By Agencies
Remittances are back in the headlines with news of a recently announced partnership that is targeting Zimbabweans who want to transfer funds from the UK to South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Sasai Remit, described as one of Africa’s leading digital money transfer providers and a business of Cassava Technologies, a leading pan-African technology group, has announced a partnership with Qoki Zindlovukazi, a United Kingdom-based women’s networking and empowerment organisation.
The partners say that this alliance has enabled both organisations to empower thousands of Zimbabweans to use a safe and secure fintech platform to seamlessly transfer funds to family and friends in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Sasai describes itself as “the first integrated social payments and digital marketplace platform in Africa” and says it is “brought to you by Sasai Fintech, a diversified Fintech group, with a mission to improve overall quality of life by offering access to social and financial services through technology”.
The two companies say that the partnership is expected to facilitate faster, simpler and secure cross-border payments for Qoki members when sending money and making payments to Zimbabwe or South Africa. It will also, they say, provide an effective and practical alternative to the traditional ways of managing remittances.
Statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe show that diaspora remittances surged from about US$$1 billion in 2020 to US$1.4 billion in 2021 as the country hit record high foreign currency inflows of US$9.7 billion during that period.
Sithule Tshuma, who founded Qoki to bring diaspora-based Zimbabwean women from Matabeleland and Midlands together and invest back home, says: “The partnership with Sasai Remit makes it easy for our members living in different countries abroad to send money to their families. They don’t have to wait for hours in the agency offices anymore because the mobile application makes the transfer instantly.”
