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Although mobile money has become the main trading platform in Zimbabwe, its weaknesses appeared this week after the dominant EcoCash network in Zimbabwe fell for two days and left many consumer businesses in Zimbabwe. Difficulty in an already difficult economy, WRITES Tawanda Karombo
EcoCash, which competes with smaller platforms run by state-controlled phone companies NetOne and Telecel Zimbabwe, has more than eight million dollars. registered users in Zimbabwe and allows remittances from Zimbabwean expatriates in South Africa and Botswana. A few days ago, the EcoCash platform experienced problems, which Econet attributed to the "scheduled maintenance" of the system that feeds the platform, with just about all the service options under EcoCash, greatly affecting the commercial transactions in Zimbabwe and adding to Forex and economic difficulties.
Shoppers had been stranded in supermarkets and other stores for more than two days, but the situation has improved since. Econet has endeavored to explain that the problem came from a planned update of the system and that it was now operational. But the frustrations are great, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter giving wide access to the angry anguish against Econet.
Some grocery stores abandoned at Pick N Pay (CBD) in the past hour due to problems with Ecocash. Given the dominance of the market by Ecocash and the lack of money in the country, today Zimbabwe was CLOSED for business ? pic.twitter.com/iF7L3hv5Qu
The disruption of a dominant financial platform has raised serious questions in Zimbabwe about the vulnerabilities inherent in mobile money. given the dominance of a mobile wallet over others. As with large digital platforms such as social media or content providers, a so-called "network effect" tends to give the leading mobile money provider additional benefits and efficiencies through compared to competitors. This has been seen with the success of Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money platform in Kenya where it holds more than 80% of the market.
Much of the debate in Zimbabwe online and elsewhere has been about a real risk of money loss from a large platform crush. Zimbabwe's long turbulent history with currency and hyperinflation has made the average citizen more susceptible to any presumed existential threat to the country's financial system. Some people have even suggested bitcoin as a solution to the risks, although Zimbabwe has virtually paralyzed crypto transactions by banning banks from processing virtual currency payments.
In addition to the challenges of Zimbabwe, African governments and development consultants and various NGOs and investors, to encourage the adoption of mobile money services as a means to help expand the market. financial inclusion in countries where too few people have official bank accounts. The hope is that mobile phone penetration continues to increase in most African countries and that more people will use mobile money for convenience and transaction costs.
The Zimbabwean economy remains on the brink. receive forex in their accounts. There have also been discussions, which the central bank has rejected, that the administration of President Emerson Mnangagwa plans to bring back the Zimbabwean dollar ahead of the July 30 elections. But the problems of EcoCash were real and the significant impact
published on Bulawayo24 were independently written by members of the Bulawayo community24. The opinions of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore theirs and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Bulawayo24. The publishers of Bulawayo24 also reserve the right to edit or delete all comments received.
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