A Summary Of Tech,Telecoms and Social Media in Zambia Last Week

Last week we witnessed Zambian Social Media platforms come alive as the much watched Big Brother 9th Season called the Hotshots brought users from all parts of the country together by the power of a hashtag #BBAHptshots especially since popular artist Macky II s participating. Our point was to show you that social media plays a huge role in any type of business/event you do to garner attention and make more sales than most advertising could. More people are signed up to social media and would rather use it for interaction than the traditional call/SMS. Read more here.

 

A review of the MTN SME Bizpack offers also didn’t seem to exactly fit its purpose after really looking at all the requirements needed. It does seem like a great opportunity to save money for business owners when it comes to communications needs but the conditions seem a little restrictive. Just read for yourself here and see if you agree with us.

MTN still made more news last week with their partnership with Hollard Insurance to provide vehicle cover, third party, to its subscribers, at a very affordable rate and over a wide distribution network that MTN runs on. MTN will offer the network and administrative duties, while Hollard will do all the claims processing. The deal is here for more details.

Then we switched to competitors Airtel, who had launched a Night Store offer that claimed ‘unlimited data and calls’ for a very minimal amount depending on which offer you took, but which failed to deliver the service as most subscribers complained it was not working at all. Night Store offers have since been inaccessible as they perform maintenance work on it. We’ll watch out for its comeback.

East Africa then made us green with envy as their telecoms companies agreed to slash over 60% of their roaming rates to boost cross-border trade. Boy, the business owners that side must be ecstatic, as we would be if Southern Africa copied their move. A cut on the rates of local calls wouldn’t be so bad too, no? *sigh*

Lastly if you’re an investor trying to finance a start-up but don’t know how to choose, here are some quick tips to help you decide. You have to spend money to make money so the tips we gathered will be of much help. It’s also a great guide for start-ups to know what an investor looks for when deciding.

To a new week *raises imaginary fancy gadget*