Mobile telephony provides succor to perilous Zimbabwean economy

By John Cassim

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - Reeling under extreme joblessness and economic crunch, small-time traders and even university students have found a panacea in selling mobile phones to earn their living in the southern African country of Zimbabwe.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency to mark the 146th anniversary of the invention of the telephone, Econet Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Douglas Mboweni, said that the Scottish-born scientist Abraham Graham Bell may have invented the device for communication purposes, but it is currently helping many households in Zimbabwe to keep the body and soul together.

His company is one of the leading mobile network providers and has over the past 20 years invested over $ 3 billion into the economy.

“We have contributed to the phenomenal growth of mobile telecommunication in Zimbabwe and our mobile technology has evolved over the years and now offers digital services that are improving lives by connecting millions of Zimbabweans,” Mboweni added.

Experts say, for a country with an estimated 80-90% unemployment rate, mobile phones have come like a remedy, not only to fix joblessness but also to help to communicate.

“I used to struggle to pay for my university tuition but when I started selling phones, I started earning some good profits. Now with the online studies owing to COVID-19, I have more time to sell phones than before and it means more money,” said a Harare-based student David, who goes by only one name.

Another 22-year-old small-time trader Prosper Saizi, who was reeling under economic crunch said he is now earning $15-$20 a day by selling mobile phones.

He said the trade does not need an office or to register a company.

“It only requires knowledge of where to get the product and whom to sell it,” he said.

- Transforms lives

Cosmas Malindi Banda is one Zimbabwean who has been in the telephone industry said it has transformed lives.

“I didn’t know the telephone industry would evolve that much and fast, I started working for other people while repairing the phones which were popular then. Today I run my own company that sells and repairs phones and makes at least $ 3500 per month,” he said.

Mobile phones in Zimbabwe are sold in the range of $110 to $ 2,000.

Interestingly, the demand for mobile phones climaxed during the COVID-19 enforced lockdown.

“The growth has been massive but the COVID-19 pandemic came as a blessing in disguise as this brought huge opportunities for thousands of unemployed young Zimbabweans,” said Pardon Mukoyi, publisher of an online technical magazine called Tech Zimbabwe.

Apart from providing jobs and a source of living to many young Zimbabweans, the government is also earning revenue to combat the economic crunch.

In 2021 the country introduced a new $50 levy on imported cell phone devices.

“This is part of a move to ramp up revenues to meet government expenditure which is expected to nearly double to $8 billion in 2022,” according to a report published by the Finance Ministry.

The southern African nation already had a 25% tax on imports of smartphones and another on voice and data top-ups.

According to a GSMA Intelligence report on Zimbabwe, there were approximately 13.64 million cellular mobile connections in Zimbabwe at the start of 2022.

“Mobile connections in Zimbabwe were equivalent to 89.7 percent of the total population of 15 million, in January 2022, while the number of mobile connections in Zimbabwe increased by 445 thousand or 3.4% between 2021 and 2022,” the report said.