The mosquitoes they want to release are male mosquitoes, and that matters because male mosquitoes do not bite. Only female mosquitoes bite. You can write your own jokes there.

These males also carry a bacteria called Wolbachia, so when they mate with wild female mosquitoes, the eggs do not hatch properly. Over time, the hope is that there will be fewer mosquitoes in that area.

Now, where does AI come in? The tricky part is sorting them. If you are going to release millions of mosquitoes, you really want to be sure you are releasing the harmless males, not the biting females. That is where AI helps. It helps the machines identify which mosquitoes are male and which ones are female.

And of course, this is where the obvious AI joke writes itself. Imagine people start getting bitten after the release and the system explains that it “misread certain female mosquitoes as males under poor lighting conditions.”

But jokes aside, that is the real issue with this kind of technology. The good thing is that the mosquitoes are not being controlled by ChatGPT. The mosquitoes are just mosquitoes. The concern is quality control.

This kind of work needs serious systems, serious checks and serious discipline. It is one thing to imagine a well-funded lab with automated systems, sensors and quality checks.

Now imagine a local version being run by underpaid, overworked people trying to make old equipment behave. Trying to play god could backfire.

Still, the idea itself is not some fantasy. Wolbachia mosquito releases have been used in several countries and have shown good results. One trial in Indonesia reported a 77% reduction in dengue cases and an 86% reduction in dengue hospitalisations. Singapore and Brazil have also gotten good results.

And mosquitoes are not a small problem. WHO estimates that malaria killed about 610,000 people globally in 2024, with Africa accounting for 95% of those deaths. In Zimbabwe, WHO estimates malaria killed about 381 people in 2024, although the official reported figure was lower, at 107.

Now, important note: this Google project is not targeting the same mosquitoes that spread malaria here. It is mainly about Aedes mosquitoes, which spread diseases like dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Malaria is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes.

So no, this exact project is not a direct malaria solution for Zimbabwe. But it is still worth watching because the bigger idea is simple: can we use mosquitoes against mosquitoes?

It sounds weird and a little scary at first. But if it works, this kind of thinking could matter a lot more in places where mosquito-borne diseases are not just annoying. They are a matter of life and death.

The post Google Wants To Release Millions Of Mosquitoes. Weirdly, It Makes Sense appeared first on Techzim.

The development came to light after X user @kloudCoder posted a video showing several yellow cards carrying both the InnBucks and Visa logos, along with the words “Inn Bucks Visa Cards now AVAILABLE!“. The video quickly attracted attention, with many people asking when the cards would become available and how they would compare to existing options on the market.

This is not the first public appearance of the card. Back in October 2025,a content creator @the.technology.guru shared a TikTok video showing what appeared to be an unreleased InnBucks Visa card he had been given early access to, months before the current sightings on X.

Techzim has since obtained an internal FAQ document from InnBucks that sheds some light on the product ahead of its official launch which we understand is coming very soon.

How The Card Will Work

According to the document, the card will work at Visa-enabled point-of-sale machines, ATMs and online stores worldwide. International transactions will be supported.

Customers will be able to activate their cards through the InnBucks app, USSD or branch support.

If a card is lost or stolen, it can be blocked immediately through the app or USSD. The document also confirms that corporate cards and payroll solutions are part of InnBucks’ future plans.

Questions Still Waiting For Answers

However, some of the questions Zimbabweans care about most remain unanswered.

The biggest one is cost. What will the card’s fees be? InnBucks says annual fees, replacement fees and foreign currency charges will apply, but a full list of charges will only be released at launch.

Users have also been asking whether the card will support virtual cards, including the ability to block and unblock them instantly, whether it can be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay, and how exactly the card will be funded. The FAQ does not provide answers to those questions.

Another important question is whether the card will work reliably with the online services Zimbabweans actually use. Some cards on the market have struggled with certain online platforms and subscriptions such as Google and Starlink. Many users will want to know whether the Inn Bucks Visa card will work smoothly across major online services, websites and apps.

We hope the company addresses these questions when it officially launches the product.

Entering A Competitive Market

The launch comes as InnBucks enters an increasingly competitive market.

EcoCash already offers international card services through Mastercard. Omari has positioned its Visa offering around online and international payments. Most major banks, including CBZ, Stanbic, FBC, NMB, ZB and Nedbank, also offer Visa or Mastercard products.

That means simply having a Visa card is unlikely to be enough on its own. The real question is what advantage InnBucks will offer over cards that Zimbabweans can already access.

Its large wallet user base and extensive network at Chicken Inn outlets across the country could give it an edge, particularly if getting a card is simpler than opening a traditional bank account. The cost of the card and transaction charges could also become a major selling point, depending on what is announced next week.

What Happens Next?

For now, the arrival of an InnBucks-branded Visa card closes one of the few obvious gaps in the company’s product lineup.

Whether it becomes a serious challenger to existing card products will depend on the details still to be revealed at launch.

The post InnBucks Finally Launching Their Visa Card. Here’s What We Know So Far appeared first on Techzim.

The court ruled on 1 June that the South African government could keep the seized funds after rejecting the traders’ attempt to get the money back.

The dispute began between 2018 and 2020 when Mangundhla used his Luno account, together with Dangaiso’s account, to buy about 1,680 Bitcoin. At the time, the Bitcoin was worth around R182 million. The purchases were made through normal banking channels in South Africa, including Standard Bank-linked transfers into the crypto platform.

Buying cryptocurrency in South Africa is legal, so the transactions themselves were not immediately seen as a violation.

The issue began when the Bitcoin was moved out of South Africa into offshore wallets. These wallets were outside South African control. The South African Reserve Bank argued that this effectively moved R182 million out of the country without approval from the National Treasury.

Under South Africa’s financial system, moving large amounts of money offshore needs permission. The Reserve Bank said Bitcoin does not escape this rule just because it is digital. In its view, it still counts as value leaving the country.

Following this, authorities froze related funds connected to the traders. About R6 million held in linked crypto and bank accounts was seized.

Mangundhla and Dangaiso challenged the decision, arguing that Bitcoin is not money or capital and should not fall under exchange control rules. They said it is only digital code and cannot be treated like normal money.

The court rejected this. It ruled that Bitcoin has real value and is widely used as money and for storing wealth. It said Bitcoin can be treated as both money and capital under South African law.

The court said what matters is not whether something is physical or digital, but whether value leaves the country without permission. On that basis, it found the transfer illegal and supported the Reserve Bank’s action.

This decision removes much of the confusion that existed around crypto rules in South Africa. Crypto trading is still legal, but using it to move money offshore without permission is now clearly restricted.

For Zimbabweans living in South Africa, this is important. Many have used crypto to move money across borders or store value outside banks. It was seen as a faster and cheaper option than normal remittance services.

The ruling changes that. Crypto can no longer be seen as outside the rules when it is used for cross-border transfers. If money is moved offshore through crypto without permission, it can be treated as illegal capital movement.

This creates more risk for users who used crypto for informal transfers. Even if buying crypto is legal, sending it offshore may lead to account freezes or investigations affecting both crypto platforms and bank accounts.

It also affects future crypto remittances to Zimbabwe. Small transfers may still happen, but larger or repeated offshore movements may now get more attention from regulators. People may have to rely more on formal remittance services or approved channels.

For Zimbabwean traders in Zimbabwe, the effect is indirect but still important. It shows that crypto rules are tightening in the region, especially when money moves across borders. Traders who use cross-border crypto flows or offshore wallets may now face more risk. It also means that using South African platforms or banking systems could bring compliance issues, even if the trader is based in Zimbabwe. In simple terms, using crypto as a quiet way to move money between countries is becoming harder, and traders may need to be more careful going forward.

For Mangundhla and Dangaiso, the case resulted in the loss of R6 million. For others, it shows that crypto is now being fully treated under normal financial control rules in South Africa.

The post Zimbabweans Lose R6 Million In South African R182 Million Bitcoin Case appeared first on Techzim.

The account has been posting messages that do not appear to have come from EcoCash, including one from a person claiming to have taken over the account to show “how insecure” the company’s systems are.

The individual also claims they lost US$35 and that EcoCash refused to reimburse them. We have no way of verifying that claim, but apparently that is their motivation.

Things escalated from there, with the account going on to post explicit material, making it fairly clear that whoever is posting is not supposed to be there.

We spoke to a representative of the organisation who told us the company is aware of the situation, has engaged X and is working to regain control of the account.

At the time of writing, the account was still posting unauthorised content.

It’s worth noting that a compromised social media account does not automatically mean EcoCash’s financial systems have been compromised. So far, all we know is that the company’s X account appears to have been taken over.

We’ll update this post if EcoCash regains control of the account or issues a statement on what happened.

The post [Update: EcoCash Regains Control] EcoCash’s X (Twitter) Account Appears To Have Been Hacked appeared first on Techzim.

Zimbabwe’s digital payments sector is expanding at remarkable speed. In the first half of 2025 alone, approximately 381 million electronic transactions worth about US$45 billion were processed, underscoring the scale and momentum of the country’s shift towards digital commerce. The transformation is visible even at the grassroots level, where street traders and small shop owners increasingly rely on mobile wallets and point-of-sale (POS) devices to serve customers, reduce cash dependency and grow their businesses.

