Send money to Zimbabwe (or anywhere) cheap & any amount


Send money to Zimbabwe cheaply, according to Bloomberg, this keeps many people from starvation.

The stats, if true, say it all.  Around 3 million of Zimbabwe’s population of 13 million now live outside the country, & the money they send home offers at least some urgent relief to citizens who would otherwise not survive.

The article quotes central bank Governor John Mangudya as saying that the $1.8 billion sent last year equated to about 13% of the GDP for 2014, & with the cheaper transfer methods available in the internet age, sending relatively small amounts back home is becoming ever more viable.

With deflation & massive unemployment rates, quoted by the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations as being as high as 95%, these remittances seem to be keeping at least a fortunate few afloat.

It’s mind-blowing, when looking at the numbers, to think that each & every $ that enters the country through runners bringing money in from South Africa, or by using cheap alternatives to the old monopolies of Western Union & Moneygram, to think that the large total is made up of many, many small amounts.

It’s also ironic to see how some of the poorest people have leveraged mobile & internet technology to keep the cash coming as cheaply as possible.

Two companies are mentioned, Mama Money based in Cape Town, &  in partnership with Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Ltd that enables Zimbabweans living in the UK to send money back home through as many as 13000 local agents.

Most cheap transactions are done totally online, or after online signup, through mobile ‘phones.



 

Link to the Bloomberg article is included in the text.

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If you don’t know who to send money too, there are some pensioners who need your support Zimbabwe Pensioners Support Fund