Mukuru's drive-thru service fires up Zimbabwe's financial services sector

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The Chisipite drive-thru is one of the fintech’s new locations in Zimbabwe, along with nine other sites for domestic and international money transfers launched across the region in February.

Out of the 10 new locations, Chisipite is the only drive-thru at the moment.

“As we increase our footprint in the country, we explored various innovative ideas to push the envelope and challenge the type of locations that we have as a financial-services company,” says Marc Carrie-Wilson, Zimbabwe director.

“Safety remains a top priority for us, and the drive-thru idea proved to be the safest and most convenient option for our customers. The Chisipite drive-thru is open from 7am to 7pm daily (including public holidays) and comes with a “walk-in” option for customers who wish to register or visit the location on foot.”

As part of its innovation, Mukuru has launched a series of services in the past few months to build a diverse product offering for customers, which include partnerships with Multichoice (to make paying for DStv more convenient) and Bereka to deliver money transfers directly to customers across Zimbabwe.

“We have seen how well these collaborations work in our ongoing partnership with wholesaler Metro Peech and Browne, who make purchasing groceries, stationery and appliances more convenient for people in Zimbabwe who use our platform,” adds Carrie-Wilson.

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According to the World Bank, “remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa…grew an estimated 5.2% to $53bn in 2022, compared with 16.4% last year”. The slowdown in the growth rate in remittance flows into the region is attributed to persistent “adverse conditions in the global environment and regional source countries.”

“While we are realistic about the economic outlook, as a leading Southern African financial services business, we strive to enable financial inclusion for Africa’s emerging market. This is why we continuously shift our focus to innovative ways that make financial services more accessible for the people of Zimbabwe and those in the diaspora,” concludes Carrie-Wilson.