adminIn a statement he said within weeks of launch in September last year, Econet managed to build up and maintain a strong uptake of the EcoCash products, hitting the one million mark earlier this month.
“While the growth has been phenomenal, Econet expects even faster growth as existing users encourage others to subscribe to EcoCash and customers are able to do even more over the platform.”
He said the company still had interesting plans for the future.
“We are obviously excited and grateful for the growth we have seen so far and we are even more excited about the future.
“We are to unleash the full capacity of the services soon so that our customers will be able to pay for utility bills, buy groceries, and send and receive cash across the borders using EcoCash. This will make an even bigger positive impact on the economy,” Mr Mboweni said.
Econet said usage was firm, with rising volumes of cash transfers and airtime purchases being recorded.
“EcoCash has been a significant stimulus to economic activity, bringing major convenience to people in both rural and urban areas.
“Millions of Zimbabweans do not have bank accounts, but EcoCash has enabled the unbanked to participate in the formal financial system,” Econet said.
According to the statement, when EcoCash was launched, some commentators were sceptical drawing comparisons between EcoCash and existing bank transfer services and other mobile banking products.
“When EcoCash was launched, some commentators were quick to draw comparisons between EcoCash and existing bank transfer services and other mobile banking products.
“However, the fast uptake of EcoCash shows the market is attracted to the value offered by EcoCash in terms of its simplicity, convenience and availability.”
The market has seen a flurry of new mobile banking product launches on the market over recent months and what has attracted more Zimbabweans to EcoCash is its flexibility.
Unlike other mobile banking products, EcoCash continues to attract a vast section of the population including those that have no bank accounts.
“EcoCash customers have benefited from Econet’s widest mobile network available, and on the most extensive network of agents with more agents continuing to be signed on.
“While there’s no need for an EcoCash customer to go to a bank, transfer of money is secure as EcoCash is supported by regulated financial institutions that are supervised by the central bank,” Econet said.
Online Reporter