Cassava Fintech International, the Econet Global owned company is launching a chat app targeted at the African continent next week. We first talked about the app, Sasai several weeks ago when Cassava let it slip on their website.
Sasai will of course seek to challenge or perhaps dislodge WhatsApp, the Facebook owned chat app that currently rules Africa. Although WhatsApp is the Goliath Sasai will have to slay, Sasai itself is more similar to WeChat, the Chinese behemoth of an app.
Like WeChat, Sasai combines social interaction (chatting) with payments. This is no surprise given that Cassava’s most successful business to date is a fintech: EcoCash.
On Sasai users can link their preferred payment method to the app and start making purchases in app. In Zimbabwe for example, users can link their EcoCash wallet to Sasai and start using Sasai for their regular EcoCash transactions like paying bills, merchants etc.
The role out of Sasai is based on partnerships with mobile network operators. Ordinarily, the first partner is the Econet Wireless Group which has presence in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Burundi. Zimbabwe being their most important market.
The unification of social chatting and payments/fintech is a growing trend globally. Tencent’s WeChat is probably the most successful case study that has inspired many others to attempt this. WhatsApp itself will be launching WhatsApp Pay and of course their parent company, Facebook has joined forces with several global players to work on a cryptocurrency: Libra. All these developments will be interesting to see unfold on the African continent which is one of the foremost targeted regions when it comes to mobile payments solutions.
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23 comments
econet here to monopolize evertything!
monopoly
Market situation where one producer (or a group of producers acting in concert) controls supply of a good or service, and where the entry of new producers is prevented or highly restricted. Monopolist firms (in their attempt to maximize profits) keep the price high and restrict the output, and show little or no responsiveness to the needs of their customers
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/monopoly.html
I greatly advise people from loosely throwing around terms when they clearly don’t understand what they mean. econet has no monopoly on anything
it is monopoly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great initiative,what a beauty of an app…. Chat & pay awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hot on the heels of the kwese crash and bur.
i see some people arent learning from kwese
Thats enterprenuership, when you fail accept dust off and move to the next venture …. keep going Cassava team
Not after the experience i had with Shosholoza, i would not trust these thieves with my money. Kungoti pipo never learn. Remember Kwese, old EcoLife, this is a no no no, for me.
Dear Author. How did you register?
Lol these guys don’t learn. Now they want to target what’s app😂😂😂Ahh good luck
This app has been available on Google Play for a while now. As usual, the TZ guys get over-excited and forget to include links https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gigaiot.sasa.android . This app is just an EcoCash app with chat capabilites in my opinion. It’s a far cry from WeChat, it’s like comparing a SmartTV to a tablet, because you can stream video on both.
A noble ambition, as we’ve come to expect from Cassava. However, Sasai will almost certainly die a premature death with the roll-out of WhatsApp Pay. Cassava – PLEASE think of your shareholders & stop burning money on doomed projects!!!
Use varconn.com for academic networking link http://www.varconn.com
Sosholoza is still in it’s infancy and they launch this Sasai thing, what a bunch of confusion.
EXACTLY!
Goodwork makumbe and hiclicker https://m.facebook.com/artwellmakumb
It’s not his, they stole it from his original idea he is busy struggling to find his one the original Sasai
Hear it from me. This Sasai product from Econet is another stolen product of a poor reject underprivileged product designer of the Zimclick Hiclicker fame. He developed Sasai 3 years ago and had been approaching sponsors including Econet but he was rejected on unclear grounds and now 3 or 4 years later Econet launches the same product. Hayas the rich feed off of poor people’s ideas and hard work it’s sad.
A good idea is what it is, a good idea. Heck anyone can come up with hundreds of ideas and even work the midnight oils to make a prototype but this doesn’t mean any of them are good. Because many parts of any product have become systematic, the most valuable thing now is a tool to determine the Value of an idea. OneWallet by netone hit the market first after rumours had spread about it, but the tools used to engage and retain users were flawed, ecocash came and did better using the right tools.
Artwell needed to get the right team, tools and capital to get his idea moving. Successful companies have both a good idea and the right stuff to back it up
Kwese might have failed,yes we all make mistakes and we learn from them, this doesn’t mean we must stop exploring into any new technological advancements. Saisai is a proficient business, let them try and see how far they go, it’s gud for competition.
Mbava
Well if it’s the same… Then he can win… But I doubt this so would have succeeded without econet… And I still think it won’t work…. What’s the need when ecocash is there… You don’t need s chat app in the first place…
Sasai not working whats the problem