ecosystem. The team plans to form a nation-wide ‘Drones For Good’ platform to connect professional drone pilots, drone data analysts, team leaders, and disaster professionals who are willing to assist local government and rescue workers in disaster management.

    Build Local Skills

    Zimbabwe Flying Labs organizes hands-on hardware and software training for various drone platforms and use cases. They work with several certifications, academic, and training partners to provide programs like;

    • Bootcamps for Schools,
    • Drone Pilot Training,
    • Advanced Drone Operations & Maintenance,
    • Advanced Drone Applications Bootcamps,
    • Disaster Preparedness,
    • Simulation Training, and,
    • Co-creation Workshops for Multistakeholder Engagement.

    Once trained, the team will also support the participants with expert advice on their projects.

    How will all this be achieved?

    When I spoke to Tawanda a few days ago he impressed upon me how big of a deal he feels this partnership will be for the Zimbabwean drone community. His positive feelings are due to the fact that being part of the Flying Labs network (yes there are many of them) will come with some perks that will make it much easier and less expensive to make use of drones for what they hope to achieve.

    Being part of a network makes Flying Labs Zim privy to discounts when buying drones (for non-commercial purposes), and access to top drone software at no extra cost. Beyond that, WeRobotics will also provide access to conferences and massive online courses to ensure Zimbabwe Flying Labs stays up to date.

    The access to the Flying Labs network will also prove invaluable with countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia already being part of that network and at times facing similar hurdles to those that Zimbabwe Flying Labs will have to overcome.

    Just taking Zambia Flying Labs as an example, since 2019 they’ve done the following;

    Overall, the launch of Zimbabwe Flying Labs is an exciting development and I hope Precision Aerial, Chihambakwe and the rest of his team will carry out their mandate as expected.

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