KINGSTONE ZIMUNYA
HARARE – ZSE-listed ZB Financial Holdings has expanded its value offerings to customers with the launch of its twin digital solutions for more financial inclusion – Smile Cash and Smile & Pay.
Speaking at a media briefing last Wednesday evening, ZB Chief Transformation Officer Kangai Maukazuva announced that the new products were largely an inhouse effort, showcasing the company’s innovation.
“As an organization, innovation is at the heart of everything we do and today we unveil two of our latest innovations. Innovations that have been designed to redefine how Zimbabwe transacts in a digital world,” he said.
He continued, “We’ve built a powerful digital wallet designed to put financial services in your pocket, and a flexible, smart payment gateway for businesses of all sizes, which will also cater for all our customers. This is a step towards building a more inclusive, connected, and digitally empowered economy.”
Smile Cash – A seamless mobile wallet, plus zero transaction fees
Smile Cash is a digital wallet platform that allows you to transact via your mobile phone. Like most mobile wallets in the market, Smile Cash is accessible via USSD (*225*1# for self-onboarding, and *225# afterwards), allowing users to transact even without internet. A mobile app plus a WhatsApp chatbot will also be introduced into the market in the coming weeks.
Registration on Smile Cash is designed to be a DIY process that allows one to onboard themselves onto the platform. The mobile wallet has a range of features including cash in/cash out (there are around 900 agents in the country as of now), merchant payments, transfers to bank accounts, QR code payments, virtual card, and instant loans.
The standout feature of Smile Cash is a no-fee policy on transactions. This means that customers will not be charged for transfers and cash in/cash out transactions. There will however be the usual tax charges that are incurred when making digital transactions.
Smile Cash also allows for a user to transfer their funds across other mobile wallets like Ecocash, OneMoney and O’mari. This ensures ease of usability across different platforms, a feature that existing wallets have not been able to provide.
Smile & Pay – An intergrated payment gateway
Smile & Pay is a payment gateway that allows users to transact, shop, pay bills, and manage their business finances all-in-one. The gateway allows you to transact using multiple payment methods like Visa, MasterCard, ZimSwitch and all revelant mobile wallets.
Businesses can also use Smile & Pay for financial analysis, with detailed periodic reports. Smile&Pay supports multiple currencies whilst also giving merchants real-time payments and e-commerce intergration services. With the platform, business can facilitate bulk disbursements like salaries, pensions and social grants.
You can access it here: zbnet.zb.co.zw/merchant_gateway
Final Thoughts
ZB Bank is one of Zimbabwe’s largest and oldest financial institutions. Generations have counted on its range of services to handle their personal and business finances. With a robust banking infrastructure stretching back to pre-independence, ZB Bank is well-positioned to become the leader of the Zimbabwean fintech revolution.
With Smile Cash and Smile&Pay, the finserv giant is attempting to bring banking into the digital age; an aggressive digital transformation that banks on inclusivity.
These digital platforms are designed to make banking accessible to everyone across the socioeconomic divide, and are connected to already existing platforms. That is where the selling point lies. For Smile Cash, the zero-fees on transactions are a clever competitive gambit that will ensure accelerated user uptake.
However, a mobile wallet in 2025 is a venture into a crowded market. Telecoms companies already have a lion’s share of the market (Ecocash, OneMoney, Telecash), while other financial institutions like Old Mutual and Mukuru have also rushed to create their own mobile wallets.
Will the zero-fees-on-transactions be enough to pull customers away from the already existing wallets? Only time will tell.
You can register for your Smile Cash wallet by simply dialing *225# on your phone. Also visit any ZB branch for more details, or get help online.
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