Techzim Turns 10 This Month, It All Started With Mobile Internet

So I for one don’t see why there is such a fuss. What’s the difference between being 9 years old and being 10 or more importantly between 10 and 11? Human beings however, have a fascination with round numbers so yay 10!

All of us here at Techzim are really humbled to be part of this great community. We don’t take it for granted that we get to do stuff that we love and share it with such a great number of eyeballs. How did it all start though?

As old as mobile internet in Zimbabwe

So a few months before the website went online there was an e-mail list where people would ask questions and assist each other with tech stuff. The list was started by Limbikani and some professional colleagues who were just geeks happy to help each other. The growing popularity of the email community coupled with Limbikani’s experiences of moderate success with other little internet startups (for example a site for local music lyrics) probably sowed the seed for Techzim to later germinate from.

The real motivation for Techzim though came when Econet, one of Zimbabwe’s three Mobile Network Operators launched 3G back then in August 2009. Two things motivated the setting up of techzim.co.zw from this development:

An influential weekly newspaper columnist dismissed 3G as really a waste. They said Econet was launching an elitist service that Zimbabweans could not afford. They reasoned that Zimbabweans could not even afford phones that could connect to the internet. This dangerous thinking process had to be challenged and hence Techzim had to be born.
The way 3G was launched left a lot of questions unanswered. There was much noise with newspaper ads (Econet style) but not much useful information especially given that most of the population did not even know what the internet was. Thus Techzim had to be born.

Two weeks after the 3G launch, Techzim was born and the first article was about Econet launching 3G.

The big why?

So the reason Techzim exists is to explore the opportunity of technology particularly the internet for the average person and business In Zimbabwe and around Africa. This involves covering tech news, participating in debate and conversation about tech relevant stuff which includes the broader economy and also sharing simple tips and how-tos that more sophisticated tech users may consider obvious.

The opportunity of the internet was why Techzim came to be and still remains our true north. Thank you all for sharing this journey with us and we look forward to growing together.