Of Techzim: Blog To Marketplace

When I started my blog almost 8 years my go to place for information was TechZim Answers which was a crowd-sourced answers solution, similar to Yahoo Answers but made up of a Zimbabwean community. The site was powered by TechZim which started off as a technology blog in 2009.

The forum discussions used to get pretty lit, feelings would get caught, especially if one couldn’t manoeuvre with tact. In a way, the blog was inspirational to me starting my own, because sometimes you need a whole blog post to respond to something and writing paragraphs in the comment section, just doesn’t cut it…

Over the past decade Techzim has evolved from its humble beginnings as just another tech site albeit a local Afrocentric one, to become a leading publication on information technology and business offering articles ranging from news, analysis to opinion pieces on tech and business related contextual issues.

Techzim ranks highly as one of my go-to resources for updates on the Zimbabwean business and tech news, next to its sister publication Pindula a user-curated information resource site similar to Wikipedia but hyper-local.  I felt a twinge of sadness that Techzim is no longer as tech-oriented as it used to be, back in the day but for growth and business sense they have diversified their portfolio, transcending simply being a blog but a business venture.

Techzim Market

This the market place area where affiliate merchants and service providers can access the Techzim Community. Some of the products on offer will have been featured or reviewed on the blog, so one knows what to expect. While one always notes a review from one offering you something with a pinch of salt, the reviews seem honest enough, flagging potential issues and challenges one should look out for.

Techzim also offers payment gateways to do the following:

•Subscribe for Road Angels
•Pay Telone (home broadband)
•Pay for ZESA (electricity tokens) and has a ZESA Token Calculator to calculate your units
•Mobile Airtime recharge:
-You can top-up instantly using the widget on their site techzim.co.zw
-WhatsApp bot to top-up airtime: 263717684274 (which also gives COVID Related Information)

Techzim introduced a USSD service which lets you pay for the above services without data requirements, simply dial *405#

Recently Techzim announced that their website is now zero-rated on Econet meaning you wont need data if you browse the site using an Econet sim card on your mobile.

Its been inspiring watching the evolution from what Techzim started out as. When I was still a newbie blogger I once applied to intern at TechZim hoping I could pick up some digital skillsets. It was an interesting interview as Techzim had done away with the concept of asking potential staff to post their CVs but rather to show how one would be a good fit.

While that didn’t work out I did go on to build rapport with the team. Who knows, maybe I might never had had the time to build up on Becoming The Muse or inspiration to help gather up a community of African Bloggers.

To Techzim for being the mentor they never realised they were being.

~B