• 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…

  • Living with data caps in Zimbabwe

    If we lived in a perfect world, all of us would have an unlimited internet connection on which you could do anything from video conferencing, watching movies and playing internet games. Of course such a connection does exist – you could obtain one from a provider locally but you’d have to give them your first…

  • Startup talk: the value of a brand

    Although it might not be apparent at first, one of the most common reasons why startups fail is because of the inability by the founders to create a recognisable, respected and indispensable brand-a cult brand. A brand is a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as…

  • FootballZone releases its first football app: AFCON 2013

    Local Football updates startup, FootballZone, has announced the launch of its Afcon mobile app that went live in the Nokia Ovi Store last week. According to FootballZone cofounder, Godwin Chiparaushe, soccer fans in Africa will be able to follow the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations on their phones via the app.

  • Why Zimbabwean websites are increasingly getting hacked (list of hacked sites)

    In recent months, each time we’ve posted an article about a high profile website being hacked – such as the story about Fingaz today – what follows is a number of tweets, emails and phone calls with readers basically ask: What’s going on? Why has the hacking increased so much? Why are Zim websites being…

  • Another high profile website hacked, this time it’s Fingaz

    We have been alerted by readers to the hacking of yet another high profile website in Zimbabwe, that of the Financial Gazette, www.financialgazette.co.zw. Our checks show that the website was hacked on Friday, 4 January 2013, and remains compromised at the time of posting this article.

  • A Zimbabwean geek’s letter to Santa

    Me and Santa have been good pals since the PTC days when life was much simpler. For all my troubles the only choices I had to make were between Surface Mail, Air Mail, Telegraph. Calling my infamous and terrible aunts was a small matter of giving their numbers six weeks in advance to, you guessed…

  • 2012 roundup: The year in review

    The year kicked off with one of the largest ISPs in Zimbabwe ZOL, announcing that it had been acquired by Liquid Telecom, a move which resulted in the Econet Wireless Group cementing its position as Zimbabwe’s largest telecoms firm.

  • Utande expands offering with introduction of Wi-Fi hotspots

    Wi-Fi hotspots are the next best thing for internet users who don’t want to commit themselves to “on the go” mobile broadband plans like those dongles that work sometimes and not sometimes. They also serve as that crucial backup internet when your usual office or home connection (or Dongle-wanaland itself) shakes you off the network…

  • The iPhone 5, a Zimbabwean review

    The latest iteration of Apple’s highly successful Smartphone was announced on the 12th of September to mixed reviews. For the most part, a public that has grown accustomed to having their collective mind blown by revolutionary products from Apple was underwhelmed by what was essentially an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary upgrade.

  • Report: The Jumpstart Panel Discussion on Tech Entrepreneurship

    Last week, the final Jumpstart event of the year was held at Cresta Jameson in Harare. The event was a panel discussion where we invited some of the judges of our annualJumpstart Challenge (it’s just in the second year actually) and local telecoms executives from Econet, the largest telecoms operator in Zimbabwe. The event was…

  • Jumpstart event: Panel discussion on tech entrepreneurship

    One of main objectives when we founded the Jumpstart initiative earlier this year was to “connect startup ICT entrepreneurs to mentors that can guide them on building successful businesses.” We are therefore happy to announce that next week, we’re will host an event to that realises that specific objective of mentorship. On the evening of…

  • ZimSwitch on eCommerce opportunities in Zimbabwe for startups

    When we posted the report of the BarCamp Zimbabwe 2012, we promised to follow up with an audio of  one of the presentations. This one titled “Opportunities for m-commerce and […]

  • A big thanks to sponsors & partners of BarCamp & the Challenge

    This year, again, BarCamp Zimbabwe and the ZOL Jumpstart Challenge were a success. A big success. While BarCamp was held at the same venue as last year, we decided to […]

  • ICT Africa 2012: Launch of a new name. Belina & Mecer best exhibitors

    Yesterday was the first day of ICT Africa 2012. Unlike last year, this is going to be a 2 day event. The first was actually the more active of the […]

  • A user’s review of the uMAX service

    This review is written by someone who has used virtually every ISP in Zimbabwe since the year 2000 and has the battle scars to boot. This is not so much […]