Yet this evolution is not without friction. Trust concerns and fraud risks continue to influence how consumers engage with digital platforms, signalling the need for stronger payment security and greater consumer confidence. Addressing these challenges is imperative for strengthening the foundation upon which Zimbabwe’s digital retail economy is built.

Security as the cornerstone of digital transformation

Zimbabwe’s fintech sector is responding by integrating advanced security technologies across mobile money platforms, banks and retail payment networks. Mastercard uses AI-powered fraud detection systems that analyse transaction patterns in real time, identifying anomalies and neutralising threats before they reach consumers or merchants. Tokenisation secures transactions by replacing sensitive card data with encrypted tokens, ensuring that even in the event of a breach, personal and payment information remains inaccessible. Biometric authentication, through fingerprint or facial recognition, adds a further layer of security, giving consumers confidence that only they can authorise a transaction.

Mastercard’s 2025 whitepaper on AI in Africa highlights how these systems are already at the heart of fraud prevention across the continent, supporting Africa’s projected USD 16.5 billion digital market by 2030. Mastercard’s collaboration with Smile ID further demonstrates the practical impact: integrating advanced identity verification and fraud prevention tools into digital payment ecosystems to enable secure, instant onboarding, stronger fraud detection and broader financial access.

E-commerce and secure payment innovation go hand in hand

As digital adoption grows, online and mobile commerce are becoming central to Zimbabwe’s retail landscape. Secure payment infrastructure is the critical enabler of this shift, not only protecting transactions, but making them seamless enough that consumers return and merchants invest.

Consumers in Zimbabwe are increasingly adopting online payments, driven by demand for digital services and cross-border commerce. The country’s e-commerce sector, projected to reach approximately USD 1.2 billion by 2026, is largely enabled by digital payments, which account for around 78% of e-commerce transactions, with notable spend on streaming platforms.

The numbers reflect this momentum. Retail digital payment values in Zimbabwe grew by approximately 35% in the second quarter of 2025, while POS devices surpassed 150,000 nationwide. Real-time payment solutions are reducing checkout friction, improving cash flow management for businesses, and delivering a digital experience that increasingly rivals – and in many cases, surpasses, the convenience of cash.

Secure payments as a driver of inclusion

One of the most consequential benefits of secure payment innovation is inclusion. When consumers can transact with confidence, they engage more fully with the digital economy. For Zimbabwe, where nearly 76.1% of businesses operate in the informal sector, this matters enormously.

Market traders, small retailers and service providers increasingly rely on safe and accessible digital payment solutions to run their operations and reach customers beyond the constraints of cash. When SMEs can offer secure, low-friction digital payments, they build financial histories that help unlock access to credit, expand their customer base and participate in digital marketplaces previously out of reach. Strengthening this access aligns directly with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, which prioritises broader participation in the formal financial system and SME growth.

The outcome is not only more secure transactions but also wider, more equitable participation in the digital economy.

Collaboration as the catalyst for progress

No single organisation or sector can drive digital transformation alone. Progress requires deliberate collaboration between governments, financial institutions, fintech innovators, retailers and technology providers, each contributing to a more secure, interoperable and inclusive payment ecosystem.

Mastercard’s collaboration with People’s Own Savings Bank, which launched the POSB Remit Outbound service powered by Mastercard Move on 05 February 2026, illustrates what this looks like in practice. This service aims to provide Zimbabweans with a fast, secure way to send money internationally, expanding digital financial connectivity for individuals and businesses alike and demonstrating how focused collaboration can meaningfully extend financial access.

A vision for the future

Secure payment innovation is ultimately about more than preventing fraud or processing transactions. It is about building the trust and infrastructure that allow people and businesses to participate more fully in the digital economy.

Zimbabwe’s digital retail sector has significant potential. The convergence of AI-driven innovation, secure payment technologies and collaborative ecosystems can create an environment where businesses and consumers alike can thrive. With continued investment and collaboration, secure digital payments can help unlock a future where commerce is safer, more accessible and more inclusive, for everyone.

The post How secure payment innovation is reshaping Zimbabwe’s digital retail economy appeared first on Techzim.

Turns out the company is thinking much bigger than that.

Meta now wants to introduce Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus too, all under something they are calling Meta One. All being paid versions of the regular apps we use every day.

Before we panic, though, these services are not available locally yet. The first testing phases are happening in places like Singapore, Thailand, Morocco and Guatemala, so we are still in the safe zone.

What You Would Actually Be Paying For

Instagram Plus, for example, could let people view Stories anonymously, understand their audience better and even push their profiles to more people.

And honestly… some of those features sound genuinely useful.

If you run a business, create content or even just care about growing your page, knowing who repeatedly interacts with your content or getting better visibility could actually matter a lot.

The bigger paid plans also reportedly come with stronger AI tools that can help people create better images, videos and content faster, together with other security features.

And that is where the real story starts. This is not really about stickers or fancy profile features. It is about money. 

Building modern AI systems is becoming extremely expensive, and companies like Meta are spending billions trying to stay ahead in the AI race.

That is probably why we are suddenly seeing more internet companies trying to charge users directly instead of depending only on adverts.

And honestly, Meta is not even the first to do this. Snapchat already has Snapchat+. X has X Premium. YouTube has YouTube Premium.

Slowly, the internet is moving away from ‘everything is free’ towards ‘basic features are free, better features cost money.’

Will People Actually Pay?

What makes this especially interesting locally is that many of us grew up thinking social media should cost almost nothing. For example, all you needed was your WhatsApp bundle; the app itself was free. 

Even now, many people still refuse to pay for services like YouTube Premium or  X Premium because paying monthly for social apps still feels strange.

So naturally, the idea of paying Meta every month will not sit well with everyone.

There is also another concern underneath all this. What happens to the free versions afterwards?

People worry Meta could slowly make the free apps more annoying in order to push people towards subscriptions. And honestly, that fear is understandable.

Zimbabwe May Have A Different Problem

Still, there may actually be some benefits for creators, businesses and people who make money online. Better tools and deeper audience insights could genuinely help some people grow faster online.

The bigger challenge locally may not even be the subscription prices themselves. It may simply be payments. Many people still rely heavily on EcoCash or do not have easy access to international cards.

But whether we subscribe or not, one thing is becoming clear. The era of completely free social media may slowly be coming to an end.

The post Meta Wants You To Pay Not Only For WhatsApp… But Facebook And Instagram Too appeared first on Techzim.

The bigger problem, however, is turning those opportunities into projects that serious investors actually trust enough to fund.

That is where Investor Hosting Centre (IHC) says it comes in.

We recently sat down with the company and got a demo of the platform it built to connect investors with Zimbabwean opportunities while handling some of the due diligence, verification and structuring behind the scenes.

And it did not look like just a simple listings website.

The problem IHC says it is solving

According to IHC, many local projects are simply not investment-ready.

The company says a lot of deals still happen informally through networks, introductions, WhatsApp groups and relationships.

At the same time, investors are often forced to spend large amounts of time and money verifying projects themselves before forking out money.

IHC says it is trying to reduce some of that friction.

“What we do is we prepare, we vet, and we match projects with the right capital,” the company told us during the interview.

The platform currently focuses on sectors like:

• mining,
• agriculture,
• tourism,
• real estate,
• and energy.

According to IHC, the idea is to identify opportunities, prepare them to be “investment ready,” and make it easier for investors to evaluate them.

What does ‘bankable’ actually mean?

One word that kept coming up throughout the interview was “bankable.”

IHC says a bankable project is one that already has:

• financial readiness,
• legal standing,
• proper documentation,
• audited financial statements,
• and a clear business plan.

That sounds obvious, but that may actually point to a much bigger issue in Zimbabwe.

A lot of businesses believe that having land, a mine, or a business idea is enough to attract investment. Investors, on the other hand, usually want something much more structured.

They want proper paperwork, clear ownership, financial projections, risk visibility, return on investment and confidence that the project is legitimate and well prepared.

That gap between opportunity and structure is what IHC says it is trying to close.

The platform itself

During the demo, it became clear that there is more happening behind the scenes than what is publicly visible on the website.

Visitors can already see summaries of opportunities listed on the platform. However, deeper information sits behind paid access intended for serious investors.

That includes:

• certificates,
• financial documents,
• GIS mapping,
• and other due diligence material tied to projects.

The GIS side of the platform, in particular, looked impressive during the demo.

Interestingly, some listing names are intentionally broad.

One mining opportunity we were shown was simply labelled ‘Banket Mine.’ IHC says this is meant to stop investors from bypassing the platform and directly approaching opportunity owners.

The company also says projects listed on the platform cannot be sold elsewhere at the same time. According to IHC, this helps avoid situations where investors spend time evaluating a project only to later discover it was already sold outside the platform.

IHC says projects go through document checks, financial reviews and verification before appearing on the platform, with some of that work done internally and some involving third parties.

Have they actually closed deals?

IHC says it has already facilitated deals in mining, agriculture and real estate.

The company also says it is seeing growing interest in tourism and energy opportunities.

However, it would not disclose specific deals or investors, because of non-disclosure agreements with clients.

So we can’t evaluate that claim, but it is also not unusual in investment-related businesses where confidentiality tends to be important. Few investors want their dealings shouted out.

