The EcoCash ecosystem numbers update (June 2017)

Nathalie Jabangwe Morris, EcoCash Zimbabwe General Manager

Today, at the announcement of the EcoCash and ZINARA tollgate integration, EcoCash Zimbabwe General Manager, Nathalie Jabangwe, noted some new milestone figures of the EcoCash ecosystem. The last time we posted these was in July 2016.

• 27,000 Merchants – This is up from 20,000 merchants last year. The 35% growth is quite significant and likely due to the shortage of cash locally.
• 30,000 Agents – A 15% growth from the 26,000 last year. The huge number of agents is quite evident on the ground. The bit that’s not so amusing is the now quite prevalent habit of agents charging their an additional fee for cash-outs. Ofcourse, as the number of merchants continues to grow, that also means there’s less reason to cash out.
• 700,000 debit cards issued – For those that prefer to make payments with a card instead, the EcoCash MasterCard debit card is still quite relevant. It’s a card that I personally don’t have anymore and don’t think about having anymore but EcoCash announcing it must mean there are lots of people that are still getting these cards.
• 6.7 million EcoCash subscribers – 6.7 million The growth of Econet has ofcourse slowed down as it reaches saturation. There are only so many adults who can have a ‘bank account’.