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With the 112th edition of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show (ZAS) coming after a multiplicity of challenges ranging from climate change-induced droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic, NetOne is offering an array of digital solutions as a panacea.
COVID-19 brought with it lockdowns that led to the closure of businesses and schools as people adopted a new norm of life whereby transactions and learning were done through virtual means. Thus the Internet and digital solutions were the talk of town when physical meetings were prohibited.
The new normal, which was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic led to a drastic shift in lifestyles affecting education, social engagements, commerce, and industries.
This resulted in a soaring need for data and connectivity across different customer segments as businesses and education institutions adopted a virtual way of doing business.
“As NetOne, we adopted a use case approach, which involved the development of solution-based products and services to meet specific customer needs. These include but were not limited to Dzidzo Platform and OneHealth. Currently, the business boasts of over 4.4 million individual subscribers enjoying our products and services. At the centre of our consumer product and services portfolio, we have Voice, Data, Value Added Services, Innovations, and Enterprise solutions.
“Our company is rapidly moving into completely new sectors through our innovation department, and these include Hurudza/Umlimi Omkhulu, Rumbidzo/ Khulekani, and OneGaming services. Enterprises and small businesses also play a huge role in our economy hence we continue to offer various communication solutions to this sector,” Mr. Raphael Mushanawani, the NetOne Group Chief Executive Officer told Spiked Online Media on the sidelines of the ongoing Harare Agricultural Show.
Future Outlook
With digitalisation of all facets of life, the business is looking forward to bringing in new data-related innovations that will drive usage and ultimately grow revenues. Areas of interest include smart learning, smart agriculture, smart cities, IOTs, metadata, digitalised mining, and industry.
The hourly and night Bundles are those that offer a quick win for the consumer. If one is in a situation where they just want to go into a short online meeting, send a few documents or attend an Online Church Service on a Sunday. There is no need to buy a monthly bundle that one will not use every day. The bundles are easily bought on *171# and our consumers can enjoy affordable bundles on the Go.
NetOne Innovations and Value Added Services
SMART AGRICULTURE- Hurudza/Umlimi Omkhulu
Hurudza-Umlimi Omkhulu provides Agricultural Information for both crops and livestock, that can aid in the profitability of the farmer. This enables any farmer to plan for their crops and livestock in time. He who fails to plan also plans to fail, but the Hurudza platform makes that history. To make it better, Hurudza-Umlimi Omkhulu provides market updates on the trending prices for products in the local market.
This means farmers can sell their products to the right market at the right price. Information is power, aand NetOne is giving it to customers in the palm of their hands, through this platform. It’s easy to access by just dialling *140#
Partners: VELD TRUST;
SMART HEALTH- OneHealth
NetOne is repositioning itself to be a digital solutions network, and as part of that drive, the business launched OneHealth – a Digital Health solution that can be accessed via USSD, making it available for anyone with a phone and a Simcard. This meant providing health tips, health-based loans, and Insurance at a very low cost. This did not only make strides towards positioning the business but also contributed to the business achieving its mandate from the Ministry of ICT, to bridge the digital gap between the urban and marginalised areas.
Partners: First Mutual; Men’s Health
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES – OneGaming & Rumbidzo/ Khulekani
The COVID-19-induced restrictions minimised social interactions, leaving customers with limited and compromised entertainment sources. The business introduced OneGaming an – online gaming platform that offers more than 5000 HTTML games. These also offer an incentive where you play to win actual money. Making it stand out against all other games.
Rumbidzo/Khulekani
Partners: Sonic signal; Local Gospel Artists
E-Learning Dzidzo Platform
The business realised how the inflation rate kept on increasing making it hard for everyone to make ends meet, especially the students. With the Covid 19 pandemic, the need for online learning increased thus we launched the Dzidzo bundle which gives you Zero-rated access to the student’s university portal and affordable data for their day-to-day needs. This is benefiting more than 15,000 tertiary students across all universities, both private and government.