Zimbabwe’s investment problem still hangs over everything

IHC recognises some of Zimbabwe’s investment challenges, they pointed to:

• currency instability,
• inflation concerns,
• repatriation fears,
• and political exposure.

Those concerns will already sound familiar to many Zimbabweans, especially anyone who has followed conversations around foreign investment over the years.

IHC says this is partly why it focuses so heavily on due diligence, structure and verification.

The company also says investors should be able to remotely evaluate opportunities instead of needing to physically come into the country first just to begin the process.

Ultimately, it comes down to trust

Zimbabweans often say the country has opportunities everywhere.

And that may well be true.

The difficult part has usually been turning those opportunities into projects that investors actually trust enough to fund.

Investor Hosting Centre is betting that better structure, verification and visibility can help solve part of that problem.

The post Can This Platform Connect Investors To Zimbabwe? appeared first on Techzim.

But interestingly, many didn’t know that Omari still offers something very similar through its Mahala Wallet Bundles.

So if the idea itself still exists elsewhere, did the subscription model really fail?

In this video, we look at the key difference between Omari and InnBucks:

• Omari made the $1 bundle optional.
• InnBucks imposed it on everyone.

That small difference may explain why one model feels fairer than the other.

We also talk about:

• Who actually benefited from KaOne
• Why most users probably paid more under it
• The rise of “super agents” handling EcoCash, InnBucks, Omari, Mukuru and banks all in one place
• Why pricing and convenience may matter more going forward

The post Omari Got It Right? The Difference InnBucks Missed With KaOne appeared first on Techzim.

The complaints are loud. The emotions are strong. And sometimes the online hate can make it sound like everyone is desperate to leave.

But then the POTRAZ numbers show Econet still growing, still dominating usage, and still acting as the “main line” for many people.

So what is actually going on here?

In this clip, we discuss:

• why Econet attracts so much emotion
• why the government-owned competition seems to attract less anger
• whether people hate Econet itself or just hate feeling dependent on it
• how Econet’s scale amplifies both love and hate
• why some users may complain loudly after trying alternatives and coming back

This became less of a telecom discussion and more of a discussion about psychology, expectations and dependence.

The post Why Zimbabweans Are So Emotional About Econet appeared first on Techzim.

You send money, there is a charge; you withdraw, there is a charge. And even just trying to maintain an account, there is a charge.

Then, depending on the transaction, the government also comes in and takes a massive cut (2%) through IMTT.

So when the Ministry of Finance recently announced approved regulatory reforms meant to make financial services cheaper, it was obviously interesting.

The notice talked about reducing cash withdrawal fees for both USD and ZiG transactions, reducing mobile money transfer charges, introducing zero-cost MSME bank accounts, cutting some regulatory fees, and reducing duty on ATM equipment.

Zimbabweans have complained about bank and mobile money charges for years, and so it’s good to hear of cuts coming our way.

For many people, the question has not just been, “Can I open a bank account?” It has been, “After all the charges, does it even make sense to use one?”

So we asked the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe a few questions. Were these new reductions? Had banks already implemented some of them? And what was the previous RBZ banking supervision fee before the announced reduction?

RBZ says banks have already complied

Earlier this year, the February 2026 Monetary Policy Statement directed banks to reduce some charges. The directive said banks should reduce cash withdrawal charges to a maximum of 2%, cap POS charges at 1.5%, and remove balance inquiry and cash deposit fees by 31 March 2026.

According to RBZ Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu, this has already happened.

I am pleased to advise that all the banking institutions and Deposit Taking Microfinance Institutions (DTMIs) have fully complied with the directives on the reduction of bank charges following the February 2026 Monetary Policy Statement.

In this regard, banking institutions and Deposit Taking Microfinance Institutions submitted to the Reserve Bank, declarations and confirmations of compliance with the policy directive.

That clarifies something. When the Ministry’s announcement came out, it was easy to read it as if banks were now being told to reduce charges. But on the banking charges side, RBZ is saying banks were told in February, the deadline was 31 March, and they have complied.

Min of Finance was mostly referring to earlier measures

We also asked RBZ whether Treasury’s latest announcement referred to the earlier Monetary Policy Statement measures, or whether these were additional reductions beyond what had already been announced.

RBZ Governor Dr John Mushayavanhu said:

The regulatory reforms in financial services pertaining to financial inclusion and expansion of access to affordable financial services mostly referred to the measures already taken in the February 2026 Monetary Policy Statement.

That is an important clarification. Do not expect this to mean fresh cuts. Whatever you have been experiencing since April 2026 is what you should expect going forward.

Some of what was announced was already in motion, so maybe the Ministry of Finance was just trying to put pressure on the sector.

Supervision fees were cut too

One specific measure in the Treasury notice was the reduction of the RBZ banking supervision fee to 0.007% of assets, capped at US$40,000. We asked what the previous rate was.

In simple terms, the rate has moved from 0.01% to 0.007%. That is not some massive revolutionary cut, but it is still a cut.

It also helps government make this argument to banks: we have reduced some of the regulatory costs you face, now you reduce what customers pay.

Banking is expensive, but customers are tired

Tawanda Nyambirai, the TN CyberTech CEO, said it well in an interview. He said when you put money in a bank, you expect to earn interest because the bank uses your money to make money.

But in Zimbabwe, customers often put money in, the bank uses it, and instead of earning interest, the customer is charged account maintenance and transaction fees.

He then also explained the banks’ side. Pointing to statutory reserves, saying banks may have to set aside a large portion of deposits.

He also talked about how the RBZ’s treatment of surplus funds ends up being a cost to banks. Something banks then pass on to customers.

That is the cycle. Banking is expensive for banks, banks pass the cost to customers, customers feel punished for banking, and then we wonder why many people prefer cash, mobile money or keeping money outside the formal system.

This is not only about IMTT

The obvious criticism which everyone jumped on is IMTT. Min of Finance is telling the financial sector to make transactions cheaper while the government itself continues to collect IMTT, which also makes electronic transactions more expensive.

That criticism is fair, but we should not make this story all about IMTT. IMTT is a tax issue. This discussion is mostly about financial-sector charges: withdrawal fees, POS charges, mobile money transfer charges, regulatory fees and the general cost of using formal financial services.

Even if IMTT disappeared tomorrow, we would still need to talk about bank charges and mobile money fees. So yes, IMTT needs its own serious debate, because it’s the worst offender, but these financial-sector charges needed attention anyway.

The real test

RBZ says banks complied, and that is useful to know. But are people really feeling this reduction, or is IMTT still making it seem like nothing changed? Or were the cuts too tiny to make an impact in the first place?

The same applies to zero-cost MSME accounts. If they are free to open but expensive to use, that will not mean much. And if account-opening requirements still scare away informal traders, lower fees alone will not solve the access problem.

The useful thing about RBZ’s response is that it clears up part of the confusion. This was not necessarily a brand-new round of cuts from Treasury’s latest notice.

Much of it came from the February Monetary Policy Statement, and RBZ says banks have complied. Now the question is: after all these reforms, is using your own money actually cheaper?

The post RBZ says banks already cut charges, but did customers feel it? appeared first on Techzim.

The headline feature is something called Magic Pointer. You wiggle your cursor and Gemini pops up with contextual suggestions based on whatever you’re pointing at. Point at a date in an email and it offers to schedule a meeting. Select two images and it can composite them together. It’s basically Gemini living inside your mouse cursor.

They’re also doing custom AI widgets you can create by prompting, and tight Android phone integration so you can use your phone apps right from the laptop.

Hardware-wise, Google is working with the usual suspects (Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo) and every Googlebook will have a “glowbar” – some kind of light-up design element. The laptops expected around September/October.

Google has been trying to crack the laptop market for 15 years with Chromebook and it really hasn’t worked outside of US schools. ChromeOS sits at under 2% global desktop market share. That’s after 15 years. So this is Google basically admitting the Chromebook experiment didn’t pan out the way they hoped and trying again with a completely different approach.

And then there’s Apple, who dropped the MacBook Neo earlier this year at $600. This a proper aluminium Mac that Apple has had the best launch week ever for first-time Mac buyers. That thing has been selling so fast Apple can’t keep up with demand.

So is 2026 the year of laptop innovation? Google rethinking its entire laptop strategy. Apple attacking the low end like never before. Both companies betting big on AI as the differentiator. It’s the most interesting the laptop space has been in years.

The question is whether Google can actually pull it off this time. Chromebook had its moment during COVID and still couldn’t break out of the education bubble. Can Googlebook do what Chromebook couldn’t?

More on this laptop here: googlebook.com.

The post Google just announced the Googlebook appeared first on Techzim.

Starlink added around 40,000 users in just one year, while fibre connections in Zimbabwe took roughly 15 years to reach around 87,000.

But the story is not simply “Starlink killed fibre.”

After Starlink arrived, local fibre providers responded with cheaper unlimited packages, much faster speeds and more aggressive offers. Fibre then went on to record one of its strongest quarters ever.

So what is really happening?

Did Starlink force the market to improve? Is it taking the highest-value users from local ISPs? Why did Liquid’s traffic fall while Starlink surged? And are both Starlink and fibre now running into their own capacity and coverage limits?

We break it all down in this podcast clip.

The post Did Starlink Accidentally Help Zimbabwe’s Fibre Market? appeared first on Techzim.

