OK Zimbabwe has signed an agreement with a South Africa-based company, Kawena, to enable Zimbabweans resident in South Africa to purchase goods for family and friends back home.
Report by Business Reporter
In a statement yesterday OK said the partnership hopes to tap into the estimated $500 million per year which is remitted by Zimbabweans in South Africa for family support and other personal projects.
OK Zimbabwe business information systems executive James Madondo said the idea was born out of the realisation that many Zimbabweans resident and gainfully employed in South Africa faced immense challenges to assist families back home.
“Zimbabweans in South Africa have had to use all sorts of methods, some very risky, to get groceries to their loved ones back home,” said Madondo.
“What OK and Kawena are offering through this arrangement is not convenience, but speed, security and peace of mind in the guarantee that the goods a person sends will be received by the right hands with quality preserved.
“One can now send fresh and perishable products to their families which they could not do through the informal route.”
Madondo said the Shop Easy Card was a voucher facility that was provided by OK Zimbabwe Limited to enable their customers to purchase, store credit and sell value to loved ones locally.
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He said the system had been tested over a significant length of time and proved to offer convenience that was enabled and enhanced by the nationwide network of OK stores.
“The way OK and Kawena will help is quite simple. Zimbabweans in South Africa will simply visit Kawena office close to them and make a payment into their beneficiary’s OK or Kawena Shop Easy Card. The payment is immediately electronically credited into the recipient’s card.
“The beneficiary can then use the card to purchase their grocery requirements at any OK, BonMarche or OK mart store in Zimbabwe,” said Madondo.
Madondo said all the necessary authorisation for this business line had already been sought and granted by the central bank of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
He added that the agreement of the new OK and Kawena arrangement was launched in South Africa on June 26 2013 and in Zimbabwe at the beginning of this month to cement OK Zimbabwe Limited as the leading retailer in the country.
