'Cash planes' fly into Zim

FINTECH: HELPS ZIMBABWEANS GET DOLLARS

Mobile money app users opt for the greenback to avoid the worry about currency depreciation.

At least once a month and sometimes three times a week - a private plane lands in a secure part of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport outside Harare carrying millions of US dollars. The pallets of cash are unloaded, broken down into packages and distributed to transfer points across the country.

This unusual but legal operation, organised by Zimbabwe's biggest mobile money app, Mukuru, shows how far companies will go to accommodate customers seeking to avoid the local currency in one of the world's most dysfunctional economies.

Africa's mobile money sector has grown rapidly in the last two decades and now processes about $912 billion (about R16.7 trillion) a year, according to GSMA, a global research and lobby group for mobile operators.

But while most fintechs send money digitally, the ones in Zimbabwe also fill a different niche: they help Zimbabweans get their hands on US dollars.