That’s according to the latest POTRAZ figures.

In this video, we break down:

• how WhatsApp became this massive
• what the numbers actually say
• why internet usage in Zimbabwe has changed so quickly
• and whether WhatsApp is slowly becoming “the internet” for many users

The numbers are crazy.

The post WhatsApp Alone Now Equals Zimbabwe’s Entire 2022 Internet appeared first on Techzim.

That sounds strange because Econet is clearly the bigger mobile operator, while Liquid carries far more fixed internet traffic than TelOne. So when the government-linked players have more workers than their private competition, that’s doing much more traffic, you start wondering.

It’s easy to jump to the one Zimbabweans are familiar with: parastatals, big staff numbers, government inefficiency. Maybe that is part of the story. But we should not jump straight there because these companies work differently. 

Some outsource work while some keep more work in-house. Some have old systems that still need people. And parastatals are often expected to do some things because the government needs them done, even when those things don’t make much money.

Still, even with all that in mind, the gaps are hard to ignore.

NetOne has more staff than Econet

POTRAZ says NetOne had more employees than Econet in Q4 2025. However, Econet does way more business than NetOne does.

Econet has about three times NetOne’s subscribers. The usage gap is even bigger. Econet handles about 7.6 times NetOne’s voice traffic and about 4.3 times NetOne’s mobile data traffic.

So Econet is not just bigger on paper. Its customers use the network much more. They make more calls, use more data and, for many people, the Econet line is clearly the main line.

And yet Econet reports fewer employees. That is the part that raises questions.

There may be good reasons for some of this

We don’t know exactly how each operator reports employees to POTRAZ. If one company outsources more work, its direct employee number will look smaller. 

Econet may be outsourcing some of its work, maybe some customer service stuff. And it also pushes users heavily toward self-service platforms and automated support, think of stuff like Yamurai. That may reduce the number of people sitting directly inside Econet Wireless doing customer support work.

NetOne may keep more roles in-house. It may also have some obligations as a state-owned operator that Econet does not have in the same way as we talked about above. 

That could include a wider physical presence, including in areas that don’t make business sense, doing less profitable stuff that needs to be done or jobs a private company might have cut or outsourced.

So the issue is not simply, “NetOne has more workers, therefore something is wrong.”

But the question remains: why does NetOne need more reported employees to serve a much smaller customer base that also uses the network far less?

TelOne vs Liquid is even more dramatic

TelOne has more than four times Liquid’s reported staff count. Yet Liquid handles about five times TelOne’s fixed internet traffic.

At first glance, that looks wild. But again, context matters. TelOne is not simply Liquid with a different name. 

TelOne still carries old infrastructure and old responsibilities. It has copper lines, fixed voice, DSL, old exchanges, government customers, wholesale work and a massive network that needs people to maintain.

Old systems do not disappear just because the market has moved on.

Liquid appears to operate in a more modern way. Some work, like trenching, installations and network rollout, is outsourced to contractors and suppliers. So Liquid’s employee number does not mean only those people are involved in all the work around its network.

Even so, the gap is too large to just dismiss.

The bigger question is output

The story here is not just how many people are employed. It is what those people, systems and networks are producing.

Econet reports fewer employees than NetOne, but serves far more customers and carries far more usage. Liquid reports far fewer employees than TelOne, but carries far more fixed internet traffic.

This is the picture we get:

• For Econet and Liquid: More traffic, more customers, fewer reported employees.
• For NetOne and TelOne: More staff, less usage, and in TelOne’s case, a lot of old infrastructure that may be expensive to keep alive.

Why it matters

Telecoms is an expensive business. Operators need money for base stations, fibre, repairs, customer support, software systems and new services. If too much money and energy go to things that don’t produce enough value, the company struggles to invest where it should.

For private companies, shareholders have to deal with all that. For state-owned companies, it eventually hits us all because we are the taxpayers, and millions of us are also customers.

So the question raised by the POTRAZ numbers is simple:

Are NetOne and TelOne built for the telecoms market Zimbabwe has today, or are they still carrying the weight of an older model?

The post TelOne, NetOne have more staff than bigger rivals. That raises questions appeared first on Techzim.

The latest POTRAZ numbers help explain why.

Econet doesn’t just have more subscribers than NetOne and Telecel. It also has far more users per data-capable base station, and those users generate much more traffic.

So the issue in some areas is not signal. It may be pressure.

More users. More usage. More demand hitting the same local infrastructure at the same time.

That’s what we explored in this video.

The post Econet’s Biggest Strength Might Be Its Biggest Problem appeared first on Techzim.

If you weren’t transacting much, you were still paying $1 every month just to have an account. Now, you only pay when you use the service.

That means many people will actually spend less. However, not everyone is celebrating.

If you’re moving more than about $80 a month, the old $1 model was actually cheaper. So mbinga users, maybe like traders, small businesses, or anyone actively using InnBucks, will end up paying more.

The post InnBucks Removed the $1 Fee, Most People Will Pay Less Now appeared first on Techzim.

Yes, water is wet. That part is not new.

What is crazy is what happens when you stop looking at just subscriber numbers and start looking at actual usage. Because when you do that, the gap between Econet and the others becomes much bigger.

The numbers don’t lie

Econet has about three times the number of subscribers NetOne has, 12 million vs 4 million.

That’s already a massive lead, but now look at usage.

Econet’s customers generate about 7.6 times more voice traffic than NetOne’s, and about 4.3 times more mobile data traffic.

If it were proportional, you’d expect usage to also be around three times higher. But it’s much higher than that. So, something else is going on.

This is not just about SIM cards

Having a SIM card is one thing. Actually using it regularly is another.

People can have:

• a backup line
• a SIM they rarely top up
• or one they keep for specific uses (madhiri)

All of those still count as subscribers, but they don’t contribute much to traffic. So when the gap between subscribers and usage gets this wide, you are forced to ask:

Could subscriber numbers be inflated?

Not every “active subscriber” is actually using their line much. Some people have SIM cards they rarely use, or only top up occasionally.

We’ve heard stories of people finding out the lines they last used years ago were still active, meaning they were probably still counted as active.

If that’s what’s happening on NetOne and Telecel, then their subscriber numbers might look strong, but actual usage would be much lower.

And what’s funny is, that would actually be the better explanation for them.

Because it would mean the people who are active are behaving normally, and the gap is just being inflated by lightly used lines/inactive lines.

The more worrying scenario is if subscribers are genuinely active, but they’re still not using the network as much.

That would mean they have a deeper issue, not just how subscribers are counted, but how much people actually rely on NetOne and Telecel’s networks.

The complaints don’t match the behaviour

If you spend time online, you’d think Econet is barely usable. The complaints are loud.

But the data tells a different story.

In Q4 2025:

• Econet added about 310,000 subscribers
• NetOne added around 39,000
• Telecel lost about 1,800

And this is with Econet already far ahead, at over 12 million subscribers.

So despite all the noise, people are still choosing Econet.

There’s also a scale effect. If just 2.5% of Econet users complain, that’s around 300,000 people, which is the size of Telecel’s entire customer base. Of course, it sounds loud.

Econet is more expensive?

NetOne and Telecel have often tried to undercut Econet. In many cases, they are cheaper.

If price was the biggest factor, that gap in usage should be smaller. It isn’t. So people are not just choosing the cheapest option.

They’re choosing what works for them consistently. Yes, in some areas, NetOne will work better, but it appears when you look at the whole of Zimbabwe, Econet is pretty usable.

Main line

For many people, the Econet line is the main line.

It’s the number:

• all your contacts have
• your WhatsApp is tied to
• you use for business or work

And then there’s EcoCash. Even if you don’t use it heavily, you still keep that Econet line active so that you can send or receive money should there be an emergency.

Once a line becomes your main line, that’s where you make your calls and use the internet. Other SIMs become secondary.

You might keep them. You might even top them up. But they’re not where your usage lives.

So what’s actually happening?

As with everything in life, it’s not just one thing. Some subscribers on other networks may be lightly active. Econet looks to have more of the heavy users.

Coverage and reliability may still be better where it matters. Yes, I know a few people who say Econet is unusable in their neighbourhoods, but when you zoom out and look at the whole of Zimbabwe, Econet works where it matters, apparently.

And the combination of contacts and EcoCash locks people into using that line more. This leads to Econet not just having more subscribers, but also having more active users. This gap will be tough for NetOne to close. Telecel is not even in the conversation.

The post Econet’s dominance is much bigger than subscriber numbers suggest appeared first on Techzim.

Well, yes. But also, it’s not that simple.

Something interesting is happening here. Starlink is not just adding users to the market. They seem to be scooping up the heaviest users. And that matters because in the internet business, subscriber numbers are important. However, usage is more importanter.

Starlink is doing serious numbers

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the amount of data people used on fixed internet in Zimbabwe, the kind of internet you use at home or at work, like fibre, Starlink and ADSL, grew by 8.86%.

But that number includes Starlink. If you remove Starlink and just look at the rest of the fixed internet market, usage actually falls slightly.

That’s despite several smaller providers growing. The difference is Liquid. It’s so large that when its traffic drops, it pulls the whole segment down with it.

Starlink’s traffic grew by 42.76%, which is crazy.

