<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
h1
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
font-weight:bold;}
h4
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 4 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
font-weight:bold;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
span.Heading1Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 1 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 1";
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading4Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 4 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 4";
font-weight:bold;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;}
p.wp-caption-text, li.wp-caption-text, div.wp-caption-text
{mso-style-name:wp-caption-text;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.EmailStyle24
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.EmailStyle25
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle26
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.sharing-screen-reader-text
{mso-style-name:sharing-screen-reader-text;}
span.EmailStyle28
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle29
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle30
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle31
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle32
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle33
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle34
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
span.EmailStyle37
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:2118257073;
mso-list-template-ids:-475754154;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-ZW link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><a href="mailto:info@bulls.co.zw"><span style='color:windowtext;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=1111 height=257 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image005.jpg@01D5C765.187AE830"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:36.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:36.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:3.75pt;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:36.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Network International, an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa, recently conducted new research into the African digital payments environment, and the significant emerging, but as yet untapped, opportunity for banks operating in the region.</span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>The white paper, titled </span><em><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#DD3333'>Payment Acceptance in Africa</span></em><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>, says payment acceptance (the ability of merchants to accept payments for the sale of goods and services) is at an inflection point in Africa, enabling new major opportunities in the financial services sector. The amount of money processed through point of sale (POS) devices – such as card machines – remains only 5% of GDP in Africa, compared to over 30% in some countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>To find out more about the continent’s digital payments environment, <em><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'>How we made it in Africa</span></em> spoke to Andrew Key, managing director for Africa at Network International.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.7pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:2.5pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:15.0pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:1.25rem'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>Network International’s white paper states that in many African countries, POS infrastructure is concentrated in major cities and a handful of sectors, such as tourism and entertainment. What is the reason for this limited penetration?</span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></span></h4><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>There are a number of forces at play. Part of it is just the general trend towards urbanisation across Africa. If you then look at who is deploying POS infrastructure and building out payment acceptance, it is mostly banks. And they typically operate out of major cities. So the banks have a natural bias toward the locations where they are based.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Building out payment acceptance infrastructure has historically been costly. In some African markets, a POS device could cost up to $600 due to high manufacturing costs or import duties. To make a return of investment, the banks therefore only place them in locations where there is a large number of card holders and high transaction volumes. For this reason there has been a focus on rolling out POS infrastructure in places like major hotels, upmarket restaurants and major retailers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.7pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:2.5pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:15.0pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:1.25rem'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>How do banks make money from POS devices?</span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></span></h4><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>It varies country by country. In some markets they will sell or lease the devices, while in other territories the banks will roll out the devices at no cost, with the hope of making a return through transaction-based fees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Through these devices, banks can also get insight into the transaction behaviour of a business. This allows them to make better-informed decisions when lending to these companies. So that is another driver behind why a bank might want to build out payment acceptance – it gives them more confidence when they are lending money. There are 60 million micro, small and medium businesses across Africa mostly operating in the informal sector, which provide a huge growth opportunity for banks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.7pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:2.5pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:15.0pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:1.25rem'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>How can mobile technology transform payment acceptance in Africa?</span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></span></h4><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>There are far more people in Africa who have mobile phones than bank accounts. Many of these people may leapfrog the evolution of the payments market that happened in developed regions like Europe or North America. The environment where card meets POS device is not going to happen in some African markets. There will be lots of evolutions in the digital payments landscape in Africa, some of which will be around card meeting POS device, some of which will be online spend, and some of which will be mobile money based.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Digital payments will allow consumers to do things that are not possible in a cash-based economy and it will allow banks to operate in sectors that they’ve not operated in previously.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style='mso-margin-top-alt:18.7pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:2.5pt;margin-left:0cm;line-height:15.0pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:1.25rem'><strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>With the rapid growth of mobile money in several African countries, is there a future for plastic cards?</span></strong><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></span></h4><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>One of the fundamental benefits that the likes of Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay offer is the ability to make a payment anywhere in the world. With mobile money you can’t do that today. Mobile money schemes are typically domestic only. Now, what Network International as well as others such as Visa and Mastercard have done is provide tools and capabilities that mean you don’t need a piece of plastic. You are still transacting with an account that typically sat behind a card, but using a digital equivalent such as a smartphone or a watch. This is going to be relevant for micro merchants on the street who typically only dealt in cash.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Cards have a long future ahead of it but I predict that in Africa a large portion of the population will start with a digital version of an account. It is going to be interesting watching this journey unfold across the continent.-Howwemadeitinafrica<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><img border=0 width=800 height=550 id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image006.jpg@01D5C765.187AE830" alt="Andrew Key, managing director for Africa at Network International"></span><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=wp-caption-text style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'>Andrew Key, managing director for Africa at Network International<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:23.4pt;margin-left:0cm;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-size:0.875rem'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#555555'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><i><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Invest Wisely!</span></i><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Bulls n Bears </span></b><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Telephone: <a href="tel:%2B263%204%202927658" target="_blank"><span style='color:windowtext'>+263 4 2927658</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Cellphone: <a href="tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674" target="_blank"><span style='color:windowtext'>+263 77 344 1674</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Alt. Email: <a href="mailto:info@bulls.co.zw"><span style='color:windowtext'>info@bulls.co.zw</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Website: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ" target="_blank"><span style='color:windowtext'>www.bulls.co.zw</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Blog: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw" target="_blank"><span style='color:windowtext'>www.bulls.co.zw/blog</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Twitter: @bullsbears2010<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>LinkedIn: Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Facebook: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimbabwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA" target="_blank"><span style='color:windowtext'>www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Skype: Bulls.Bears <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><img border=0 width=210 height=101 id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D5644F.B4AB0B00" alt="cid:image012.jpg@01D0BFE7.544DF490"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:23.4pt;background:white'><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>