The award is described as such:
First movers don’t always have the advantage. Sometimes the smart thing is to wait for the pioneers to take the initial risks, and to do the hard work in shaping a market. This award is for the company that moved quickly to dominate an emerging market category, typically with a different and better business model than the first mover
EcoCash nominated together with an Australian task outsourcing web startup, Airtasker, VHR a technical fields recruitment business that has presence in 45 countries and Winnow, an analytics company that helps food service businesses cut costs in 34 different countries. You can check out profiles of all the nominated businesses in this category here.
The LSE website said, "Best Beats First Award - recognising the company that successfully dominated an emerging market category - is awarded to EcoCash. Zimbabwe’s EcoCash harnesses mobile technology to empower the country’s financially marginalised to send money and make payments. With two and a half times the number of customers as banks, EcoCash is at the very forefront of efforts to make Zimbabwe a cashless society."
Natalie Jabangwe, the EcoCash boss, said, "Last night, @LBS the worlds no1 business school, @EcoCashZW was awarded a historical double win, judges & people’s choice award in #realinnovation. Thank you @econetzimbabwe 4convincing me 2 come home in 2014, against the outlook ODDS, we built a global firm by Giving 🇿🇼a CHANCE."
Last night, @LBS the worlds no1 business school, @EcoCashZW was awarded a historical double win, judges & people’s choice award in #realinnovation. Thank you @econetzimbabwe 4convincing me 2 come home in 2014, against the outlook ODDS, we built a global firm by Giving 🇿🇼a CHANCE.
— Natalie-Payida (@JabangwePNN) November 2, 2018
In the face of a cash crisis, Econet, Zimbabwe's largest telco, introduced a mobile digital payment solution that saw the company become a market leader in the provision of financial services.
EcoCash, which competes against smaller platforms run by state-controlled telcos NetOne and Telecel Zimbabwe, has more than eight million registered users in Zimbabwe and allows for remittances from expat Zimbabweans in South Africa and Botswana.
Like Kenya’s better known M-Pesa, Zimbabwe’s EcoCash allows for payments and transactions ranging from bill payments, merchant payments and micro insurance to banking services under an interlinked platform with most of the country’s financial service companies.
Source: Harvard Business School
EcoCash, which competes against smaller platforms run by state-controlled telcos NetOne and Telecel Zimbabwe, has more than eight million registered users in Zimbabwe and allows for remittances from expat Zimbabweans in South Africa and Botswana.
Like Kenya’s better known M-Pesa, Zimbabwe’s EcoCash allows for payments and transactions ranging from bill payments, merchant payments and micro insurance to banking services under an interlinked platform with most of the country’s financial service companies.
Source: Harvard Business School
