By Miriam Zvomuya and Michael Mashiri
Yesterday NetOne gave various awards to two of the three schools which won the OneMoney Fees For Less Promotion.
The schools which were handed over prizes were Good Hope Junior School and Bridging The Gap Academy.
Bridging The Gap Academy won the top prize worth $30 000, comprising of $20 000 prize money, Wi-Fi connection for their school and a generator whilst Good Hope Junior School went away with $2 000.
The Acting Managing Director of Mobile Financial Services Nyaradzai Shoko said Good Hope had managed to be on the top as it was amongst the winners last term.
“Good Hope Junior School from Chivhu were the overall winners in the same competition last term, and they continue to be on the winner’s podium.
“Their continued support and use of the OneMoney system is testament of the financial inclusivity created by the payment platform,” he said.
The headmaster of Good Hope said during the first days people did not believe the promotion.
“At first it was challenging as people did not trust the promotion but we are encouraging the Chivhu community to join the One Money biller code, we will teach our parents to pay fees using OneMoney,” he said.
The Director of the Bridging the Gap Academy said to win was not something which had come on a silver platter, but it demanded a lot of efforts.
“It was not easy because it is difficult to convince someone that he or she should use OneMoney, it is like trying to convince someone that he is wearing a green shirt, yet it is white,” he said.
Mr Shoko said Bridging the Gap Academy had emerged to become the joint national winners.
“This term Bridging the Gap Academy from Manicaland defied all odds to become joint national winners with last term’s runner up Centre Zimbabwe Africa High School of Madziva”, he said.
Mr Shoko said the promise of having OneMoney was for Zimbabweans to have enjoyable lifestyles and he said they were going to be keep on their promise.
“When we launched OneMoney, our promise was to create better and happier everyday lives for Zimbabweans.
“As OneMoney, we stand firm in our promise and commitment to enable financial inclusivity for all Zimbabweans through the provision of a safe, stable and reliable mobile financial service platform,”he said.
OneMoney Fees For Less Promotion, is a promotion which was introduced in April this year.
This promotion allows schools to get a share of their fees, if they use the NetOne’s mobile money platform.
This platform is open to primary, secondary schools and even Universities and Colleges. Students will also be getting an opportunity to win back part of their payments.
A school can be awarded if it is part of the first 50 schools to register on receiving payments using the mobile money service.
OneMoney also awards up to $300 to a parent who is among the first 100 parents to pay school fees using the OneMoney service.