Zimbabwe’s
mobile telecoms companies are changing the way banking should be done and they
are making banks burn in the heat out of their innovation. The landscape of
banking has surely changed as they keep introducing products that will make
almost each Zimbabwean have a mobile money account. Telecel and Econet should
be applauded for being the biggest engineers towards the quest for financial
inclusion in Africa and Zimbabwe. They both have mobile money wallets which
have been received well in Zimbabwe and the informal sector has taken advantage
of this convenient product. Mobile money uptake in Africa has been slow with
the pioneers M-Pesa enjoying brisk business in Kenya and so has Econet and
Telecel. This kind of financial innovation should be spread across Africa and countries
that have not caught wind of this should take leaf from the companies that have
made it like M-Pesa Econet Telecel and Vodacom among others.
Telecel
was the first mobile operator to introduce a debit card which could work on any
POS device and ATM as long as it is Zimswitch compliant and this made banking
easy. It partnered with other banks so that cash can be transferred from bank
to mobile wallet or from mobile wallet to bank which is financial innovation at
its best. This has also enabled clients to take advantage of channels such as
Internet banking, ATMs and Mobile money wallets from their banks to transact
with Telecash. The card is meant to cater for shopping bill payments as long as
they are POS devices that are Zimswitch compliant which means it can do the
same functions like a bank debit card.
Ecocash
also has not lagged behind but it’s also appreciating competition from Telecel
as it has set the bar high by introducing a Ecocash Mastercard Debit card. This
means that the MasterCard will be linked to a mobile wallet account making it a
first in Africa. The card will cater for both local and international
transactions, thereby allowing access to anyone with a Ecocash account to be
able pay for goods even via the internet using the MasterCard. The card also
helps Zimbabweans who travel across borders in having paperless money as they
will be making use of the card, bringing safety and security to them.
We
have seen that M-Pesa has introduced BitPesa for Bitcoins which is the latest
innovation in the market world and with Econet having a MasterCard linked to
the Mobile wallet we await to see the next move from Telecel as they are also a
force to reckon with in financial inclusion and innovation. Support should be
given to these innovators as this will complete the cycle of financial
inclusion in Africa.
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