Wednesday marked the official introduction of yet another mobile money platform, NetOne’s OneMoney to a hungry market desperately starved of diversity since the fall of One Wallet. Finally, the once sleeping giant has found the edge to pull the curtain down and battle it out with EcoCash which currently controls 98% of mobile money transactions according to the 2017 POTRAZ Second Quarter results.
Lack of competition in the mobile money service sector has for years given Ecocash a pseudo-monopoly but the coming on board of OneMoney should give consumers diversity and a wide selection to choose from.
With the birth of OneMoney into Zimbabwe’s financial mix, it is undoubtedly going to stir exciting competition in the financial services sector. As the battle to capture more subscribers reaches climax, we forecast that the desolation of long standing monopolies will finally give consumers the much yearned freedom.
Yes, things are really cooking up in Zimbabwe’s financial melting pot and OneMoney couldn’t have come at a better time than this when the current economic crisis marred by cash shortages is desperately calling for more digital payments innovation.
What makes the new OneMoney service to have such warm market reception are the reasonable tariffs specifically designed to serve an economically distressed market. In his speech during the launch, acting NetOne CEO – Brian Mutandiro reiterated that the mobile money platform has been structured in line with the Ministry of Finance’s vision to drive total financial inclusion.
Here are the OneMoney tariffs, which are the lowest charges for transacting in Zimbabwe as compared to other mobile money platforms
OneMoney comes at a time when NetOne has reawakened to take a strategic business unit route after going through several storms which saw the firing of former CEO – Reward Kangai and a flaming forensic audit sanctioned by Minister of ICT – Hon. Supa Mandiwanzira with its fierce fires licked out several executives in the process.
NetOne’s successful launch of OneMoney tells a story of an organization which is now operating under renewed ambitions. In the past twenty years of operation, Reward Kangai sat at the helm of a potentially profitable parastatal which did not show any satisfactory financial results despite operating in Zimbabwe’s most considered lucrative sector.
The story of the new exciting OneMoney service tells a dark fairytale of how Kangai’s reign failed Zimbabwe when NetOne tried to launch the mobile money service as OneWallet six years back. The first model of the service was poorly designed aided by an out of touch marketing team at that time, leading to a complete market failure.
After closely watching the introduction of OneMoney in the past few days and how the product is causing a frenzy in the market, l think its only fair to give enough credit to Brian Mutandiro and his team for resurrecting a once sinking giant.
