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Christopher Farai Charamba Correspondent

The old adage states that necessity is the mother of invention. Rockefeller as the world’s leading entrepreneur did not want to lose his place with the birth of new technology. He was forced to reinvent his business in order to survive.

When John. D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest American to have ever lived, came under threat by the invention of the light bulb and the dawn of electricity, he did not panic or give up on his business.

Standard Oil was the biggest supplier of kerosene which was used in lamps to light up homes, businesses and streets all over the USA.

The coming of electricity and Thomas Edison’s light bulb meant kerosene was no longer an essential resource for this service in most places.

Rockefeller had revolutionised America by providing light to homes and even made it possible for the work day to be longer. After a smear campaign against electricity had failed he knew that very soon he could find himself out of business.

Rather than throw his proverbial spears to the ground and surrender, Rockefeller knew that he would have to be innovative and find another way in which he could make money out of his oil interests.

One of the by-products of the refining of oil to make kerosene is a highly volatile mixture of alkalines known as gasoline. Previously this by-product had been discarded and left to run off as waste. Rockefeller, however, assembled a team of engineers to figure out how it could be used to their benefit.

With the invention of the combustion engine, Rockefeller found use for this gasoline and with the advent of the automobile industry, Standard Oil is once again a leading company and Rockefeller is able to maximise his profits once again.

The old adage states that necessity is the mother of invention. Rockefeller as the world’s leading entrepreneur did not want to lose his place with the birth of new technology. He was forced to reinvent his business in order to survive.

Zimbabwe finds itself in a peculiar situation. The economy is under-performing, the country is experiencing a liquidity crisis and the informal sector has grown exponentially over the past few years. Traditional business models and practices are struggling to survive in this economy.

The cash crisis has seen people queueing for hours at ATMs to withdraw whatever new daily limits the banks have imposed. While the nation waits for the arrival of the bond notes to ease the cash situation, there is need for some form of innovation and reform in the financial sector that would make life easier for people.

Some changes have already begun and in no way are they a reinvention of the wheel, but rather a copy paste of innovations that have worked elsewhere. When Rockefeller’s kerosene enterprise was challenged, he did not go out and start a completely new business, he found use for a product that he was already producing although unwillingly.

As such, banks and other financial service providers should take advantage of existing technologies and services. All banks should by now have mobile applications compatible with USSD, Android and iOS technologies and software.

According to POTRAZ, Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration rate was at 92,8 percent in the third quarter of 2015. With so many people on mobile devices and the prevailing cash crisis it is imperative and logical that these people have access to their accounts.

Not only should people have access to their accounts, but they should be able to pay for certain services through these banking applications. Electricity, water, rates, DStv and airtime are some of the bills that one should be able to easily pay via their cellphone and not have to go to withdraw cash to carry out this service.

Banks already have this platform and this is great for their customers, but not all of them do. It is necessary for all banks to follow this route and make it a premier service that they offer.

A further innovation now available through a few banking services is the ability to link one’s bank account to their mobile money account in order to transfer funds from the bank to their phone. With the growth of EcoCash and TeleCash in the everyday lives of people this is a key product that banks should offer.

Such cooperation between service providers will ensure that customers make more use of them. With better services, marketing and reduced charges there can be a restored faith in banks by the public.

Reserve Bank Governor Dr Mangudya encouraged Zimbabweans to use more cashless services in the current economic climate and rightly so. However, for these services to be appreciated and accepted by the public they need to be readily available and incentivised.

Places such as fuel stations, schools, Government offices like VID and the passport office; and even roadblocks should all have point of sale as well as mobile money services. It is counterproductive for the RBZ governor to advocate the use of cashless services when one would have to use cash when applying for a passport or paying for their vehicle registration.

Until these changes have been implemented at key institutions and businesses, it will be hard to sell to the public that they should use cashless services.

According to Consumer Credit, 80 percent of Americans use their debit card to pay for everyday purchases such as fuel, meals and groceries with only 14 percent of the population opting to use cash.

It is clear that this is the direction that the world is moving and for Zimbabwe it is not a matter of creating new technology, but merely adopting and integrating it into business and society. What is essential is to understand the economic and social conditions and environment to bring in services that are useful to the public.

In 2014 an app called SnapScan was launched in Cape Town, South Africa which allowed motorists to pay parking marshals using mobile money rather than using cash. The marshals would each have a unique QR code which the motorist scanned to pay for their parking.

Such services would be key in Zimbabwe. However, they would need to be adapted to suit the environment as the platform might not be one used by the majority of people. While mobile penetration is well over 90 percent, smartphone penetration was lying around 15 percent as of 2015 and that could be a disadvantage to such services.

This, however, could also be an opportunity to grow smartphone penetration as consumers will invest in them if they see that they offer reliable access to indispensable services.

As long as cash remains king for day to day and essential needs, customers will queue at length outside ATMs waiting to withdraw money. The only way that change can come is for businesses, institutions, especially banks to adapt the alternative that already exists in their products and proactively encourage the use of cashless services.