Send the reason, not just the money
A new payment platform called Topa is helping the Zimbabwean diaspora send money directly to service providers and vendors in Zimbabwe rather than sending cash. This system aims to increase transparency and ensure remittances are used for specific investments like property and education.
Why it matters
By digitizing remittances, the platform helps ensure that billions of dollars in diaspora funds are directed toward productive investments rather than informal consumption.
BIRMINGHAM — Picture a Thursday morning in Leeds. Before work, a Zimbabwean nurse opens an app on her phone and, from her ordinary UK bank account and in pounds, pays this month’s instalment on a stand in Ruwa straight to the developer; settles her mother’s City of Harare rates with the account number attached; pays her nephew’s Form 2 fees to the school with his name on the receipt; buys ten bags of cement from a hardware in Harare for the builder to collect; tops up her father’s Econet line; and sends a ZESA token that lands on the family meter before she has put her phone down.
No one carried cash. No one queued at a window. No relative had to be trusted with an envelope. Every pound became exactly what it was sent for, and she has the receipts to prove it.
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