At the same time, Liquid’s fixed internet traffic fell by 10.54%. That is the interesting part. If the overall market is growing, but one of the biggest players is seeing traffic fall, then we can’t just say more people are using the internet and end there.

Something is happening with data usage. Some of the data that might previously have gone through local providers now appears to be happening on Starlink.

But fibre is still growing

This is evidence that when the local internet providers said they were not worried about Starlink, it wasn’t delusion. It appears they knew they could respond by just lowering prices, for example.

So, yes, it would be wrong to say Starlink is killing fibre. The numbers don’t support that.

Fibre subscriptions have actually grown a lot over the years. They were around 43,000 in 2020. By the end of 2025, they were at 86,225. So fibre has doubled in about five years. Although we did see that figure fall a bit soon after Starlink entered the chat in late 2024.

However, in Q4 2025, fibre added 5,953 subscribers. That is massive. In fact, looking at the numbers going back to 2020, that is one of the strongest jumps in a quarter we have seen.

So fibre is not dying. It is still expanding. But there is an issue.

Who is using the most data?

If fibre subscriptions are growing, but Liquid’s traffic is falling, then the interesting question is not just, “Are people leaving fibre?” It is, “What kind of users are staying, joining, or leaving?”

It is possible that Liquid lost some customers, but I think it’s unlikely. We don’t have Liquid’s exact subscriber numbers in this report, so we can’t say that as fact. But the traffic drop does tell us something: Liquid users consumed less data in Q4.

That could mean a few things. Some heavy users may have moved to Starlink. Some new fibre customers may be on smaller or cheaper packages.

Some households or businesses may now be using both, with Starlink taking the heavier stuff like streaming, downloads, and cloud backups, while fibre remains as a backup or for lighter use.

I remember someone from an internet provider telling me that this was a problem back when Starlink officially launched. Some people would buy the cheapest package on their fibre network, just to keep the account active, in case it’s needed on short notice.

Whatever is actually happening, the point remains: fibre can grow in subscriber numbers while still losing out on the heaviest usage.

Starlink has a tech advantage

Fibre is great when you can get it. But it doesn’t just get to you. Someone has to lay the cables. The provider has to believe there are enough paying customers in that area. The economics have to make sense.

That works better in dense, higher-income areas. It is much harder in our ghettos, where few can afford the service, or outside the big towns and in rural places where only a few households may be able to pay for fibre.

Starlink doesn’t face that problem in the same way. As long as you can get the kit and point it to the sky, you are good to go. That makes it very attractive in places where local fixed internet options are poor, limited, or unavailable. 

It’s still the reality in 2026 that most Zimbabweans could not use fibre, even if they wanted to, just because it’s not available in their area.

Starlink is not perfect either

Starlink is growing fast, but that does not mean everyone is happy.

We have already seen complaints about slow speeds in some areas. Some users say they are getting terrible speeds, especially during busy periods. 

There are also capacity issues in Harare, Bulawayo and many other towns now, with cheaper residential options not always available and users pushed towards more expensive Priority packages.

Some of the complaints also come from unofficial roaming kits, which are not always treated the same as properly registered local kits. So we should not treat every bad screenshot as proof that Starlink is collapsing.

Still, the complaints matter. They show that Starlink is also feeling the pressure of demand.

Zimbos want better internet

That may be the biggest point here. Starlink is growing despite the complaints, despite the pricing, and despite capacity issues in some areas. Fibre is also growing even faster than it did before, despite Starlink’s growth.

That tells us demand is real. The whole Starlink discussion opened people’s eyes to the fact that they can have a better internet experience, and they sought options. And fortunately, to an extent, local guys adjusted prices to serve these people.

People are not choosing Starlink because it is perfect. They are choosing it because, for many of them, it is still better than the alternatives. If local fibre is not available, if mobile data is crap in your neighbourhood, then Starlink does not have to be perfect. It just has to solve enough of your problem.

So what is really happening?

To wrap it all up: Starlink is growing fast, but fibre is still growing too. But Starlink may be stealing the heaviest users from fibre.

That is why Liquid’s traffic drop matters. Not because it proves Liquid is losing subscribers. It doesn’t. But because it suggests that the users, or at least the usage, is moving

And for internet providers, that is a big deal. A customer who barely uses their connection is not the same as a customer who streams, works online, downloads large files and pays for bigger packages.

There is no question that fibre will survive. Fibre still has a strong place in the market, especially where it is available and reliable.

The question is whether local providers can keep the most data-hungry users as Starlink becomes a serious option. 

So, no, we are not saying Starlink has won or that fibre has lost. But that Zimbabwe’s fixed internet market is changing, and the fight is no longer just for subscribers. It is for usage.

The post Starlink is growing fast in Zim, but something’s happening to fibre appeared first on Techzim.

It works, but sometimes it doesn’t, when the owner is not there.

That’s when things get a little tricky. Stock doesn’t add up. Sales are not properly recorded. At the end of the day, you’re guessing more than you’re knowing. After all, mbudzi inodya payakasungirirwa in Zimbabwe.

A local startup called Kayibay is trying to clean that up.

Kayibay

Kayibay didn’t start with that. Like many startups, it began as a marketplace, then pivoted into e-commerce tools. Now it has pivoted into something more practical: a point-of-sale (POS) system for small shops.

And I think this version makes more sense.

Instead of trying to push small businesses online, they are starting with the basics. Help them run properly first.

It works offline

This is the main thing. Kayibay’s POS does not need internet to work.

The owner sets up the shop and products. The cashier logs in and downloads that list. From there, they can record every sale without being online.

Everything sits on the device and then syncs later, usually at the end of the day or the next morning.

So even if the network is down, which happens too often in Zimbabwe, business continues.

Who is using it?

Right now, it’s mostly grocery shops, hardware stores, boutiques, and small homeware retailers.

Those look like businesses with a lot of items moving items and no time to be writing things down all day. So, maybe that’s who the target market is.

Kayibay says it has crossed 500 downloads, with around 60 weekly active users. Still early, but people are using it daily is a good sign.

A simple example

They shared an example of one user, a shop owner in Kadoma. She also has other businesses, so she can’t always be there physically. Before this, she had to be at the shop just to keep things in check.

Now the cashier records every sale in the app, even offline. When it syncs, she can see everything without being there. It doesn’t sound crazy, but apparently it works.

Payments and receipts

Kayibay also lets businesses accept digital payments through a partnership with ZB SmileCash. Seeing as we have a good number of people earning part ZiG into their bank accounts, this is one way to compete with bigger shops that take swipe.

The money goes into a wallet and can be withdrawn through ZB agents.

They also support Bluetooth thermal printers, so shops can print proper receipts. Small detail, but it makes a difference.

How they plan to make money

Pricing is simple for now. 

Subscription Tiers:

• ​Free: 1 store and up to 50 products.
• ​Starter ($10/year): Up to 3 stores and unlimited products.
• ​Pro: Up to 5 stores and unlimited products.

On top of that, Kayibay takes a cut on digital payments that go through the platform.

The idea seems to be to keep it easy to start, then grow with the business over time.

Still early, but this makes sense

Kayibay is still in beta, with a full launch expected in the next few months. So this is not a finished product. But what they have so far looks promising.

Not a big “we are building the future” or “this application of AI will change the world” pitch. Just a tool that helps a shop run better, even when the internet is unreliable.

Time will tell if they will be able to grow the business.

The post Local startup is building an offline POS for small shops appeared first on Techzim.

The scam often begins innocently. A victim receives a message sometimes from a known contact whose account has already been compromised, claiming that a verification code was mistakenly sent to them. The message typically reads something like: “Sorry, I accidentally sent my WhatsApp code to your number. Can you forward it to me?”

Moments later, the victim receives an official-looking SMS containing a six-digit verification code from Meta Platforms systems. Believing the earlier message, they forward the code without hesitation.

That single action hands over full control of their WhatsApp account to the scammer.

How the Scam Works

Behind the scenes, the hacker is attempting to register the victim’s phone number on another device. The system sends a one-time verification code to the real owner the victim. Once the victim shares that code, the hacker logs in, locks the original user out and begins targeting others using the same tactic.

The Domino Effect

Once inside, scammers impersonate the victim. They message contacts asking for money, spreading fake investment schemes, or repeating the same “verification code” trick. Because the messages come from a trusted number, friends and family are more likely to comply.

This creates a chain reaction, one compromised account quickly leads to several more.

Why Zimbabweans Are Particularly Vulnerable Zimbabwe is a digital economy, where WhatsApp is widely used for business, family communication and even financial transactions, the impact is severe. Many users rely on the platform as their primary digital communication tool, making it a prime target for scammers.

Additionally, limited public awareness around cybersecurity practices leaves many users exposed to these tactics.

How to Protect Yourself

The solution is simple, but must be taken seriously:

• Never share your WhatsApp verification code with anyone, under any circumstances.
• Enable two-step verification in your WhatsApp settings.
• Be cautious, even if the message appears to come from someone you know.
• If you receive such a request, call the person directly to confirm.

A Growing Digital Threat

As we continues to embrace digital communication, scams like these indicates an urgent need for public awareness and digital literacy. What appears to be a harmless message can result in the loss of personal data, money and trust.

In the digital age, vigilance is no longer optional it is essential.

Stay Safe !!!!

Engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi
+263772278161

The post How Zimbabweans Are Losing Their WhatsApp Accounts to Simple Scams appeared first on Techzim.

First impressions are: It’s not bad, especially the way it now shows all your balances in one place.

But overall, it feels very familiar, and even with the little we’ve played around with it, we figured out why.

We take a quick look at what’s actually new and what’s not:

The post EcoCash Super App First Look (Feels Familiar) appeared first on Techzim.

The target for the message includes people earning online and people using in cryptocurrencies. The notice also mentions “entities” outside Zimbabwe whose services are used in Zim.

There are few other non-tech categories targeted as well (like transport and taxi services, people collecting rents, and those trading gold)and I wondered if some of these are tech still. Taxi services could be InDrive and Bolt drivers, and rent collectors could Airbnb operators (even though these are targeted by some new tourism regulations I think).

You can download the full notice here.

ZIMRA says the deadline for this voluntary disclosure is 30 June (65 days away) and that if done, penalties will be forgiven but interest will be charged on the tax declarations made.

This is not the first time ZIMRA has shown an interest in businesses that earn online. Back in November 2024 it warned of a tax compliance blitz on businesses that included “Social influencers” and Airbnb operators.

So far reporting on this has focused on content creators, and skit creators specifically like Madam Boss, who reportedly claimed she earns $20,000 in a good month. Today’s notice though is not that specific. It has these broad categories of,

persons who:

• Earn income from online platforms or digital services.

• Receive rental income from property.

• Trade in gold or other minerals.

• Operate transport or taxi services.

• Conduct business using crypto assets.

• Earn income from foreign companies while residing in Zimbabwe.

• Have significant assets or developments inconsistent with their tax declarations.

• Non-resident entities earning income from e-commerce activities or digital services consumed or utilize in Zimbabwe

These are quite broad categories.

The move is not surprising in any way. it has been clear for a while now that the government sees the internet as an opportunity for its tax income. A few months ago, it introduced Digital Services Withholding Tax which now levies a 15.5% charge on almost all online payments.

Recently, we created a tool to help our community understand what the impact of that new tax is on their online payments. You can access it here.

The post ZIMRA is asking online earners and crypto traders to voluntarily start paying tax appeared first on Techzim.

Before that, why should someone in Zimbabwe care? Most people here are not using iPhones. At around a thousand dollars for the cheapest new model, they were never really made for this market. That is not about to change overnight. But when Apple pushes harder on innovation, Samsung, Tecno and Infinix all respond. The phones most Zimbabweans actually buy get better because of the competition Apple creates.

So who is John Ternus?

He is 50 years old and has spent almost his entire career at Apple. He joined in 2001 as a mechanical engineer, became Vice President of Hardware Engineering in 2013 and joined Apple’s executive team as Senior Vice President in 2021. Before Apple he briefly designed virtual reality headsets at a small firm called Virtual Research Systems. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he also competed on the varsity swim team.

His fingerprints are on most of what Apple makes. He has overseen hardware engineering on the iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods and Apple Watch. The most recent iPhone lineup, the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air and iPhone 17, came out of his team. So did the MacBook Neo.

The reaction from the tech world has been largely positive. Google CEO Sundar Pichai congratulated Cook and said he looks forward to working with Ternus. Sam Altman of OpenAI called Cook a legend. Warren Buffett said Apple would not be the Apple of today without Tim Cook.

Cook becomes Executive Chairman on September 1. Ternus becomes CEO the same day.

The post Who Is John Ternus, the Man Taking Over Apple from Tim Cook? appeared first on Techzim.

The step is an effort to revive the company after it went into corporate rescue managed by Grant Thornton since November 2025.

Here’s the tender announcement:

Telecel, under the leadership of Angie Vere initiated the voluntary corporate rescue faced with collapse as debts with suppliers and employees mounted, yet revenue continue to decline. The company simply didn’t have enough money to keep the network working. And when the network is not working, subscribers leave, making the problem even worse. Mudzimu wakupa chironda as we say in Shona.

As for how it got into this mess, it was after years of shareholder fights. The company was founded as a consortium of many investors, and Telecel (an international telecoms company). The shareholder fights caused of uncertainty, and ultimately pushed Telecel International out, with the government claiming to have purchased some 60% stake in the company under unclear circumstances. As a result, the company is a subsidiary of the the government’s Mutapa Investment Fund along with NetOne, TelOne and Powertel.

There have been suggestions by Mutapa leadership that one way to solve the Telecel viability problem is to merge it into the other telecoms companies it owns resulting in one consolidated telecoms company. This move may mean that option is not being explored further.

The post Telecel Is Looking For New Investors appeared first on Techzim.

In March, Zimbabwe launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. I read it the week it came out, not as a curious observer but as someone trying to build a company inside the sector it claims to prioritise. I expected to be disappointed.

Government technology strategies, in most places, are long on aspiration and short on specificity.

This document is different. It is not perfect, and I will get to the gaps. But someone in that drafting room understood what a functional AI ecosystem requires.

The strategy spans multiple sectors, but it names agriculture as a priority. It proposes Project Pangolin, a sovereign data platform that would give local startups access to digitised government datasets through APIs.

It establishes an Innovation Crucible so builders can test products without waiting years for regulations to settle. It launches Nzwisiso.ai, a national literacy campaign to explain what AI actually is.

These are not vague gestures. They are specific, well-chosen levers.

But a strategy document and a working farm are different kinds of terrain.

The gap between them is where this strategy will either succeed or quietly fade.

The data problem

The document makes several implicit bets about how agricultural AI will function. At the level of strategy, those bets are reasonable. At the level of implementation, they require more honesty.

The first bet is on data availability. Project Pangolin aims to aggregate government datasets and expose them through APIs.

The logic is sound. Builders need training data, and the state sits on vast repositories of agricultural records.

The challenge is that much of this data was never collected with machine learning in mind.

Crop estimates, land use surveys, and extension reports often exist in formats that resist digitisation: handwritten ledgers, inconsistent categorisations, gaps where reporting lapsed.

The vision of a clean, queryable data layer is the right destination.

But the road there runs through a massive archival and standardisation effort.

If we underestimate that work, Project Pangolin becomes a well-meaning system where data is moved into a new format without becoming meaningfully usable.

Insight vs action

The second bet concerns the relationship between insight and action. The strategy positions AI as a tool for precision: better forecasts, earlier disease detection, optimised input recommendations.

That is what AI does well.

What it does not do is ensure that a farmer can act on that recommendation, or that the market will justify the expense, or that the weather will cooperate long enough for the advice to matter.

AI can recommend. It cannot execute.

And in Zimbabwean agriculture, execution is where most systems fail.

These are not failures of the technology. They are features of the agricultural economy that sit outside the strategy’s scope.

A national AI policy cannot fix supply chain fragmentation or input financing gaps. But it can acknowledge them as constraints on the usefulness of any AI system.

Without that recognition, we risk measuring success using metrics that never touch the farmer’s actual outcome.

Adoption is not awareness

The third bet is the most subtle. The strategy invests heavily in awareness through Nzwisiso.ai, a campaign to build public understanding of artificial intelligence.

That is necessary work. But awareness alone does not translate into adoption.

There is a difference between understanding a technology and incorporating it into daily decision-making.

Farmers do not adopt tools because they understand them. They adopt them because they work.

Adoption in agriculture is built on repeated usefulness, on trust, and on the cost of failure being low enough to take a chance.

Designing for that reality means building for the channels farmers already use, accommodating the devices they already own, and delivering value quickly enough to earn a second interaction.

The role of local builders

These are not reasons to dismiss the strategy. The direction is right.

A regulatory sandbox that allows iteration without waiting for perfect clarity is exactly the signal a young ecosystem needs.

Naming agriculture as a priority, and backing that with concrete initiatives, is more than many national strategies achieve.

This is where local builders become essential. There is a small but growing ecosystem of Zimbabwean startups already navigating the terrain this strategy seeks to shape.

The eAgro platform, funded through the Potraz Innovation Hub, supports farmers with satellite data and WhatsApp diagnostics across several provinces.

Hurudza AI and Paltech Africa are building complementary tools in the same space.

My own company, Info Impact Solutions, built SmartFarmerAI to operate through WhatsApp and USSD.

This reflects the reality that a feature phone on a weak signal is still the primary device for millions of farmers.

We collaborate with the Smallholder Farmer Clusters Project, which reaches over twenty-four thousand farmers, because the network of relationships on the ground is where real agricultural knowledge lives.

The opportunity embedded in this strategy is to partner with this ecosystem rather than attempt to build parallel systems from scratch.

The government does not need to solve every last-mile problem itself. It needs to provide the enabling conditions the strategy already outlines: data access through Project Pangolin, regulatory flexibility through the Innovation Crucible, and the legitimacy that comes from a national mandate.

Local builders can handle the rest.

What success will look like

The strategy will have succeeded if, three years from now, the conversation has shifted from what AI could theoretically do for Zimbabwean agriculture to what it is actually doing.

That means farmers making better planting decisions because localised weather data reaches them in time.

It means extension officers spending less time on routine diagnostics and more time on complex problems.

It means startups scaling because the policy environment stopped being an obstacle and started being an asset.

From blueprint to reality

The National AI Strategy is a serious document. It lays a foundation.

