adminMernat Mafirakurewa Business Editor
IN the last five years, Zimbabwe has witnessed an exponential growth of technology-based businesses.
The country’s technology sector is one of the fastest growing on the African continent largely propelled by the growth of mobile and data services.
Global companies such as Huawei, Sony and Samsung have also set up base in the country as the sector continues to grow.
Data released by Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe last year showed that mobile voice teledensity stood at 97 percent, data and Internet penetration 34 percent and fixed Voice teledensity 2,3 percent.
Riding on the growing trends globally, Kudakwashe Mutamba, a Zimbabwean based in the US together with Rabecca Crow founded 10ngah.com — a shopping website designed for the African marketplace with Zimbabwe being the launching ground.
It’s goal is to become a central online marketplace for basically all products and also accurately provide the consumer fair market prices for goods.
One of the founders of the online selling platform built around the models of the highly successful – eBay and Amazon – Mutamba said the business model seeks to demonstrate that Africa can compete on an equal footing globally.
Mutamba, who grew up in the USA, says the project was inspired by a desire to make technological gadgets affordable.
“I grew up in the USA and just coming to Africa made me realise how expensive things are. People do not have proper information and details. So we saw this as an opportunity,” he said.
“It honestly came about because things are really expensive in Africa for no reason, and the African consumer is always cheated out of a deal. It was around Christmas 2012 when the concept was first thought of.
“We also want to move Africa out of the brick and mortar concept.”
Start-ups take up a lot of capital and skill, Mutamba contends.
Shying away from disclosing how much the company had invested in setting up the business, he said, “10ngah.com started off with massive credit card debt and loans from the founders. We just finished our first round of capital financing which we can say is going to really help make 10ngah.com a name to be reckoned with in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Unfortunately I cannot divulge how much but it’s enough to start a serious hiring process in Zimbabwe and our home base in United States of skilled talent and further push our innovation.”
Barely a year old, Mutamba said the response from the Zimbabwean market has been very good with over 40,000 Facebook friends, and 120,000 users.
Interestingly though, Mutamba said visitors to the site were from the high density suburbs with Chitungwiza leading the pack, followed by Bulawayo and Harare.
Unlike the bigger online selling platforms, customers need not have a Visa or MasterCard to be able to transact but can use their local debit/credit cards for as long as they are on the Zimswitch platform.
Consumers can also pay cash through a local bank.
Doing business online in Zimbabwe and Africa, he said, still remained tough due to limited internet access but it would become much easier as it improves.
“Zimbabwe really needs to involve young people when they are talking about technology and technology is just not for people in fancy neighbourhoods,” said Mutamba.
“Doing business in Zimbabwe especially for a start-up is tough, there is really no help from any formal institution both private and government. Especially when the company is run by a couple of 20 somethings with only graduate degrees but no formal experience to run a company.
“A lot needs to be done to support entrepreneurs and not just talk about it. It’s been a tough road, even trying to form partnerships with institutions in Zimbabwe (except our awesome friends at Standard Chartered Bank) it’s really rough. I would love to see a true forum take place on improving the business environment in Zimbabwe and a forum which will actually have young business owners.”
Though the venture is still based in USA, Mutamba is hopeful that in the near future the business will be headquartered in Harare.
“We hope to be in all Sadc and Comesa nations and hopefully our Headquarters will be based in Zimbabwe if some friendlier start-up policies are put up. We are also launching an online vehicle service on June 1, 2014. It will really change the way people shop for cars in Zimbabwe and Sadc forever,” he said.
Going forward, he said, the business was in the trial process that would allow people to sell their stuff on the site.
“Technology can be a major game changer in Zimbabwe but the policies are still lagging behind. There is a need to put in place tax incentives and financing facilities for start ups like us,” he said.
Online Reporter