Econet recently announced its unaudited abridged financial results for the half year ended 31 August 2016. The main highlight of the report was the announcement of its decline in profits by 37.14% attributed to a “tough operating environment” in Zimbabwe.
However, despite the fall in profits Econet’s mobile money service EcoCash continued to do well recording an increase in revenue of 13,6% in 2016 half year registering revenue of $39.2 million compared to $34.5 million its 2015 half year results. In his statement, Chairman of the Board, Dr. J. Myers, made the following assessment of EcoCash:
Speaking on EcoCash Chairman of the Econet Board, Dr. J. Myers, made the following assessment of EcoCash:
“Our EcoCash platform continues to grow supported by a wide network of agents and merchants that accept EcoCash as a mode of payment”…
…”As liquidity challenges have escalated since January 2016, EcoCash has become an important method of payment for goods and services”…
EcoCash has benefited from an increase in transactions done over the platform intensified by the cash shortages experienced throughout the country over the majority of 2016. That and the increasing amount of partnerships EcoCash has gone into have helped increase EcoCash revenues despite the drop in profits experienced by Econet.
We expect EcoCash to record greater revenue increases by its year end as it recently tied up a major partnership agreement allowing its clients to purchase Electricity tokens directly from their mobile wallets a system that is yet to go live in what we have been gathered to be in the next few days.
EcoCash has enjoyed success as most informal trade in the country have widely accepted EcoCash as a form of payment replacing the now scarce hard currency.We also expect EcoCash to soon offer an online platform where one can transact as long as they have an internet connection removing the need to have a physical Econet sim card in your device. This will most likely open up more transactions especially for those in the diaspora who still hold the responsibilities of making payments back home.
We also expect EcoCash to soon offer an online platform where one can transact as long as they have an internet connection removing the need to have a physical Econet sim card in your device. This will most likely open up more transactions especially for those in the diaspora who still hold the responsibilities of making payments back home.
We are yet to see if the service will be affected by the introduction of Bond Note, though. If all exchange rates fluctuate money stored in virtual m-wallets might become useless as it loses value overnight. Also, people’s acceptance of cash-outs in bond notes when cashing-in in USD may also hamper its appeal. As it stands it seems as though EcoCash has to work hand in hand with the Government to ensure this does not happen by increasing the platforms services to allow a truly cashless society.
Share
Home