This is a follow-up article to my post Why most Zimbabwean Start-ups fail. After reading some of the comments and discussions, I felt the need to share with everyone the list of Start-ups I compiled during my research for the first article. Below is the list, I hope it will help you in whatever way you want.
You will notice that I might have omitted some Start-ups, please forgive me; either I have never heard of them or they have simply skipped my mind. I have also not included some because I don’t consider them start-ups since they are funded by well-established organisations with deep pockets for example vPayments and EcoCash.
The list might not be as long as some critics would want, but it represents a great deal of potential and hope. Over 50 start-ups in 4 years translates, on average, to more than 1 start-up every month. That’s quite impressive and promising and statistics can be drawn with a good level of confidence. The only sad thing is that from this list less than 10 are really doing well or have a promising future. Some have even halted operations and the websites are now “offline”.
Classifieds
www.zimbolist.co.zw
www.bargains.co.zw
www.zimbabwe-classifieds.com
www.dhiri.co.zw
www.zimazon.co.zw
www.tengesa.com
www.zimspace.com
Real Estate
www.propertieszimbabwe.com
www.propertylink.co.zw
www.pageproperties.co.zw
www.263properties.com
www.zimmove.com
www.rentorbuy.co.zw – the website is offline
Jobs
www.jobs247.co.zw
www.onlinejobs.co.zw
www.comehometozim.com
www.jobszimbabwe.com
Vehicles and Parts
www.zimautotrader.co.zw
www.car.co.zw
www.cheki.co.zw
www.autoguide.co.zw
www.cartraders.co.zw
www.zimcarsales.co.zw
www.autogateway.co.zw
www.junechildkinetic.com
Directories
www.zimyellow.com
www.yellowpages.co.zw
www.finditfast.co.zw
www.dariro.com
Blogs & Magazines
www.techzim.co.zw
www.techunzipped.co.zw
www.technomag.co.zw
www.consumerizim.com
www.footballzone.co.zw
www.helloharare.co.zw
www.finx.co.zw – Financial Express
Travel & Accommodation
Food & Recreation
www.eatout.co.zw
Payments & Remittances
www.virtualbank.co.zw
www.lendme.co.zw
www.easi.co.zw
Mobile
Other
www.rlms.co.zw Online Cattle Auction
www.vs.co.zw – Anti Virus
Please feel free to add to this list.
This gust article was written by Concern Shoko. Concern is a software developer and CEO of web hosting company Mega24.co.za. He is also the brains behind Zimautotrader.com.
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20 comments
Thanks for the list Mr Editor but it would have really helped if you had pointed out which ones are doing well and those which have failed.I love Techzim for all this priceless info,cheers
Thanks a lot but you left out 2 directories http://www.zimyellowindex.com and http://www.yelp.co.zw
yelp is brazen theft of an identity. Then again, perhaps if it becomes popular with time, it could court a settlement
You left out Bulls n Bears (www.bulls.co.zw) techno comrade!
Bulls in my view is no longer a start-up but the grandfather of financial news websites. I remember reading about one if its founders in Zimbabwe Independent Best companies survey of circa 2005/2008. It’s too old, and at the time the guy (co-founder) was 25. he must now be like…54 (ha ha lol) Hope he still has some hair.
also http://www.bullsnbearszimbabwe.blogspot.com
You may need to remove the word “web” in your title. Because some of those “startups” just have websites as complements. (helloharare,finx,vs and maybe even ribe)
Not to forget http://www.junechildkinetic.com that seems to be a mere brochure site.
Haha. opportunistic marketing
I think http://www.zimbojam.com is one popular blog in the entertainment industry that deserves to be mentioned.
Part of a longer list i have on Zim online advertising startups: https://kippt.com/takunda/digest, made for some good laughs on twitter how fast they were showing up. I can’t find the list with the more interesting names though.
is this a guiding definition for your list?
A start-up is a newly created, potentially high growth,
technology-oriented organization in a phase of development and research
for markets. Start-ups typically have lower costs, higher risk, and are
more scalable than established businesses i.e. they can potentially
grow rapidly with limited investment of capital, labour or land.
masiya http://www.povo.co.za
blog/magazine site
http://www.frontrow.co.zw Schools Sports Magazine
the correct link for finx is http://www.finxzim.com/ additional start-up blogs include http://itnewszimbabwe.co.zw/
don’t forget thedirectory.co.zw
Submitted without comment “Your website is not a startup” http://blog.crranky.com/startup/your-startup-is-not-a-startup-its-just-a-website/
Edit: decided to add a comment. Guys, we might have contention on the exact definition of a startup, but I think we can agree that a website is not a startup. It’s reasonable to think of a startup as an organisation.
Setting up a website is easy, all it takes is 30 minutes and $15 (includes domain *and* hosting) – setting up an actual startup with real revenue? Not as easy
True. Out of hype and being fashoinable, people are eager to brand websites as startups…like this here: http://www.junechildkinetic.com. How on earth is that a startup. If the author considers that a startup, then every .co.zw is… and a flyer is a business, and so is a newspaper ad or a television advert.
There is an online florist http://www.maruwa.co.zw
http://www.rbbutterflies.co.za