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Business Reporter
LEADING telecoms firm, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, has launched an e-commerce platform called OWNAI to help small businesses in the country market their products for free.

Econet chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni announced the unveiling of OWNAI on the company’s website.

He said the platform would allow users to generate more income and increase linkages between small businesses.

“We want our customers, who are increasingly running their own businesses, to see our network as a partner who’ll help them make more money,” he said.

“It’s no longer enough to simply offer cheaper calls. We need to help businesses to make more money using our services.

“We’ve products and services which can be used as tools to make your business more effective.”

OWNAI is an e-commerce marketplace which allows Econet customers to market their products for free to its estimated 10 million registered subscribers.

“It’s not possible to get that kind of market exposure, except through Econet,” said Mboweni.

OWNAI, which allows users to buy new and pre-owned items at the most affordable prices, is available on both mobile and desktop platforms.

According to the company, through OWNAI, it takes less than 30 seconds to post a free advertisement and start selling to interested buyers.

Mboweni said the service does not span Econet customers only but anyone (including non Econet customers) can actually access the platform and search for goods.

He said the new service will not lead to the spread of “spam” SMS messages, emphasising his firm would not send customers advertisements.

“We’ve invested heavily in sophisticated spam and fraud-detection software and we’ll moderate every advert before it’s published on OWNAI,” he said.

Meanwhile, Econet has announced that subscribers can now make mobile money transfers across all mobile networks in the country using EcoCash.

EcoCash is the telecommunications company’s mobile money transfer service.

“Send money across all networks via EcoCash,” said the firm in an advertorial.