Cassava Smartech and Comviva have bagged two major awards – Global Telecoms Awards (GLOTEL) in the “Mobile Money Mastery” category and the AfricaCom awards in the “Fintech Innovation” category for EcoCash Merchant Payments solution, powered by mobiquity® Money. The GLOTEL Awards 2018 were presented recently in London, while the AfricaCom Awards were presented during the recently concluded AfricaCom event in Cape Town, South Africa. This is the second consecutive AfricaCom award for both Cassava Smartech and Comviva jointly in the Fintech Innovation category.
EcoCash Merchant Payments extends the success of EcoCash beyond money transfer and airtime recharge. It allows EcoCash users to pay at a variety of merchants ranging from supermarkets to small businesses and overcome the cash crunch and change problem prevalent in Zimbabwe. EcoCash offers multiple options for merchant payments. Customers can pay to merchant by entering merchant code and payment amount in EcoCash app or USSD menu on their mobile phone. Customers can use EcoCash Debit Card to pay at point of sale terminals. For online payments customers can use the virtual card. EcoCash has also launched ‘tap and go’ NFC payments with EcoCash ta service, which equips customers with a NFC sticker and merchants with a portable NFC POS device. All these services have helped to digitize day-to-day payments in Zimbabwe and reduce the dependence on cash.
The impact of EcoCash has been phenomenal – 70% of the Zimbabwe’s National Payment System Volumes are processed through EcoCash, and moving the country one step closer to achieving their goal of being a cashless society.
Commenting on being selected as the winner for the award, The Chief Executive Officer of Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe, Eddie Chibi said, “At Cassava Smartech our ambition is to empower lives by offering equitable access to financial services to all the people of Africa. We focus on serving where the need is greatest and this stems from our deeply held aspiration of doing well by doing good. Through EcoCash we are leveraging mobile technology to extend financial inclusion in Zimbabwe and create a cash-light economy.”
Anil Krishnan, Head of Africa Region at Comviva said, “We believe that fintech solutions that cater to the necessities of the people on the ground have the power to bring financial revolution in Africa. EcoCash in Zimbabwe is one such service which has replaced cash and is helping in alleviating the cash problem. With EcoCash Merchant Payments we are proud to be instrumental in accelerating the digital payments growth in Zimbabwe. The award validates our efforts in bringing innovative fintech services to the forefront.”
mobiquity® Money delivers a host of mobile money services that transforms the way consumers save, borrow, transfer and spend money. It is designed to seamlessly integrate consumer touch points with a wide ecosystem of banks, billers, merchants and third-party payment systems, creating a convergence powered by interoperability. Apart from delivering convenience to consumers, the solution enables financial service providers to acquire new customers, create long-term loyalty with existing ones, and seize new revenue opportunities to increase their footprint in the market. mobiquity® Money empowers financial service providers to be agile in their markets, with complete focus on the customers. mobiquity® Money has clocked over 60 deployments in more than 45 countries. It powers three of the top 10 deployments globally and processes more than 5.5 billion transactions every year amounting to over $110 billion annually.
AfricaCom is the largest and most influential Africa focused tech event, celebrating its 21st Anniversary this year. The AfricaCom Awards celebrate the achievements of the best companies, solutions, products and personalities who are leading digital inclusion, connectivity and digital development on the African Continent.
Now in its 6th year, the Glotel awards have become a highlight of the telecoms calendar, with real-value attached to winning an award that is judged on merit alone. With 14 categories to choose from, the award recognizes outstanding contributions in the telecom industry.
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Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya