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Zimbabwe’s $25M ICT Innovation Fund Moves Forward

Zimbabwe’s $25M ICT Innovation Fund Moves Forward

The Zimbabwean government just announced that it has opened for applications to the ICT Innovation Drive fund.

This fund, totaling $25 million, was announced last year by the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services. The minister, Supa Mandiwanzira, said that the Zimbabwean government is committed to the development of local platforms and apps through investment financed by local operators.

Essentially, in Zimbabwe, all licensed telecoms operators pay 1.5 percent of their revenue to what is called the Universal Service Fund. It is part of this money that’s being used to fund the ICT Innovation Drive. It is not clear how much money has been contributed to this fund by the operators since it was set up.

From Tech Zim. Story by L.S.M Kabweza.

The thinking around creating the ICT Innovation Drive is no doubt positive. It is intended to provide much-needed resources to a sector that is growing massively globally. It is ultimately an opportunity for the country to tap into this global technology-driven services market.

If Zimbabwe, as a result of this fund, produces startups that can build technologies & apps that attract usage beyond Zimbabwe’s borders, the fortunes of the country can be turned around.

There is so much potential for innovation in many areas globally today. Areas such as artificial intelligence and the bot economy, media (especially the video content boom), innovations in the delivery of this content to devices efficiently, eCommerce and all the businesses that support it (logistics, payments, manufacturing), fintech (immediately useful applications like money transfer online, all the way up to cryptocurrencies), virtual & augmented reality devices and applications, gaming, education, health applications. I’d go into detail, but I’d be preaching to the choir.

Read more at Tech Zim.