Zim’s Econet Wireless has said it is putting final touches to launch its Econet Remittances for Zimbabweans living in South Africa to send cash back home, a move the firm says will be the biggest source of foreign currency in the country’s economy by the end of the year.Darlington Mandivenga, CEO of Econet Services said, “Our research suggests that by making it quicker and easier to send small amounts, of as little as R5, and at any time, we will see a massive inflow of money, just like we see on EcoCash here at home.”
Dubbed EcoCash Remittance, the new service is targeting remittances from South Africa, Botswana and Zambia by year end then expand to the UK and the US. Zimbabwe accounts for the bulk of the cross-border remittances market with over 60 percent of total SADC remittances estimated to be sent to Zimbabwe from South Africa each year.
The service is open to Zimbabweans living in South Africa. They must be Econet Wireless South Africa CALL HOME SIM cards subscribers. The service will enable them to load money in their cell phones and send it back home instantly to an Econet number just like their counterparts back home.The recipients in Zimbabwe will then be able to cash the money at any of the nearly 7000 Ecocash agent.Econet has been working on the service for nearly nine months and is set to have a soft launch with its partners in South Africa then have a full scale launch September end.