But foundations are not buildings.

What gets built on top of it will depend on whether we are honest about the data we actually have, the constraints farmers actually face, and the slow, patient work of earning trust in communities where technology is judged by what it delivers, not what it promises.

The blueprint exists. Now the building begins.

Breden T Nyatoro is the founder of Info Impact Solutions, the company behind SmartFarmerAI.

The post Zimbabwe’s AI Strategy Gets Agriculture Right. But That Might Not Be Enough appeared first on Techzim.

They’ve been focused on training pilots and, more recently, claimed to be the first in Africa to offer drone maintenance training as well.

So up until now, we’ve understood them as the people building the skills side of Zimbabwe’s drone ecosystem.

Now, there’s a new development.

Through their sister operation, Drone Solutions, they’re saying they want to actually run drone deliveries, specifically for medical supplies across Zimbabwe and beyond.

That’s different from training people to fly and fix drones as we’re now talking about using those same drones to deliver life-saving stuff.

It sounds like what Zimbabwe needs

The idea itself is straightforward.

Drone Solutions says it wants to use drones to transport things like vaccines, blood products, and emergency medication to remote areas. These are the kinds of deliveries that can take hours by road, especially during the rainy season or in places with poor infrastructure.

With drones, they’re saying those same trips could take under 30 minutes.

If you’ve seen what’s been done elsewhere on the continent, this isn’t far-fetched. Companies like Zipline have already built similar systems in countries like Rwanda and Ghana, where drones are used to move medical supplies.

So the concept checks out.

The question is: how far along is Zimbabwe’s version of this?

Details not yet clear

Reading through the announcement, it’s clear that something big is being built.

They talk about a network that serves millions of people, covers thousands of flight kilometres, and can improve delivery efficiency by over 90% in certain areas.

They also describe a system designed to work directly with healthcare providers, using software to coordinate deliveries in real time.

All of that sounds like a mature, working system.

But then you realise, there’s no real detail about what’s already live in Zimbabwe right now.

There’s no mention of how many drones are currently operating locally, where the delivery hubs are, or how many deliveries have actually been completed so far.

That doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It just means we don’t yet know the scale.

Regional expansion claims

Then there’s the part that really jumps out.

Drone Solutions says it is taking over drone delivery operations in Malawi, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

That’s huge.

Running drone logistics in one country is already complex. Doing it across multiple countries means dealing with different aviation regulators, health systems, and operational environments.

But the announcement doesn’t say who they’re taking over from, what agreements are in place, or whether those operations are already active.

So this is one of those claims that sounds big, but will need to be explored and unpacked.

Their operations are more impressive now

What makes this more than just another announcement is how it connects back to Drone University.

Between the two, they’re now covering:

• training drone pilots,
• training maintenance technicians,
• and potentially running delivery operations.

That’s not just one product or service, they want to build a full, local drone ecosystem.

And if they pull it off, it would be one of the more complete ones we’ve seen in the whole Africa. Something I’m sure South Africans will contest, as they did the claim of being the first in Africa to offere drone maintenance.

So where are we right now?

There’s no doubt the idea makes sense.

Zimbabwe has real challenges when it comes to getting medical supplies to remote areas, and a working drone delivery network could genuinely help solve that.

But based on what’s been shared so far, it’s not entirely clear how much of this is already in operation and how much is still in the rollout phase.

We’ve reached out to Drone Solutions for more detail on what’s currently happening on the ground, what timelines look like, and how that regional expansion is being handled.

Because if this is already live at scale, it’s a big story.

And if it’s not there yet, it’s still one we’ll be watching because it’s one of those projects you hope succeeds.

The post Drones to deliver blood and vaccines in Zimbabwe if this takes off appeared first on Techzim.

If you go poking around under the Data section (*143#), you’ll see it there. And naturally, we had to try it.

• $0.30 → 25GB
• $0.65 → 50GB
• $2 → 100GB
• $2.80 → EcocloudUnlimited
• $40 → Peak 25GB + O/Peak 5GB + 30Day EcoCloud

Now, when you see pricing like that, your mind probably goes straight to cloud storage. And that’s what this looks like.

So… what is EcoCloud?

Econet already has something called EcoCloud, but it’s mostly been for businesses; data centres, hosting, that kind of thing.

What we’re seeing here feels like a consumer version of that.

Basically, you pay a small monthly fee, and Econet stores your files for you. They store your videos, pictures and whatever you have digitally and you pay a monthly fee for the service. Instead of you trusting that cheap external hard drive of yours with your memories.

So it appears to be something like Google Drive or iCloud.

Getting EcoCloud?

The buying part works perfectly.

You select the bundle, confirm, and boom, you get the SMS saying you’re good to go. No problems. It feels like you’ve just signed up for Econet’s answer to Google Drive or iCloud.

Nice.

Then you try to actually use it.

Step 1: Download the App

After buying the bundle, we went ahead and downloaded the app.

It’s branded EcoCloud and even says Powered by Cassava inside, so it looks a little legit.

You open it up and you’re greeted with a clean login screen.

So far, so good.

Step 2: Try to Log In… Or Even Sign Up

And then you hit a wall.

The app gives you:

• Username
• Password
• Login

That’s it. No “Create account”. No “Register”. No onboarding flow. Just login.

Step 3: We tried to make it work

At this point, we figured maybe we’re missing something obvious. So we did what any normal person would do: we tried to use it anyway.

We entered some details.

“Incorrect username or password.”

Fair enough, we don’t have an account.

So we went back and checked the SMS we got after purchasing.

Nothing. Just confirmation of the purchase. No credentials. No instructions. No link. No “here’s how to get started.” Alright. Let’s try another angle.

We guessed maybe:

• your phone number is the username
• maybe there’s an OTP flow somewhere
• maybe there’s a default password situation

Tried all of that. Nothing. At this point, it’s not user error anymore. It’s just a dead end.

Step 4: Maybe the Guide Explains It?

We found the official guide in the app. And it quietly confirms the problem: The app assumes you already have an account.

There’s no step showing how to create one. Which explains everything we just experienced.

So Where Is The Account Supposed To Come From?

That’s the missing piece. Because right now, the flow looks like this:

1. Buy EcoCloud bundle – Easy
2. Download the app – Not a problem
3. ???
4. Log in – Not happening

That step 3 is just not there.

Feels Like An Enterprise Tool Trying To Be Consumer

The more you look at it, the more you’re reminded that EcoCloud started life as something else.

It behaves like software meant for:

• companies
• internal deployments
• pre-created accounts handed to users

Where IT gives you login details and you’re good.

But now it’s sitting on USSD, being sold to everyday users who expect to just sign up and go.

That gap is very obvious right now. Right now, EcoCloud feels like a half-finished attempt to convert an enterprise solution into a consumer one.

And That’s A Problem Cause Google Drive & iCloud Exist

Because those services have set the standard:

• Install app
• Create account in seconds
• Start uploading immediately

No friction. No confusion.

EcoCloud right now doesn’t even get you past account creation.

For Now…

EcoCloud is in that crazy state where:

• You can pay for it
• You can install it
• But you can’t actually use it

And that’s not a great place to be, especially when a vocal minority online is always accusing Econet of stealing from them. Well, this EcoCloud implementation won’t help with that.

They should at least remove the option to buy the bundles from the USSD menu until they sort out the onboarding.

The post You Can Buy EcoCloud… But Actually Using It? That’s Another Story appeared first on Techzim.

Now, if your first reaction is: “Ah, more of those AI things they’ve been pushing… Yamurai, EcoChat and all that…” You’re not alone.

They’ve been talking about AI for a while now, mostly through assistants and chatbots that, let’s be honest, haven’t exactly taken over people’s lives.

So it’s easy to hear “Econet AI” and assume this is just more of the same.

But from what was shared at the launch, this looks like them trying to do something a bit bigger.

So what is Econet AI actually?

The simplest way to think about it is this: Econet wants to move from just selling connectivity to helping businesses actually use AI.

That includes:

• tools like Yamurai AI
• business solutions like OmniContact AI
• and services where they help companies figure out how AI fits into their operations

So it’s not just apps. It’s tools + consulting + platforms.

They even talked about working directly with CEOs and leadership teams, not just IT departments.

The part that actually matters: AI compute

This is where things get interesting.

One of the big points they made at the launch was simple: If you don’t have AI compute, you can’t really build AI.

And according to Econet AI, they now have access to that compute through Cassava Technologies.

If you’ve been following, Cassava has been making big moves in AI:

• talking about an AI factory
• rolling out GPU infrastructure
• building partnerships across Africa

So hearing that Econet AI can tap into that is a big deal.

But is that infrastructure in Zimbabwe?

From what we understand so far:

• Econet AI does have access to AI compute
• but it’s not clear that this compute is physically in Zimbabwe

In other words, you can use the power but the machine might be somewhere else. That’s still useful.

It means businesses here can build and run AI solutions without waiting for massive local infrastructure to be built.

But it’s not quite the same as having huge GPU clusters sitting in a data centre in Harare. At least not yet.

(And to be fair, they did talk about a commitment to bring more of that capability into Zimbabwe over time.)

What accessing that kind of power looks like today

To see why this matters, it helps to look at what things are like right now.

