At 14:12 on the 17th of October last year I received an SMS from Econet, encouraging me to register for something called Elevate. I dismissively glanced at the message giving it no thought whatsoever. On this fateful day, however, I should have known that Econet was just beginning what would become a common practice. An immensely irritating practice at that.
Since the 17th of October, I’ve received a staggering 44 (yes I counted!) text messages from Econet encouraging me to register for their Elevate service. I thought I was the only one who was irritated by this constant spamming of my inbox but after I asked around in the office and at home, I realised almost everyone I know is tired of this Elevate stuff.
Considering the levels of unemployment in our country I checked Elevate’s website. I was trying to figure out what they are really about and I left the site with more questions than answers. There is no clear outline of what Elevate is or what form of employment they are offering. There are also multiple prompts asking you to enter your number so they send you a pin. The website is so vague and secretive it almost feels like you are signing up for the Illuminati or some other secret society.
A colleague assured me that he understood what Elevate is about and that it actually makes sense. I will follow up this article with another one that breaks down the programme. Of course I am skeptical my colleague really knows what Elevate is but we’ll see. Now back to the texts:
The fact Econet has not given users an option to opt out from receiving these messages is ridiculous. This is not what we’ve come to expect from Zimbabwe’s leading mobile network operator. The frequency of these messages also means I don’t even check the contents of Econet’s messages.
Worse, Elevate texts have contributed to me missing a lot of important messages from friends and family because everytime an SMS comes in I generally just ignore thinking it’s that same old boring message that promises me a life of glitz and glamour if I just join the coolest youth empowerment movement.
Why not create a system that can track responses and stop sending these messages if a subscriber is not responding. How about the fact that receivers get this message even if they are above 34 which is the age limit entry. If Econet already has details indicating that you are above 34 why should you have to receive 30+ messages for something you are not even eligible for?
I know I speak for many people when I say we are tired of these messages and I’ll ask Econet politely can you please stop sending these so frequently or at least give users an option to opt out and stop receiving these messages.
What do you think about Elevate? Is it actually beneficial? Have you managed to get employed through it or at least know someone who has? Please let me know how your experience has been thus far in the comments below.
20 comments
I was also tired of getting the messages. But I finally decided to try it out. I clicked register, got a pin and didn’t know what to do next. I never knew there was a website. Will have to check it out
Techzim, tichatokuti EconetZim.washaya zvimwe zviri technical to report on.
As for me! My life is totally changed from zero and now becoming a hero. I managed to get a job through Elevate & i know people who managed to work at Econet Wireless through Elevate. My first flight was a mentorship trip to South Africa sponsored by Elevate. I met the Executives of Econet Group international through Elevate. Through Elevate i managed to see opportunities in my life
Wow!!! 70 plus words and still no description of what exactly the job entails. This is the kind of efficiency we have come to expect from Econet
That is not true because I myself have registered with elevate youth programmer of which I am now on 2500 points. This is a program to help us the youths to gain employment as we may see how the country’s economic status is very unfavorable. If you want to know more about Elevate youth program read it from the website
I’m sure this is what the president calls “kuvukura”
hauna nyaya. Kana une smartphone unoona manotification kuti message yabva kunani. You can even mute unwanted sms. Plus one thing to note is SMSs are sent in bulk. If you have registered just ignore the follow-up messages.
The point is why am I receiving the SMSs in the first place. Isn’t one message enough?
the Point is, if you cannot OPT Out, then it becomes SPAM!
I have tried countless times to engage the Econet guys to remove me from their SMS list for Elevate since i am not interested whatsoever but all was in vain.
Im sure this is a case of mud smearing an awesome initiative. I religiously follow the Elevate program on their social media pages. I have seen a lot of testimonies of people praising elevate and what they are doing, its time you guys visit their pages and take time to go through them, im sure you will retract your article.
Techzim you’ve made the saying, “black people hate to read” a fact. Your article is rife with ignorance and bitterness, did you actually go on the website and try to follow the steps? If i were you I would start trying to learn from Econet and encourage young people to join than waste energy peddling negative energy. Jobs have been created from this platform and all you see is the non-existent bad. Econet is trying to build the young generation and you’re busy bringing it down, how will Zim rise with such negativity. As Techzim what have you done for the nation imi?, renyu nderekushora chete. Start creating jobs tione kuti munozvigona here. Show some respect!!
Mwashukayi I think the point is not to discredit the initiative, but to give subscribers an option to stop receiving the messages if they are not interested. Let Econet send one message, or two, but not over 40. Where I live if you send bulk messages with no option to opt out you will be fined tens of thousands of USD for spamming.
Techzim, simply opt out ka if you do not want to read the messages..motisiya isu tinoda..seems ukupererwa nenews these days
Personally ,im gratefull to Econet for that innovation .I have a couple of friends that have jobs now,i see the wonders this youth empowerement programme is doing to our society ,many graduates are now taken out of the streets . its a start i thing to the betterment of our country .
Just to list a few advantage i have picked from this initiative ,
1.jobs have been created for those graduates who were not employed.
2. extra cash to those who were already employed but have buy into the initiative
besides these two its a good way that econet is doing to plough back to the society. I would also want to believe they have an optionnof opting out if you do not want to receive the messages
You really seem to have something against Econet or anything related to it. Maybe I’m wrong, but this is my.observation.
If the messages are so irritating, either ask them.to stop sending them or better yet, block them on your phone.
I think Elevate is a great promising product for the youth and those who understand would appreciate the messages.
You might not be 34 or less like you are saying, but we are not living in a vacuum .if you are like me you probably have friends and relatives who meet the requirements whom you can pass the information to and might probably have not seen the messages and help out a soul
Techzim hauna nyaya. You are being paid overtime to discredit econet. Mute the smss and dont deny others who want to be Elavated hehehehe
Nhai TechZim shuwa shuwa takamboinzwa nyaya iyi kuTwitter and you just had to write another composition here. This is a Tech age Bro, go onto the website, read and understand. Go to their offices and they’ll gladly explain. For now, block the messages. We can’t be reading about text messages everyday. The world is evolving technologically and here you are busy writing about texts tsve zvine development.