Econet Global

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title: "Econet Global" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["black-owned-businesses", "companies-listed-on-the-zimbabwe-stock-exchange", "companies-in-the-zimbabwe-industrial-index", "telecommunications-companies-of-new-zealand", "telecommunications-companies-established-in-1993", "1993-establishments-in-zimbabwe", "internet-service-providers-of-zimbabwe", "zimbabwean-companies-established-in-1993"] description: "Zimbabwean telecommunications group headquartered in South Africa" topic_path: "engineering" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Econet_Global" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Zimbabwean telecommunications group headquartered in South Africa ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Econet
logo	EconetWirelessLogo.jpg
logo_caption	Inspired to change your world!
type	Private
traded_as	(Zimbabwe subsidiary only)
foundation
location	Johannesburg, South Africa
key_people
num_employees	2209 (2023)
industry	Conglomerate
area_served	Africa
Europe
South America
East Asia
Australasia
products	{{flatlist
revenue	US$3 billion (2011)
homepage
footnotes
::

| name = Econet | logo = EconetWirelessLogo.jpg | logo_caption = Inspired to change your world! | type = Private | traded_as = (Zimbabwe subsidiary only) | foundation = | location = Johannesburg, South Africa | key_people = | num_employees = 2209 (2023) | industry = Conglomerate | area_served = Africa Europe South America East Asia Australasia | products = {{flatlist|

• Telecommunications
• Internet services
• Solar energy
• E-commerce
• Education
• Renewable energy
• Banking | revenue = US$3 billion (2011) | homepage = | footnotes =

Econet, officially known as Econet Group, is a diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, offering products and services in the core areas of mobile and fixed telephony services, broadband, satellite, optical fiber networks and mobile payment.

The group's subsidiaries include Econet Wireless, Cassava Technologies and Cassava Smartech.

History

Econet was created in 1993 in Zimbabwe by Strive Masiyiwa. Initially it was meant to be called "Enhanced Communications Network" but was later abbreviated to Econet.{{cite web|access-date=11 May 2018 | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/17/tech/africa-econet-wireless-internet-data-strive-masiyiwa/ |title='Africa is not going to be left behind or outside the data revolution' |date=20 August 2015 |last=Isha Sesay |first=and Chris Borg | publisher=Cable News Network |location=Atlanta}}

In 1998, Econet was granted a telephony licence, at a time when 70% of the country inhabitants had never heard a ringtone.

In 2005, Econet developed a mobile payment system to help NGOs make cash transfers to refugees after the Burundi war. The model was extended and integrated in Econet's technology, along with a credit solution. EcoCash was officially launched in 2011 and is operated by Econet Enterprises. Within 18 months of its launch, 31% of Zimbabwe's adult population registered to the service. By November 2017, the service had over 6.7 million registered users, accounting for 80% of adult Zimbabweans or 52% of all citizens.

In February 2013, Econet acquired a controlling interest in the then TN Bank Zimbabwe, one of the local commercial banks in Zimbabwe, and renamed it Steward Bank. The bank, whose shares were previously listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), were delisted when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Econet.{{cite web|title=Zimbabwe: TN Bank to Delist From ZSE |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201302080265.html |access-date=11 May 2018 |date=7 February 2013 |location=Harare | newspaper=The Herald (Zimbabwe) via AllAfrica.com | first=Golden |last=Sibanda}}

In October 2014, Econet acquired VimpelCom's Telecel in Burundi (U-COM) and Telecel in the Central African Republic (Telecel RCA) for $65 million.

In 2014, the listed Econet Wireless Zimbabwe announced a 14.7% drop in annual profits, from $140 million down to $119 million. In October 2015, due to dropping profits, following a state regulator-enforced tariff reduction, the company announced a 100-employee layoff to cope with the losses. In 2015, due to increasing losses, the group imposed a 20 percent salary cut to its employees in Zimbabwe, and negotiated a 15 percent discount with its suppliers, even though its service EcoCash continues to prosper in the country. In June 2015, despite the economic turmoil, the company distributed $15 million in dividends to shareholders.

The group

Econet is a privately owned group and is not listed on any stock exchange. One of its subsidiaries, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and its activities are confined only to the Zimbabwe market. The group is controlled by its founder, Strive Masiyiwa, and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The holding company of the Econet Group, Econet Global Ltd, is registered in Mauritius.

Subsidiaries

• Econet Wireless Zimbabwe
• Econet Wireless South Africa
• Econet Telecom Lesotho
• Mascom Botswana
• Econet Leo (Burundi)
• Cassava Technologies: Liquid Intelligent Technologies, ZOL, Transaction Payment Solutions, Africa Data Centres, Sasai Fintech, Cassava Remit, Vaya Technologies, Distributed Power Technologies
• Cassava Smartech:
  • Steward Bank - a Zimbabwean commercial bank
  • EcoCash - A Zimbabwean money transfer/ payment service which provides a savings account, international transfers, banking services, payroll services, and became a solution to pay for public transportation in October 2012. Since March 2013, EcoCash is also available as a payment solution for retailers in Zimbabwe
  • Ownai - a Zimbabwean e-commerce service.
  • EcoFarmer, EcoSure and Moovah - Zimbabwean mobile-phone-based insurance service providers
  • Ruzivo Digital Learning - a Zimbabwean e-learning service that is zero-rated

References

References

1. (August 7, 2023). "Econet Wireless Employee Count".
2. (9 May 2018). "Profile: Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited (ECO.ZI)". [[Reuters.
3. "About Econet". Econet.
4. Leach, Anna. (18 August 2014). "Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless and the making of Africa's first cashless society". [[The Guardian]].
5. Sengere, Leonard. (10 November 2017). "EcoCash has processed over $23 billion since launch and that's not the only impressive figure". Techzim.co.zw.
6. Newzimbabwe.com. (18 February 2018). "Econet Global buys Telecel East Africa operations". New Zimbabwe Media Limited.
7. (5 May 2014). "Zimbabwe's Econet Wireless says full-year profit down 15 percent". [[Reuters.com]].
8. Staff Reporter. (7 October 2015). "Econet Wireless to retrench". [[The Financial Gazette]].
9. Kazunga, Oliver. (16 October 2015). "Econet profits drop 52 percent". [[The Chronicle (Zimbabwe)]].
10. Kachembere, John. (2 June 2015). "Econet declares whopping $15 million dividend". Nehandaradio.com.
11. Zengeni, Happiness. (20 January 2017). "Who is Econet Global? What are they up to?". [[The Herald (Zimbabwe)]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::