Econet and Masiyiwa family trust launch e-commerce service

Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator Econet Wireless has partnered with a family trust of founder and executive chairman Strive Masiyiwa in launching an e-commerce service as the group seeks to drive volumes for its mobile money transfer platform.

Tengai, a free online trading platform, is a free service for Econet subscribers. Tengai head of countries James Gibson said the company would ride on Econet’s large subscriber base despite low smart phone penetration in the country.

“We have partnered with Econet to provide the browsing and the free SMS contacting but Tengai is a privately owned company owned by a family trust of which Strive Masiyiwa, the chairman of Econet is a major shareholder,” Gibson said.

“In terms of our partnership with Econet, Econet are offering us a zero rated service to allow all of our customers to access the site for free. Obviously in return we are helping to drive transactions to EcoCash. The promoted options are run by EcoCash payment gateway, so it is a strategic partnership.”

Launched in the last quarter of 2011, EcoCash has in excess of 4.2 million users.-The Source

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