Technology / Internet
Africom officially launches 'guroo'
06 Sep 2013 at 09:02hrs | Views
Africom, Zimbabwe's converged network service provider recently unveiled its VoIP-based application, guroo, to the business community at an event officiated over by the founder and Chief Executive Officer Kwanayi Kashangura.
The guroo product allows clients to call any phone number on the network at only 6 US cents per minute and across networks at only 12 US cents, making it the most affordable voice based service in the country.
Kashangura said Africom was coined so because it is a continental project created to impact on lives across Africa, not just Zimbabweans
"We are not called Africom by coincidence, it's because we are a continental project to help business on the continent transact better. Today we are unveiling a product that has already impacted on business in an unprecedented manner", he said.
During the breakfast lauch, Jonah Mungoshi, a renowned motivational speaker, gave guests powerful business advice and motivational talk.
He encouraged all stakeholders to be brand-conscious and create loyalty to all their products by giving value to the customers, instead of only profiteering.
"People really do not care about what you know till they know how much you care. Every business should create a business model like that of Apple. Today Apple fans will die to protect their brand," he said.
The Africom guroo product is currently receiving massive response from the local community as it revolutionises the way Zimbabweans communicate over the internet from any internet service provider.
Africom Public Relations Officer, Prosper Mutswiri said there had been massive uptake of the product with 7 000 subscribers coming from Midlands alone.
The guroo service has advantages of being independent from any network as it only requires internet connectivity to work.
Chief Operations Officer Rudo Mudavanhu said she had recently been doing tours internationally where the company had successfully tested the product and clinched distributorship deals with various stakeholders.
"From the 15th of July I was in the United Kingdom where we actually established arrangements with retailers and ran the product successfully from other international countries. The response was overwhelming, with most diasporans calling home".
Africom founder Kashangura gave a history of how the company started in 1995, 18 years ago, against the backdrop of stringent business conditions that made it difficult for them to even get a licence as the internet business and communication was still not well appreciated.
He said today it's even much easier for any other service provider to start. The laws are now much relaxed and competition is now encouraged.
Kashangura said he was so passionate about seeing other startups making it too and said for there to be success in developing countries, the environment should make it easy for all kinds of business to start and flourish so that players will find it easier to formalise and comply.
Kashangura said Africom had helped in the provision of affordable communication channels in business.
Africom's converged network offers voice, video and data on the same platform over the internet.
With the current mobile wars and aggressive promotions by all mobile network operators, analysts feared that internet service providers might stand to be the biggest losers as subscribers may be forced to abandon their products for much competitive voice tariffs.
During a sideline interview, Public Relations Officer Mutswiri said the company was not worried about the current wars as they do not directly affect them or their relevance on the market.
"Remember a platform like guroo is not network-based but works on any network. What we are doing is simply offering a service over the internet and we are not even competing with these mobile operators. In fact we need their platform to get our clients connected".
Guroo has proved to be an indispensable tool promising to revolutionise the way Zimbabweans and the world communicate at affordable prices.
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TechnoMag is Zimbabwe`s Premier Technology Magazine,More on Tech on www.technomag.co.zw or join us on our facebook page www.facebook.com/technomagzw and enjoy free airtime quiz games. Email ictarticles[at]technomag.co.zw
The guroo product allows clients to call any phone number on the network at only 6 US cents per minute and across networks at only 12 US cents, making it the most affordable voice based service in the country.
Kashangura said Africom was coined so because it is a continental project created to impact on lives across Africa, not just Zimbabweans
"We are not called Africom by coincidence, it's because we are a continental project to help business on the continent transact better. Today we are unveiling a product that has already impacted on business in an unprecedented manner", he said.
During the breakfast lauch, Jonah Mungoshi, a renowned motivational speaker, gave guests powerful business advice and motivational talk.
He encouraged all stakeholders to be brand-conscious and create loyalty to all their products by giving value to the customers, instead of only profiteering.
"People really do not care about what you know till they know how much you care. Every business should create a business model like that of Apple. Today Apple fans will die to protect their brand," he said.
The Africom guroo product is currently receiving massive response from the local community as it revolutionises the way Zimbabweans communicate over the internet from any internet service provider.
Africom Public Relations Officer, Prosper Mutswiri said there had been massive uptake of the product with 7 000 subscribers coming from Midlands alone.
The guroo service has advantages of being independent from any network as it only requires internet connectivity to work.
Chief Operations Officer Rudo Mudavanhu said she had recently been doing tours internationally where the company had successfully tested the product and clinched distributorship deals with various stakeholders.
"From the 15th of July I was in the United Kingdom where we actually established arrangements with retailers and ran the product successfully from other international countries. The response was overwhelming, with most diasporans calling home".
Africom founder Kashangura gave a history of how the company started in 1995, 18 years ago, against the backdrop of stringent business conditions that made it difficult for them to even get a licence as the internet business and communication was still not well appreciated.
He said today it's even much easier for any other service provider to start. The laws are now much relaxed and competition is now encouraged.
Kashangura said he was so passionate about seeing other startups making it too and said for there to be success in developing countries, the environment should make it easy for all kinds of business to start and flourish so that players will find it easier to formalise and comply.
Kashangura said Africom had helped in the provision of affordable communication channels in business.
Africom's converged network offers voice, video and data on the same platform over the internet.
With the current mobile wars and aggressive promotions by all mobile network operators, analysts feared that internet service providers might stand to be the biggest losers as subscribers may be forced to abandon their products for much competitive voice tariffs.
During a sideline interview, Public Relations Officer Mutswiri said the company was not worried about the current wars as they do not directly affect them or their relevance on the market.
"Remember a platform like guroo is not network-based but works on any network. What we are doing is simply offering a service over the internet and we are not even competing with these mobile operators. In fact we need their platform to get our clients connected".
Guroo has proved to be an indispensable tool promising to revolutionise the way Zimbabweans and the world communicate at affordable prices.
-------------
TechnoMag is Zimbabwe`s Premier Technology Magazine,More on Tech on www.technomag.co.zw or join us on our facebook page www.facebook.com/technomagzw and enjoy free airtime quiz games. Email ictarticles[at]technomag.co.zw
Source - TechnoMag
