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Harare Bureau
ECONET Wireless, in partnership with international money transfer service, WorldRemit, has launched a service which enables customers to receive money from outside the country directly on mobile phones.EcoCash Diaspora allows customers to send money to Zimbabwe online, through smartphones, tablets or computers, directly to an EcoCash mobile wallet using the WorldRemit platform.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Econet Services chief executive officer Darlington Mandivenga said the company’s partnership with WorldRemit opened access to more than 35 countries where the London-based mobile money transfer service has presence.

“We cannot allow money to be delayed to customers and so we have taken the responsibility as the leader to make services faster, safer and convenient,” he said.

WorldRemit director-North America, Rob Ayers, said more than 100 percent of money transfers in Sierra Leone went through their service while 92 percent in Kenya and 50 percent in Ghana used the same platform last year.

“We will be adding the US very soon and we will be offering this service to give Zimbabweans in that part of the world access to our services,” said Ayers.

Econet wants to take advantage of the huge numbers of Zimbabweans living outside the country.

A Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe report said more than two thirds of the country’s population is sustained by money from the Diaspora.

Mandivenga said that more than $540 billion was moved through traditional and mobile transfer services last year of which $60 billion was from Africa and $1,8 billion from Zimbabwe alone.

He said the mobile money transfer service is expected to claim one third of the total money moved worldwide.

Mandivenga projected that EcoCash Diaspora remittances will be the biggest source of foreign currency in the economy by the end of the year.

“Our research shows that by making it quicker and easier to receive money at any time, we will see a massive inflow of money, just like we see on EcoCash here at home,” he said.

More than 60 percent of total Sadc region remittances is estimated to be sent to Zimbabwe from South Africa each year.