Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe’s richest man, has directed his Econet group to build employment pathways for more than 115,000 citizens who have poured back into the country from South Africa since late May, anchoring the effort around a plan to appoint 15,000 new EcoCash mobile money agents by Christmas a rollout Econet estimates could support at least 30,000 jobs.
Douglas Mboweni, Chief Executive Officer of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, disclosed the plans in comments reported by Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald newspaper on Monday, saying Econet’s management had held repeated meetings with Masiyiwa to identify projects that could complement the government’s efforts to reintegrate returnees.
The company is weighing opportunities across mobile money, construction and agriculture.
For entrepreneurs watching Zimbabwe’s economy, the EcoCash expansion is the headline number.
“Each time we appoint a new agent, that results in at least two jobs,” Mboweni said.
Crucially, Econet won’t be hiring 30,000 people directly EcoCash agents operate as independent businesses, earning commissions on deposits, withdrawals, transfers and other financial services.
That structure means the expansion functions less like a corporate hiring spree and more like a mass distribution of small-business opportunities, handing returnees a low-barrier entry point into entrepreneurship rather than payroll employment.
The timing is no accident. EcoCash recorded a 21% increase in transaction volumes and a 210% surge in transaction values in the year ended February 2025, according to Econet’s integrated annual report, growth the company attributed to rising customer activity and wallet funding.
A returnee population fresh out of South Africa’s formal and informal economies, many with retail, construction, agricultural or domestic-service experience represents both a workforce and a new customer base for a platform expanding its physical footprint into underserved communities with limited access to conventional bank branches.
Construction offers a faster, if temporary, absorption channel. Econet is considering accelerating work at Econet Tech City, a move that could generate roughly 2,000 short-term jobs, though the company has not disclosed investment figures or a timeline.
On the agricultural side, Econet plans to expand its agritech operations, which produce fruit for export to China, potentially creating hundreds of additional roles, some seasonal, in a sector organizers view as capable of absorbing workers faster than industries requiring lengthy technical training.
Combined, EcoCash agents, construction work and agricultural projects could support more than 32,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities if Econet hits every target an estimate, not a guarantee and one the company has stopped short of formally committing to or reserving exclusively for returnees.
The scale of the challenge driving this response is stark. More than 115,000 Zimbabweans returned from South Africa between late May and early August, according to government figures reported by the Associated Press.
As of July 18, 33,855 had returned through government-supported arrangements, while an estimated 74,511 travelled back independently pushing the total past 108,000 at the time, with numbers still climbing in the weeks after.
The exodus followed immigration raids, deportations and mounting anti-immigrant hostility in South Africa, where high unemployment and strained public services have fuelled growing resentment toward foreign nationals despite the country’s historically larger economy drawing workers from across the region.
Zimbabwe’s government has been registering returnees by qualification and work experience, promising vocational training, agricultural assistance and small-business support; more than 15,000 had been registered for employment and business backing by July.
Mboweni said Econet was engaging authorities directly on several initiatives and urged other Zimbabwean companies to identify their own opportunities for returning citizens a call that positions the private sector, not just the state, as the front line of absorbing one of Zimbabwe’s largest reverse-migration waves in years.
The initiative follows Econet’s major corporate restructuring earlier this year, where shareholders approved the voluntary delisting of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in February, completed in March, while its infrastructure arm, Econet InfraCo — holding telecom towers, property and power facilities subsequently listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
