Zimbabwe partners technological giants

Zimbabwe's government has partnered technological giants, VST Enterprises, in a bid to revitalise the country's economy, tackle counterfeiting, improve security and boost traceability of items with its state of the art authentication technology.

In an interview with News24 this week, VST Enterprises founder and CEO, Louis-James Davis, said that he had agreed on a road map of the project with President Emmerson Mnangagwa during their meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos last month.

Davis said that his company was going to begin the roll out of its trademarks apps, VCode and VPlatform in the southern African country later this month.

"It was great meeting President Mnangagwa in Davos, and we agreed on a roadmap. Our meeting was fruitful and we are starting the roll-out of our technology at the end of February. What we are bringing to Zimbabwe is a cutting edge technology that would help the government to secure its borders and its resources," said Davis.

VST Enterprises (VSTE) was a Manchester based technology firm that was established in 2012 and was behind VCode and the VPlatform.

The company also has offices in New York, Reno, Hong Kong, Armenia, New Delhi and South Africa.

The company's trademarks app VCode represented the next generation of code scanning technology – an evolutionary step forward from traditional barcodes and QR Codes.

A VCode can be scanned from over 100 metres, with a 70:1 distance to size scan ratio, at 160 degree angles, on and from moving objects, and upon any multimedia or television screen and even when they are microscopic on bank notes or minerals.

This allows users to access exclusive content, check the validity of an item and make purchases while on the move.

Supporting the VCode app is the VPlatform - a secure, cloud-based portal that allows users to create VCodes and manage the content they lead to.

The VPlatform also provides users with real-time analytics on who scanned their VCodes, when and where the scans took place.

"We have been in business for a while now and have helped to secure several South African banks, and we have also worked with the government of india. We are looking forward to working with other African countries, but Zimbabwe is just the beginning. We are going to be working closely with the government during the forthcoming elections," said Davis.

Davis, however, did not indicate in what capacity they would be working with the government during the crunch elections.

He said that the Zimbabwean government would be running the technology fully and his company would likely come in on advisory grounds.

Said Davis: "With the support of VST Enterprises and other international partners, Zimbabwe can address underlying issues in its economy and lay the foundations for a more prosperous future for its people."

He said he was extremely passionate about what he hoped to achieve, not just in Zimbabwe but in Africa as a whole.

In a statement last week, President Mnangagwa's special advisor and minister of information, Christopher Mutsvangwa commended the company for its interest in working with Zimbabwe.

Mutsvangwa said "a new day has dawned for the Zimbabwean economy. By implementing VSTE's revolutionary technology, we're going to put a stop to real and prevailing issues of counterfeiting and traceability in our country.

Mtsvangwa said that the new partnership with VSTE would do more than helping the country to "improve its security and oversight of the economy".

President Mnangagwa has encouraged multinational companies to invest in his country, as he told the WEF in Davos that his administration was going to focus on economic and trade corporation issues rather than politics.