Episode Notes

Who remembers the days when you had to use a pen or pencil to rewind a cassette tape? They seem like a lifetime ago, and for good reason. The production and distribution of music in Zimbabwe (and the world over) has been liberalized to the point that anyone with a laptop can be a producer and artists.

The shift has also seen the downfall of the power that record labels like Gramma Records and radio stations held over artists. In most cases, local radio stations are sourcing their music on WhatsApp and online, like everyone else. To talk more about the industry and how it has changed over the years I was joined by Plot Mhako a man who has deep roots in the local music industry. He is also the journalist who broke the NashTv contract leak that we reported on earlier this year.

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Bitcoin and altcoin price fluctuation is a complex topic to get to the bottom of. There are a number of factors that influence their price. Some factors are apparent while others are in the realm of speculation. To shed light on what causes the dips and peaks in the price of Bitcoin we were joined by Financial Services Lawyer Prosper Mwedzi who if you remember is pushing a private cryptocurrency bill to get Zimbabwe legislation that supports alternative currencies. We also talked about how crypto adoption in Zimbabwe is being held back by the lack of interest from financial authorities like the RBZ. Blockchain Technology isn't only useful when it comes to money but has brought forth innovations like smart contracts and insurance that would be very useful in Zimbabwe.

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If you own a second-hand car imported from Japan (ex-Jap) then you know that you can't access certain radio frequencies in Zimbabwe. At best you can get two maybe three (depending on where you are) because the FM frequency in Japan is between 76 - 95 MHz.

This led us down a rabbit hole of what decisions like the adoption of vehicles and other goods could have on the local ecosystem. We figured that the issue with ex-Jap cars has affected the listenership of certain radio stations that fall outside of the preset range. Also what it could mean for those stations when it comes to ad revenue because there are a lot of Ex-Jap cars on the road and many listeners will be bottlenecked into certain stations.

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Late last week the Telecel Group and Startupbootcamp Afritech announced the finalists for its Africa wide accelerator. Among the chosen few is a Zimbabwean startup called Dawa Health, which offers antenatal care to expecting parents. Their field of interest is especially important because pregnancy-related deaths are caused by insufficient antenatal care. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two-thirds of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable and antenatal care is a primary component. Furthermore, Sub-Saharan Africa and Sothern Asia accounted for 86% of maternal deaths worldwide in 2017. Dawa Health is stepping in by offering information through a chatbot, antenatal care kits, and has established a network of Community Health Agents to assist expecting mothers in remote areas. The was co-founded by Tafadzwa Munzwa and is operating in Zambia and we got a chance to speak to him.

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The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) has reemerged from its long slumber. The last time ZUPCO had a presence anywhere near to what it has today was back in the late 90s early 2000s. And even though it is still working at a fraction of its capacity, the company still moves tens of thousands of people a day. Its slow rise has also been accompanied by innovations, a little while ago ZUPCO in conjunction with NMB and CBZ launched the tap card which was meant to ease the need for cash and change. ZUPCO recently followed that up with a partnership with Vaya which allows users to buy intercity bus tickets through the former's app. All this being said, its potential has not been reached, this is also considering the fact that the government killed the kombi industry just to facilitate its public transport arm. We thought we would take a dive into what ZUPCO has been up to and what opportunities it has missed, taken and ones that it is unaware of.

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Yesterday we reported on the lack of coverage for USD deposits by the Deposit Protection Corporation _(DPC)_. And a lot of people weren't too surprised that this provision was not set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Ministry of Finance. While this gap exists in the banking sector, the Reserve Bank announced interest rates for savings deposits including USD. Yeah... if you were to tell anyone who isn't familiar with Zimbabwe that this is the way we exist they wouldn't believe you.

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Microsoft is launching the next generation of Windows (11) operating system, tomorrow the 24th of June 2021. We browsed the internet to see what was being said about it and here are our thoughts...

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Itel has been the butt of many jokes for the longest time in Zimbabwe. Most of them have been all in good fun but others are a little malicious. It's good to remember that Transsion, the company that owns Itel, Tecno and Infinix, commands 37% of the smartphone market in Africa according to Counterpoint's research. The lion's share of that is Tecno with 18%, which places it in first place on the continent ahead of Samsung. Itel is in third place with 12% and Transsion's last property Infinix, is in fifth place with 7%. Now, that's three brands owned by one company in the top 10 of the African market. So how was Transsion able to achieve this and how did it design products to capture more than a third of a market?

For reviews on Itel, Tecno and other smartphones brands, you can check out our YouTube channel with the link here.

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So earlier this week a German company called Amaetheon Agri was given a licence to grow Marijuana/Cannabis for scientific and medical use. This sparked an internal debate about the whole cannabis licence system in Zimbabwe.

The fee is exclusionary by design and this is a bad thing because the govt and economy could be making a lot more money if there were tiered licences ranging from recreational and small scale growers all the way to commercial operations. Cannabis is after all a billion-dollar industry, valued at around US$20 billion and it is projected to grow to US$70.6 billion by the end of the decade.

And another thing, why is there no growers licence for tobacco which is undoubtedly more harmful but there is one for cannabis which by comparison is not.

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Earlier this week, Minister for Finance Mthuli Ncube said that Zimbabwe had a budget surplus of ZWL$9.8 billion in Q1 of 2021. A budget surplus is essentially the government making more money from income like taxes and the likes than it is spending. Now there are many ways to interpret this especially with COVID-19 being an inescapable reality both on its impact on business and how it should influence government spending.

Link to ZIMRA's Q1 2021 report is in the link here

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