Inflation and shortages in Zimbabwe, whose goverment is accused of ruining the economy, are leading its citizens abroad to use high-tech ways to help out their loved ones at home.
Zimbabweans abroad have found ways to pitch in - giving part of their earnings in South Africa, for example, to businessmen there, who then truck food, cooking oil and other scarcities across the border.
Now Internet-based companies are offering a high-tech solution: Go online and buy loved ones back home everything from fuel and food to generators.
The Web site Mukuru.com offers an alternative to long lines at gas stations short of fuel. Once a friend or relative has logged on and paid for fuel, the company sends a text message to the recipient’s cell phone in Zimbabwe containing a 10-digit number the person can exchange for vouchers at a designated coupon office. They can then fill up their car at stations that import fuel independently and sell at market rates, rather than having to scramble for fuel when it becomes available locally at prices heavily subsidized by the government.
