PressRelease: Econet Unveils EcoCash Home Wallet App

The Econet Group has through its wholly-owned Fintech subsidiary Cassava Connect unveiled a first in the world of remittances between the UK and Zimbabwe. For the first time, UK diaspora customers remitting money to Zimbabwe will have access to the EcoCash wallet as if they were in Zimbabwe.

The UK service has been launched between Cassava Remit UK and EcoCash, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money service. Cassava is the company through which all EcoCash mobile money services are managed across Africa.

Zimbabweans in the UK and other diaspora customers can use the service through the unique EcoCash Home Wallet App.

With this unique innovation, Zimbabweans in the diaspora can now sign up for the EcoCash mobile money service via an app, and link it to their UK mobile number. The mobile application is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple store. Once registered, a user in the UK will be able to top up their Home Wallet through a debit or credit card or bank transfer, which will allow them to send money home and perform all other transactions available on EcoCash in Zimbabwe such as pay bill, pay merchant, buy airtime and so forth.

Mr Haxton
Rose, the Managing Director of Cassava Remit UK

“The launch of this service is a response to long standing calls by our diaspora community for a transaction offering that provides speed, comfort, control, and security of funds remitted back home,” said Mr Haxton Rose, the Managing Director of Cassava Remit UK.

“The UK to Zimbabwe corridor remains a key source of foreign currency inflows for Zimbabwe and is the second largest remittance corridor for Econet. As a result, we will continue to focus our resources to ensuring that traffic in this critical corridor continues to grow. This new service therefore demonstrates our commitment to delighting our people both locally in Zimbabwe and abroad with products which work and offer them both choice and convenience in line with our vision of truly changing people’s lives”.

Natalie Morris-Jabangwe, General Manager for EcoCash Zimbabwe said that: “Gone are the days of having to queue at a high street shop to send money home, wait for several days for the money transfer to go through, and then having to rely on someone to handle other transactions in Zimbabwe on your behalf such as paying for school fees or any other projects back home. Regrettably, in such scenarios, we have heard of many instances where the money ends up being misappropriated. This is where the EcoCash Home Wallet comes in handy as the customer not only gets access to a remittance capability, but also gets direct control over how the funds will be used downstream.”

Cassava has so far excelled in developing and introducing such innovations across all markets which in turn has enhanced the equity of the EcoCash brand as seen at the just ended Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where EcoCash was recognised as the Best Mobile Money Solution in the World for 2017.

While it is critical for Cassava to pay attention to innovation as part of its product development cycle, one of the most important aspects in introducing any new and innovative solution is effective consultation and engagements with regulators within the respective jurisdictions. Cassava had numerous engagements with the regulators in both the source market and last mile market to ensure that the innovation got the necessary regulatory approvals.