ZIMBABWE’S online market, Tengai, has entered into a partnership with Econet Wireless Zimbabwe to provide an online classifieds platform which allows free browsing and free advertising.
BY TARISAI MANDIZHA
Tengai is a company owned by Strive Masiyiwa’s Family Trust.
Tengai head of countries James Gibson told journalists yesterday that Zimbabwe was one of the leading countries globally in terms of mobile money and it has the infrastructure to make the e-commerce work.
Gibson said classifieds was not a new thing on the market but Tengai was an advanced tool which was fast and easy to use, where people can advertise and sell their products for free.
“What really distinguishes us on the market is that we are not trying to invent the wheel but traditionally classifieds have been in existence. But Tengai has a revolutionary product, which is a real game changer, it’s a very clean interface and very easy to navigate,” Gibson said.
Tengai means “buy” in Shona. “We chose that name because it embodies our mission to provide a trusted platform to find, buy and sell online,” Gibson said.
He said the service was available to everyone and the website was mobile friendly which gives instant access to Tengai, all one needs to do, was to log on a mobile device, enter the category of interest, put the advert, add a description and upload.
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Gibson said on the platform one was able to sell the latest mobile phones, cars, jobs and homes among many other things.
He, however, said although most people were sceptical of using online markets due to security reasons, Tengai had managed to put in place stringent adhering process to ensure information posted was genuine, sophisticated fraud detection technology and expert advice on how to trade safely.
“We have our team, soon will be going into the market to educate our customers,” he said.
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe will provide free Internet browsing to all Econet subscribers.
“The reason why e-commerce has not taken off its because of the cost of date, so on this platform they is free post, free to contact and free to browse,” he said.
Gibson also said apart from the free platform, Tengai has put in place Premium Ads which was optional and people would have to pay a fee to advertise on the front page. The payments were being integrated with EcoCash to provide a secure payment method, he said.
He said the partnership with Econet made a lot of sense because 90% of Zimbabweans have access to the Internet via mobile devices and that Econet has access to a huge chunk through its subscriber base.
Econet will benefit through traffic which will be provided by people transacting through the EcoCash platform.
