HARARE- Cassava Smartech has added new features to its recently launched SASAI App, an app it says is the future of Ecocash.
Sasai is intergrated application allowing users to communicate known as chatting, pay for products and services as well as consume online content. It was developed by inhouse by Cassava Fintech over a period of 2 years.
The service typically brings together chatting, payments and online content consumption all in one portal. it is therefore an integration of “Whatsapp”, Ecocash and the deposed Kwese, designed to enhance customer convenience.
Cassava said the most noticeable upgraded feature is SASAI Explore, which has been populated to create a one stop portal to global services like Amazon, Alibaba and eBay.
The product is modelled around a similar concept to China’s Wechat, owned by Tencent, which has been a success. The application was first released in 2011 and has benefitted from China’s restrictive legislation which hinders effective penetration by US based chatting applications, such as Facebook owned, Whatsapp.
In Subsaharan Africa, MTN is ceased with development of a similar application and will leverage on existing markets to catalyse growth.
The application will be launched in MTN markets in West Africa as part of the beta test before introducing it to all other countries it operates. Among these are Africa’s most populous and prosperous markets Nigeria and South Africa.
Sasai has a foothold in payments through its associates while its success with Ecocash could propel local growth. It expects to roll out in more countries and presently highlighted that downloads of SASAI application have been recorded in at least 150 countries.
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