Innbucks recently announced a partnership with ZUVA service station which will allow customers to pay for their fuel using Innbucks.
Since arriving on the scene Innbucks has covered a lot of ground becoming one of Zimbabwe’s fastest growing money transfer services. When it comes to the local fast-food industry, Simbisa is head and shoulders above the rest with the firm owning 300 outlets in Zimbabwe and 646 outlets throughout Africa, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi and DRC. Innsbruck’s parent company, Simbisa, owns restaurant chains that include Fish Inn, Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Bakers Inn and Creamy Inn, as well as franchises for Nandos and Steers in Zimbabwe. This same network of outlets is now being leveraged to power Innbucks’ ambitions – initially as a remittance service and more recently as a microbank.
Simbisa’s massive footprint across the country coupled by their low transaction cost is mainly the reason why Innbucks has become a hit for customers with a 3% transaction cost for sending amounts above US$5. It is a cheaper alternative compared to Mukuru which takes 7% per transaction and has a minimum transfer of US$10.
Expanding use cases
According to the company, there are about 1.8 million people currently using the Innbucks mobile application. Innbucks’ current strategy seems to be to expand into more markets as it is on-boarding retailers across sectors.
This has seen Innbucks enter a partnership with Zuva Energy. The partnership is a win for Innbucks with Zuva Energy having more than 80 service stations across the country.
Beyond the partnership with ZUVA, Innbucks, was also recently revealed to be on Zimswitch allowing customers to send and receive money to and from other local banking & mobile money institutions. We anticipate that this integration could also mean that soon, consumers will be able to make purchases in supermarkets using Innbucks. This and partnerships like the one with ZUVA will mean that consumers have more reason to use Innbucks beyond the current use case which has just been sending money.
Additionally, customers can access salary-based loans. Another one of their recent milestones is their addition to the VFEX Direct which allowed Innbucks to be a payment channel on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange since August 2023.
Increasing accessibility to the platform was likely a big motivator for Innbucks as in the past customers have voiced their desire to have the service in retailers because of high demand leading to long queues. Simbisa’s footprint across the continent could see Innbucks compete more directly with other money transfer platforms like World Remit, Mukuru and Western Union in remittances – already consumers with Innbucks wallets can send money from South Africa on the platform.
Predicting The Future
Innbuck’s parent company Simbisa’s efforts to constantly expand into various sectors with new product offerings and collaborations has been rewarding to its balance sheet. In 2023, their profit rose to US$408,475 from US$100,194 in 2022.
In a volatile economic environment such as Zimbabwe it is difficult to predict the future however in Innbucks case it is evident that the company will continue to expand into more markets partnering with retailers across various divisions. Perhaps Innbucks will start to leverage its continental markets and provide the same service in countries like Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, and the DRC.
