Econet Services CEO, Darlington Mandivenga
Posted inConnectivity

EcoCash & Stanbic integrate. CEO Mboweni comments on ZimSwitch integration

We’re just from a press conference where Econet Wireless and Stanbic Bank announced the integration of Econet’s mobile money transfer platform, EcoCash, with Stanbic’s banking system allowing EcoCash subscribers to transfer money from and to their Stanbic accounts. Selected branches of Stanbic will also act as EcoCash Super Agents allowing EcoCash agents and customers to do EcoCash transactions.
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Posted inConnectivity

Mxit to host the premiere of full-length feature film

In what is set to be a first for social networks, Mxit announced today the exclusive premiering of full-length feature film on its mobile social network. A South African feature film called A Lucky Man will start showing exclusively on the network. The movie will be available via a Mxit app called Cinemo.
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RLMS - Remote Livestock Marketing System
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Now you can buy your Lobola cattle online says RLMS

“In the good old days, the traditional ‘rusambo’ was a gift of cattle. Today that can be quite daunting for the groom to be – where, how and who does one get to find, look at, buy and transport the cattle to the bride’s family? Does the bride’s family have the capacity to keep and look after the animals? Can you trust the person doing the buying, especially if you are living on the other side of the planet?”
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The value of 3D printing
Posted inConnectivity

The value of 3D printing

Imagine this: the latest smartphone just came out and it is only being sold in the retail outlets of developed countries and meanwhile you are stuck in one of the filthy suburbs of Harare, Zimbabwe. You have a decent internet connection so you visit the Apple website and after paying a certain fee, download the 3D printer file for the latest iPhone and proceed to send it to your 3D printer
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posterous
Posted inConnectivity

Sad to see Posterous die

We were born on Posterous just more than 3 years ago. The service made blogging so startable. You'd just email an imaginary friend updating. I starting writing about stuff I was passionate about, Technology in Zimbabwe; technology platforms, companies leveraging the internet and mobile in new interesting ways.
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Posted inConnectivity

Econet reduces international call tariffs to local rates

Econet Wireless the largest telecoms firm in Zimbabwe has slashed the tariffs on calls to 5 international destinations to local rates. In adverts published in the local print press, the company announced that subscribers can now call South Africa, United Kingdom, USA, China and Canada at 24 cents per minute.
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Webhosting on a dime
Posted inConnectivity

Webhosting on a dime

Snail paced servers are one of the many reasons for a website to suck and shared hosting is so 2005.Since IT departments have to compete with other departments for financial resources cost is one of the causes why IT administrators settle for poor hosting deals. Today I look at how a company or any individual can build an ultrafast safe website for under $10 a month.
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MyZimStore.com
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Zim startup launches gifts e-commerce site network

As prospects of viable e-commerce business in Zimbabwe increase, startups are launching to meet the opportunities. One such startup, MyZimStore.com, has launched a network of websites to sell gifts and flowers online. The site’s target customers are both internet users in the country and those in the Diaspora.
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Posted inConnectivity

Arguments for piracy

While Free and Open Source Software owes its birth to the fact that people wanted an open source platform that they could modify, it owes its success to the fact that more often than not the software is given gratis. It is doubtful that people would have been drawn to Linux in droves if it was sold for a $300/per machine license.
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Bankers Association of Zimbabwe
Posted inConnectivity

EcoCash vs Banks: Econet is trying to confuse everyone, says FBC’s Mushayavanhu

As you may know, Econet came out yesterday to publicly accuse CABS, ZimSwitch and Kevin Terry of using the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe to fight Econet’s mobile money product EcoCash. The CABS MD, according to campaigning against EcoCash so he can push his own mobile money/banking product, Textacash. Textacash you will remember is basically an implementation of ZimSwitch’s Shared Services platform. And Zimswitch is owned by more than just CABS.
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Microsoft Windows 8 Launch
Posted inConnectivity

Microsoft launches Windows 8 in Zimbabwe. Chamisa speaks on piracy

Microsoft officially launched the latest version of its operating system, Windows 8, in Harare today. The company also introduced Windows Server 2012, Office 13 and the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative among other things. The launch was officially opened by Zimbabwe’s ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa.
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Posted inConnectivity Mobile Money

Press Release: EcoCash open to every bank in Zimbabwe

A senior Econet Wireless executive, Mr Darlington Mandivenga, who is responsible for the rollout of EcoCash, has dismissed a claim reportedly made by Bankers Association of Zimbabwe’s immediate past president, Mr John Mushayavanhu, stating that Econet has denied banks access to its platform for integration.
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Microsoft Office Coming to Ubuntu?
Posted inConnectivity

Microsoft Office Coming to Ubuntu?

Since everyone is too afraid or partisan to say it I just have to be brave and say it for myself and all mankind. LibreOffice (OpenOffice.org if you want to play that game) is the single greatest let down of the Linux desktop.
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You don’t need to be an engineer to start a technology business
Posted inConnectivity Startups

You don’t need to be an engineer to start a technology business

Gary Shayne who founded Cellular Systems, later renamed Celsys, which he listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange when he was only 27 years old and went on to sell to Lonrho was a chartered accountant, and not a telecommunications engineer. Sure there were many telecommunications engineers who knew telecommunications, and who could boast more experience in telecommunications than Gary, even 27 years of experience, but what did they do?
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Discourse: A reinvention of web forums
Posted inConnectivity

Discourse: A reinvention of web forums

For those not familiar with the name Jeff Atwood, he is the co-founder of Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange, the former being arguably the best computer programming Q&A site on the interwebs. After establishing the site into the success it is today, Atwood left the company to focus on another problem he had identified with one of the internet’s old technologies: Forums.
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Zimbabwe Bookers
Posted inConnectivity Startups

Startup launches “definitive online accommodation finder” for Zimbabwe

As the Zimbabwe & Zambia co-hosted United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) conference draws near, the opportunity of using technology to showcase the region globally and indeed to facilitate business processes stares tech startups in the face. One startup, Zimbabwe Bookers, is looking to fill the long neglected gap of online hotel reservations. Neglected because not enough entrepreneurs have attempted to fill it and, more importantly, because so far the few that have tried, haven’t had much success.
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Huawei 4Afrika
Posted inConnectivity

A Huawei Windows smartphone made 4Afrika

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in the US, Huawei unveiled a Windows smartphone called the Huawei Ascend W1. The phone has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB internal storage and a 5MB pixel camera. In short, low to mid-range brain & power. Today, the two companies announced a slight and gave it made for a Africa tag. It’s actually called exactly that; Huawei 4Afrika.
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Journey into smartphone ownership
Posted inConnectivity

Journey into smartphone ownership

A few years ago I was browsing in a store in Boksburg looking to purchase a phone. The BlackBerry was all the rage then and the iPod was extremely popular. I gazed at the multiple deals which we only see now courtesy of Econet and Gtel in Harare. While I was busy comparing the many features of the models I was contemplating - the biggest feature being my price range - a teenager joined me and asked me a question I shall never forget. “So what kind of phone are you looking for?”
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