June 12, 2007
Zimbabweans help loved ones at home
Inflation in Zimbabwe is soaring, and its citizens abroad are pitching in to help relatives at home _ giving part of their earnings in South Africa, for example, to Zimbabwean businessmen there, who then truck food, cooking oil and other scarcities across the border.
"Now a high-tech solution has arrived, with Internet-based companies allowing Zimbabweans across the globe to go online to buy their loved ones everything from fuel and food to generators.
Web site Mukuru.com offers an alternative to long queues at gas stations short of fuel. Once a friend or relative has logged on and paid for fuel, the company sends a short message to the recipient's cell phone in Zimbabwe containing a 10-digit number the person can exchange for vouchers at a designated coupon office.
They can then fill up their car at stations that import fuel independently and sell at market rates, rather than having to scramble for fuel when it becomes available locally at prices heavily subsidized by the government."
[via PR-inside]
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