We’ve heard from local developers trying to access high-performance computing resources for AI work, and the costs can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, I’m talking about the High Performance Computer at the University of Zimbabwe.

Not even for something crazy, just to get a little access.

And it’s not always flexible either. Instead of something like pay-as-you-go, you’re often quoted for large chunks of compute.

For a student or small developer, that basically meant we had no HPC at the UZ.

So when Econet AI talks about giving access to AI compute through Cassava, that’s where it starts to make sense.

What else are they bringing?

There were also mentions of:

• data centres and cloud services
• a sovereign cloud for government and institutions
• and work on local language AI, including making Yamurai sound more Zimbabwean

That localisation angle is actually interesting.

Global AI tools don’t always get local languages and context right. Try speaking to Gemini or ChatGPT in Shona, their accents are hilarious, they sound Chinese for some reason.

So where does this leave Zimbabwe?

If you’ve been following Cassava’s AI plans, it has felt like most of the serious infrastructure is happening elsewhere:

• South Africa
• Kenya
• Nigeria

Which made it seem like Zimbabwe might be getting left behind.

Econet AI changes that picture a bit.

We may not have massive AI infrastructure sitting locally yet, but through Econet AI, there’s now a simple way to actually use that infrastructure.

You can’t complain about that.

The post Econet AI is here, and it’s more than those Yamurai ads we’ve been seeing appeared first on Techzim.

The announcement is full of the usual big phrases: digital transformation, smart tourism, whole-of-government approach.

But in simple terms, it’s just about improving connectivity at key tourism destinations (places like Vic Falls) and generally bringing the tourism sector into the digital age.

And for now, NetOne donated laptops and printers to ZTA.

Nothing controversial there.

In fact, on paper, this makes a lot of sense. Cause printers will bring the tourism sector into the digital age.

Anyway, tourism is a serious industry for Zimbabwe. Visitors expect good connectivity. Hotels need it. Tour operators need it. Payments, bookings, maps, all of it depends on being online.

If you go to a place like Nyanga and struggle to get a signal, you’d better not have teenagers with you. But to be honest, even you would be annoyed.

So yes, improving connectivity in tourism areas is a perfectly valid goal.

Not everything has to make money immediately

Telecom networks don’t always invest purely based on profit.

Some areas will never make commercial sense on their own. If operators only built infrastructure where the returns are obvious, large parts of the country would remain unconnected.

That’s why governments get involved. Connectivity is a public good. But we won’t get into just how efficient or inefficient the government is at that job.

So there is a role for national priorities in how telecom infrastructure is rolled out.

No argument there.

The worry

NetOne is not just some tool to achieve the government’s objectives. It’s also a telecom operator competing in a very real market.

And that market is dominated by Econet.

So when you look at NetOne, the question isn’t just what are they doing?
It’s what should they be prioritising right now?

Because telecom is not a cheap business.

Every base station costs serious money to build and maintain. Backhaul, power, security, it adds up quickly.

When you’re behind on infrastructure, subscribers and profitability, you really can’t be thinking about “nice-to-have” projects.

A private operator in that position would be very focused:

• Fix network quality where users are already struggling
• Expand capacity where demand is high
• Improve coverage where it can quickly gain customers

In short: invest where you can compete.

So where does this partnership fit?

That’s the uncomfortable question.

Because while tourism connectivity is important, we don’t yet know what this partnership actually involves beyond the announcement.

Which locations are being targeted?
What infrastructure is being deployed?
What’s the investment size?
When does it happen?

Right now, the only concrete outcome we’ve seen is the donation of laptops and printers.

Everything else is ‘trust us, bro, we’re gonna do it.’

The MoU is not the problem

Zimbabweans have heard stories before about NetOne being pushed to deploy infrastructure in places that don’t make business sense.

Whether to sound good when talking about coverage, to cover political events, or to cover some national programmes.

From a public policy perspective, that makes sense.

But from a business perspective, it has consequences.

Because every time resources are directed toward low-return projects, that’s money not being spent on strengthening the core network.

And over time, that shows. Going behind on infrastructure is not a trivial thing, as Telecel will attest.

Why this matters for you

This isn’t just about NetOne’s internal strategy.

It affects the whole market.

If NetOne becomes weaker as a competitor, the pressure on Econet reduces.

And when competition weakens, consumers usually feel it:

• Prices don’t drop as fast
• Network improvements slow down
• Innovation takes longer

Strong competition is what forces telecom companies to stay sharp. If you have any qualms with Econet right now, you don’t want to live in a world where NetOne is even less competitive.

The irony

What’s crazy is that government involvement is supposed to lead to stuff like better connectivity, more inclusion, and stronger sectors like tourism.

But if that involvement weakens a state-owned operator’s ability to compete, it can actually work against those same goals.

A stronger NetOne would:

• invest more in infrastructure
• compete more aggressively
• improve services across the board

Which ultimately benefits the country anyway.

So, is this a bad move?

Not necessarily.

If this partnership results in meaningful infrastructure at real tourism hotspots, places with actual demand, it could make commercial sense too.

Tourists spend money. Businesses need connectivity. There’s potential there.

But right now, we don’t have enough detail to say that’s what’s happening.

The real question

This announcement raises a bigger, more important question:

Is NetOne being run primarily as a competitive telecom operator or as a tool for government programmes?

Because those are not the same thing.

And how that balance is handled will determine whether Zimbabwe ends up with a truly competitive telecom sector, or one where there’s a giant and some also-rans.

We shall be getting into the whole Mutapa Fund ownership or stewardship of NetOne, Telecel and TelOne in a future episode. We shall discuss whether it’s set up for success or not.

The post NetOne, Tourism, and the Bigger Question About Priorities appeared first on Techzim.

Salary week comes, and banking apps start crawling. EcoCash and other mobile money systems slow down. Customer support lines get flooded. Sometimes services just stop working.

We’ve seen it many times.

A couple of years ago, ZB Financial Holdings even suffered a ransomware attack that led to sensitive data leaking online. That incident reminded everyone that it’s not just reliability that’s an issue; security is too.

None of this is happening because organisations are ignoring technology. In fact, many are investing heavily in it.

Banks are rolling out new platforms. Mobile network operators are upgrading their infrastructure. Retailers are introducing digital systems. Everywhere you look, there are cloud migrations, cybersecurity projects and even AI pilots.

So if the investment is happening, how come these systems seem weak or fragile?

Plans are strong. Execution is the problem

Walk into almost any large organisation in Zimbabwe, and you’ll find plenty of technology.

But you’ll also find something else: friction.

Processes that still require manual work. Systems that don’t talk to each other properly. Digital platforms that struggle when usage spikes.

In other words, the technology exists. The strategy exists.

Turning that into reliable systems for customers is the hard part.

And that’s where many organisations seem to get stuck.

And now AI comes in

In March, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched Zimbabwe’s National AI Strategy for 2026 to 2030.

The document lays out a big vision. Zimbabwe wants to position itself as an AI hub for Southern Africa, with applications in sectors like agriculture, mining, healthcare and finance.

It’s ambitious, maybe even too ambitious.

But the strategy also raises a question.

If basic digital systems still struggle under heavy usage, how ready are organisations for the next layer of complexity that AI brings?

AI doesn’t run on ambition. It runs on reliable infrastructure, clean data and well-integrated systems.

Those are exactly the areas where many organisations are still figuring things out.

One event trying to focus on the execution problem

This is part of the thinking behind a new event being organised by the Computer Society of Zimbabwe.

The society is launching a C-level forum called NextCon, scheduled for 6 to 9 May in Sandton, Johannesburg.

More than 120 executives from Zimbabwean organisations are expected to attend. These are the people approving IT budgets and overseeing the systems that keep businesses running.

The event is being organised together with the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa.

Why do it in Johannesburg? Their thinking is that many of the technology platforms used by Zimbabwean companies are managed through regional hubs there. Vendors like Microsoft, Oracle and Google all operate out of there.

The idea is simple: bring Zimbabwean decision-makers closer to the companies behind the tools they’re deploying.

But vendors are only part of the story. Implementation is where things usually get complicated. A solution that works perfectly in a demo can run into all sorts of problems once it hits the real world, where there are infrastructure problems, crazy regulations or skills shortages.

Technology problems are easy to see. People problems are harder

NextCon will focus on topics like AI, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and data.

But one of the themes is something organisers call “people and change”.

That might sound vague, but apparently that’s where many digital projects stumble.

Technology is never the only challenge. Skills gaps, internal resistance and unclear processes can slow things down just as much as technical issues.

Sometimes the biggest obstacle is simply getting everyone inside an organisation to actually use the system properly.

Zimbabwe has seen ambitious tech initiatives before

Of course, it’s fair to be sceptical.

Zimbabwe has had plenty of digital strategies, conferences, symposiums and transformation initiatives over the years. Ambition has never really been the problem. It has always been execution.

A four-day event isn’t going to magically fix that.

But conversations around execution remain important. Companies are spending serious money on technology now, and sooner or later, they have to show results.

The hope is that events like NextCon help move that conversation forward.

Because in the end, Zimbabwe’s digital future won’t be decided by strategies or conference panels.

It will be decided by something simple: Whether the systems people rely on every day actually work.

The post NextCon Wants to Tackle Zimbabwe’s Tech Execution Problem appeared first on Techzim.