Posted inBroadband

Econet sort of reduces mobile broadband tariffs

So, what do you do if you’re a mobile operator and your customers have been clamouring all year about your mobile broadband tariffs being too high? Well, if you’re Econet you go ahead and reduce the price but you only make that reduction apply between 12 midnight and 5 AM. You also go ahead and limit it to customers buying data bundles.
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Regulation
Posted inConnectivity

Zim information minister calls for regulation of the internet, social media

A report in today’s Herald newspaper says Zimbabwe’ Media, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu, has called for the “appropriate regulation of the internet and new media platforms”. The Minister, according to the report, is calling for this because the potential of the internet to cause strife in society.
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Windows Live
Posted inConnectivity

Hey, Microsoft does have free email on custom domains

Some two weeks ago, we were whinging like babies about Google killing off its Google Apps free service. We couldn’t imagine a world without credible free email and apps suite for small businesses and we wished Google’s competition would do something about it. Microsoft, as you know, already charges for its online version of the Office Suite, so called Office 365.
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biNu EcoCash Message
Posted inMobile Money Startups

biNu adds EcoCash to its credits payment options

In a story title “More problems for regular SMS: biNu credits now available locally” that we posted here a few weeks ago, we expressed our delight that biNu credits were now available locally. The Australian based company (which now has representatives locally) had just announced that its 200,000 Zimbabwean users could now buy its platform’s currency at Easi and YoTime
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CABS Website Hacking
Posted inConnectivity

CABS website gets hacked

We just got a tip that the Central African Building Society (CABS) website www.cabs.co.zw has been hacked. Visiting the website right now loads the screen we have captured here:
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Posted inConnectivity

Thank you. Yes, you.

It’s been a great year for us. It has. Traffic for the site more than continues upwards. The visitor engagement on the site, one of the things we value most here, increased significantly. With the help of some selfless individuals, Techzim answers is delivering locally relevant tech answers much better than it did a year ago. We delivered some great events. Some directly, and some in partnership with some amazing people and organisations.
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Developers at a tech event in Zimbabwe
Posted inBroadband Connectivity Mobile Money

Is starting a tech startup just too costly for us?

I usually argue on the side of “lack of funding is just an excuse”. If you work hard enough, if you’re solving a real problem, if you’re passionate enough, if you think outside the box etc… But sometimes I wonder if the problem is lack of funding, or if it’s more an issue of young people having so much more to lose if they decide to take the startup route and its high risks. More to lose compared to their counterparts in, say, Europe, the US or Cape Town.
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Tawanda Naymbirai
Posted inConnectivity Mobile Money

TN Bank becomes Econet subsidiary as Nyambirai sells stake

Tawanda Nyambirai, Lifestyle Holdings CEO and Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Chairman, announced today that he has accepted an offer from Econet Wireless to buy him out of TN bank. Speaking at a press briefing today Nyambirai said he will be selling his stake in the bank he founded in exchange for shareholding in Econet Wireless. As a result of the transaction Nyambirai said he will be stepping down as chairman of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe to become a director on the board of the parent company Econet Wireless Group.
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Eric Bloch
Posted inConnectivity

Some pictures from the CSZ “Innovation in Motion” Business Conference

On 30 November the Computer Society of Zimbabwe held a business conference in Bulawayo title "Innovation in Motion". Amoung the presenters at the conference were, Eric Bloch, a renowned Zim economist, Roseline Ntuli, an executive from Zimra, Gerhard Hartman from Sage VIP Payroll in South Africa, Mcebisi Ndlovu from KPMG and Aidan Keates from Realtime Bytes.
Eng. Sam Kundishora
Posted inConnectivity

The ICT Ministry responds to ZTA website award issue

Earlier today, we published a story noting that the the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) received an award for a website that was down for more than a month (including the the time they received the award). The award is part of the ICT Ministry's annual ICT Achievers Awards.
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hacked website
Posted inConnectivity

More than 30 YoAfrica hosted websites get hacked at same time

Yesterday morning, we got tipped to the fact that some YoAfrica hosted websites had been hacked. It was just 2 websites so we figured it was anything to worry about but we contacted the company nonetheless and told them about it. As the day progressed, a few more people told us their websites had been hacked and checking where they were hosted all pointed to YoAfrica servers. Well, one server in particular. We told YoAfrica through the day of these developments we were getting.
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Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
Posted inConnectivity

Zim Tourism Authority wins Achievers award for a website ‘under maintenance’

Soon after we posted a story yesterday listing the winners of this year’s ICT Achievers Awards, comments to the article have all been negative with the common thread being that some winners do not deserve the awards at all. One such organisation that has been criticized is the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) which got the “Top Public Sector website of the year” award. Their website, www.zimbabwetourism.net was down. Well, under maintenance as the web host's place-holder page above suggests.
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Our Christmas give-away to Zimbabwean startups: 1 month free advertising
Posted inStartups

Our Christmas give-away to Zimbabwean startups: 1 month free advertising

For a while now we've been thinking about how we can provide some startup friendly advertising opportunities on Techzim. We get roughly an average of 6,000 page views a day and we know that could help a Zimbabwean mobile or web startup company get word out there about their great new service. But we also have to pay bills here so we can’t exactly invite startups to free advertising party.
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TN Bank
Posted inMobile Money

Econet connects EcoCash to its banking company, TN Bank

Yesterday, Econet published in an advert the announcement that the industry knew would come sooner or later. The mobile operator has now integrated EcoCash, its mobile money transfer service, to TN Bank, the bank it acquired earlier this year. The development means TN bank customers that use EcoCash will be able to transfer money from the bank accounts to their EcoCash wallets and vice versa.
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Google Apps
Posted inConnectivity

This might make you dislike Google very much: No more free Google Apps

You read that right Mr. tech consulting guy that's been helping small businesses get the great email services that Google offered free to small businesses; No more. Google announced the end of the basic Google Apps offering yesterday on it's blog. All new small business that want to use Google Apps will have to shell out $50 per user, per year. The reason:
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#263Chat: Tweets on tech and tech entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe
Posted inConnectivity Startups

#263Chat: Tweets on tech and tech entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe

Earlier this week I was guest on the weekly #263Chat discussion hosted by Nigel Mugamu where the discussion was centered on tech in Zimbabwe; the state of, the challenges, possible solutions, opportunities, funding for entrepreneurs and other issues. #263Chat is a really interesting way to have a realtime virtual gathering and discuss important common issues. If you’re not on Twitter yet, this is a good reason to try it.
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CBZ Bank Executive Director Colin Chimutsa, EcoCash, CBZ partnership
Posted inMobile Money

While Zimswitch waits, Econet chooses to partner banks directly with EcoCash

Today we attended a press briefing where Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and CBZ Bank were announced a new mobile banking partnership. The partnership basically entails that EcoCash subscribers who bank with CBZ can now move money between their EcoCash mobile money wallet and their traditional bank account from their mobile phones. Users of the service can also check the bank balance and get a mini statement all via EcoCash.
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Africom Holdings Group CEO, Kwanayi kashangura
Posted inBroadband

Africom partners MTN to offer enterprise cloud hosted services

About two months ago Africom announced that they had partnered MTN purportedly to “to connect Zimbabwe to the rest of Africa and the world” by “delivering leading-edge technology that guarantees exceptional quality of service”. If that’s sounding a bit too vague, it’s ok, you’re not alone. The good news is this though, today Africom held an event to announce the partnership to their business customers. MTN Business Partner Manager Richard Kabeya was present at the launch.
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