Posted inConnectivity Startups

Zimride: Silicon Valley Startup scouting for Zim talent

It’s not everyday that a startup based in Silicon Valley; the home of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and just about every significant technology platform-eagerly looks to hire local talent. Well this is not just any startup, its Zimride! According to Logan Green; the startup’s co-founder and CEO, they are currently seeking to hire talent from around the world and Zimbabweans would be a great addition to the team…
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Posted inConnectivity

Dzikwa Trust: Finland’s contribution towards grassroots ICT

Techzim recently visited the Dzikwa Community Centre in Dzivarasekwa, where an orphanage and ICT development initiative has been setup. At the time of our visit, the centre did not have an internet connection, however we believe something is being done about this. After the tour, we were able to get in touch with Anu Ala-Rantala - the program officer responsible for the project under the Finland Fund for Local Cooperation. Anu and Eki Enkenberg were able to answer the following questions for us:
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Zimride: The Silicon Valley Start-up inspired by Zimbabwe

In 2005 Zimbabwe was halfway through it’s nearly decade long economic crunch. Hyper inflation was well on its way to breaking records in an experience few would want to relive. If the timely adage that necessity is the mother of all invention holds true, then the following story is a perfect indicator of the ‘greatness’ that can be found in or through Zimbabwe.
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Posted inConnectivity

Airtel, MTN and four others court Netone

According to a story by Godfrey Marawanyika on Bloomberg, Reward Kangai, the CEO of Netone has revealed that the company has been approached by six foreign investors with four having communicated within the last two weeks. Of the six, Bharti Airtel and MTN Group are front runners as they are spread across more African countries than any other operator on the continent.
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Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Consumer rights and Zimbabwe’s telecoms sector

A free market economy is a sound development catalyst as jobs, opportunities and wealth are created. Unfortunately; as has been the case with anything unbalanced, capitalism can be downright devastating if left to its own devices. One cannot help but to think of scandals like Enron, Worldcom, Renaissance Zimbabwe and numerous others. Insatiable greed is a reality. Conversely too much government control in any economy can result in stagnation due to a lack of incentive and purpose. A fine balance of the two is a trusted success formula.
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Posted inConnectivity

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: Vodacom Group

Africa’s Telecoms Titans is a series by Techzim profiling the top 20 leading mobile operators on the continent. Each segment focuses on a specific mobile operator with insights into services provided including marketing and technical competencies.
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Posted inConnectivity

Econet chairman: Cut us some slack, we’re doing the best we can

Econet had an AGM on Friday which brought out very interesting information, Newsday has a story on this. For starters NetOne and TelOne reportedly owe a collective $70million; the said debt has been outstanding for a while now such that Econet has approached government to assist with recovering it. TelOne is acknowledged as admitting its liabilities and actually paying, albeit in small amounts. NetOne on the other hand is being taken to court.
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Posted inMiscellaneous

Western Union introduces domestic money transfer

Techzim has just found out that Western Union has been offering a domestic money transfer service since the 16th of May 2011. It appears as if not enough PR work was done in this regard as even an online search did not yield any information. The money transfer service enables locals to send and receive money within Zimbabwe without the need of a bank account. A receiver is able to access money within minutes of sending and is subject to agent locations. Western Union’s local agents are Microking (a subsidiary of Kingdom Bank), Easy Link, POSB, and FFS.
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Posted inConnectivity

Social Media: What Facebook and Linkedin’s Africa partners are saying

After publishing a couple of articles focused on how local businesses are using and not using social media, we recently had a telephone interview with Adrian Hewlett to get an expert opinion. Adrian is the founder and CEO of the South African based Habari Group, which has a division (Habari Media) dedicated to Social Media sales and consultancy services. The company works directly with Facebook and LinkedIn across the African continent and has gained headway in prime markets like Nigeria and Kenya.
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Posted inConnectivity

Econet offloads Rainbow Tourism Group – hopefully to focus on core business

According to a press release we received on Thursday afternoon, Econet Wireless has sold its shareholding in Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG). A senior Econet Wireless Group Executive, Tracy Mpofu, confirmed the sale. Techzim believes this is a progressive move on the part of Econet as it should be focused on improving the quality of its network. While it is good that Econet Capital has been playing an investor role in the local financial markets, it has not benefited Econet Wireless nor public investors but actually damaged its brand equity.
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Posted inConnectivity

Huawei Tablet PC launched in SA. Africa calling

Huawei, China’s ICT giant recently launched its Ideos S7 Tablet PC to the South African market. Huawei is well known as a telecoms infrastructure and enterprise hardware producer and has been moving into the consumer segment in recent years. Along with ZTE, the company is among a crop of Chinese brands that have gained ground internationally and intends to build on this while aggressively competing on pricing.
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Posted inMiscellaneous Podcasts

Green Fuel interview podcast

This post is part of the report back for Techzim's tour to Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi, where Green Fuel is setting up a large scale Ethanol production . We managed to sit down for an interview (over lunch) with Graeme Smith who is the company’s GM. Finding another time would have been disastrous due to his busy schedule and the needle eye timeframe of our tour.
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Posted inConnectivity

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: Airtel Africa

Africa’s Telecoms Titans is a series by Techzim profiling the top 20 leading mobile operators on the continent. Each segment focuses on a specific mobile operator with insights into services provided including marketing and technical competencies.
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Posted inMiscellaneous

An overview of the Chisumbanje Green Fuel ethanol project

Having woken up at 3am to make the trip to Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi, we arrived at about 10am courtesy of our host- Lilian Muungani (Green Fuel’s communications manager) who led the way in her bakkie. After snaking through numerous twists and turns (including ‘crossing’ the historic Birchenough Bridge) we eventually descended on an endless carpet of Sugarcane. This was the perfect arrival, much like reaching an oasis in a desert as this part of Zimbabwe’s lowveld is semi-arid.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Startup focus: Gikko.net and your wallet

Winston Taylor, founder of the relatively new startup, Gikko.net came by the office last week Friday for a short discussion about his startup. We are always excited about local startups of all shapes and sizes and quickly delved into his. To begin with, Gikko.net is a month old trading division of Rollout Ads.
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Posted inConnectivity

Dandemutande speaks

After last week's announcement of Utande's connection to the SEACOM undersea cable along Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique, we visited the company for more information. Prior to this, efforts to get even the slightest of a whisper from Utande were mostly unsuccessful, apparently due to acquisition negotiations with now majority shareholder, Masawara plc. We were thus glad to meet Colin Franco, the company’s chief technical officer, and Russell Clinton the Utande CEO, for a discussion and tour of the Utande data centre.
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Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Dandemutande finally emerges

In a positive development to Zimbabwe’s ICT sector, one of the 15 licensed IAPs has finally emerged. Dandemutande, a part of Telerix Communications (50%owned by Masawara PLC) published an advertorial to all local media outlining its current accomplishments and intentions. According to the release the company (under its Utande division) has connected to the SEACOM cable on the coast of Mozambique at a cost of $9 million.
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