  • Econet Mobile WiMax reappears with new pricing. Declares war on competition

    Recently, Econet announced via print press adverts a slash of the 4G Mobile WiMax service prices and a return of the Mobile WiMax dongle that hasn’t been on the shelve since […]

  • mTutor marches towards commercial launch on Econet network

    After their success at the FMNA ZeTXT Apps Challenge we caught up with the team behind the winning app mTutor to see how much progress they have made to commercialise […]

  • Africom in aggressive network expansion

    In a sign of the increasing excitement in  Zimbabwe’s Internet industry, news reaching us is that Africom is aggressively expanding their network. Africom a major player in Zimbabwe’s telecoms industry […]

  • Econet Wireless Zimbabwe announces completion of US $307m funding

    Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has today announced through a press statement the completion of  agreements for funding totalling US $307 from multiple financiers among which are Chinese, European and African institutions. The long […]

  • Thieves using Dipleague email classifieds to target their victims

    Beware of two guys and a woman driving a blue Honda RVR pretending to be buyers. They stole a Toshiba laptop, $500(money) and an iPhone 4s from me Saturday afternoon. Value $2500. They called from the following number +263 779xxxxxx. Woman is short and dark in complexion maybe in her mid 30′s and one of…

  • 5 Startup lessons from Facebook IPO

    So you are Tengesa, ForgetMeNot, Dariro, 6tm solutions, and countless other Zimbabwean and African startups that are hoping to change the world and you are looking at Facebook’s IPO; you […]

  • Telecel mobile broadband prices now the lowest in Zimbabwe

    Telecel this week announced a promotional slash of mobile broadband prices by some 50% in a move that may trigger other mobile operators to respond in a bid to remain competitive. The second largest mobile operator in Zimbabwe now effectively has the lowest priced mobile broadband in the country. Amoung mobile operators that is. The…

  • Zimbabwean launches startup in Silicon Valley at NewMe Demo Day

    One of the young that pitched at last year’s Startup Challenge, a startup competition for Zimbabweans that we ran last year with ZOL, is one called Yose. It was basically mobile telecoms service, that the judges it was very innovative and quite a great business model, but one whose chances of seeing the light of…

  • Of installing open source software and starting an internet business

    Classifieds (and business directories), like Social Networking, are a favourite with local tech startups. Very much so you’d think with all this work addressing the classifieds problem, it’d be solved by now. That an ordinary person would be able to easily post an ad to platform with any device they have and within minutes be…

  • Aquiva Wireless and Aptics face major problems with WiMAX

    An update sent out by one of Zimbabwe’s largest internet service providers, ZOL, confirms (what the industry has been saying for about a month now) that Aquiva Wireless and Aptics are having major issues delivering internet via the WiMAX platform. The ZOL update was sent out some 6 days ago and read in part:

  • Classifieds.co.zw introduces daily emails to consolidate its leading position

    Local classifieds website classifieds.co.zw announced in an email yesterday that they will be introducing daily email digests for all or selected categories depending on your subscription preferences. The move comes at a time when several other websites have sprung up following the successes of classifieds.co.zw and they’ve all come for a chunk of what’s arguably…

  • Why mobile operators should consider startup funding in Africa

    Paul Graham, Founder of the Y Combinator incubation hub once spoke of the ingredients required to create Silicon Valley. He summed it up as a combination of: Rich people (angel or VC investors) + Nerds (talent)

  • Overview of fraud and revenue assurance in telecoms

    In the broadest sense, fraud is “a criminal deception intended to gain money or personal advantage”. Fraud is a big problem for many businesses and can be of various types. Inaccurate credit applications, fraudulent transactions, identity thefts and false insurance claims are some examples of this problem.

  • Aptics enters market with promise of affordable broadband and VoIP

    About 2 weeks ago a new Internet Access Provider called Aptics started advertising VoIP telephony and ‘4G’ services in the local newspapers. We have tried the Aptics broadband internet before for our primary connection at the office, but then, the company was still providing services primarily through ISPs ZOL and Yo Africa. The company is…

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