The African Market is yet to have an all in one application that encompasses social, business and mobile payments as an all-in-one, one-stop platform.
When Sasai was officially launched, I opined that the app had serious potential to revolutionize the app world should the developers encompass many other features. And it seems the team behind the app have been listening and implementing slowly in the background.
The idea behind Sasai, to have all these services available in single place, was groundbreaking and all it needed was just aggressive marketing to trigger continental uptake as an afro -centric application that is solving daily African problems.
As the world continues to evolve around the mobile phone, creatives are bringing all the services around the mobile phone, where one may never leave the comfort of their homes, but take charge of their daily lives via mobile. What more then, when a single app offers these solutions as a bundle!
Sasai has the potential to become one of the best ‘local’ apps, since the creators of the app already had an African perspective. All it needs is to localize and focus on the country level, so that Zimbabweans, Kenyans, Nigerians — for example — can easily take up locally based functionality, such as finding nearby activities, friends or utility services.
The application has some of the world’s best features on one platform, which makes it one of the best applications of our time in the mold of WeChat, Viber, KiK or Whatsapp.
The biggest plus has been the Sasai Pay and remittance service, which allows users to receive money from the diaspora directly into their accounts via mobile payments.
This service has been running for some time on platforms like WeChat, where most Chinese have integrated their bank details for a simple scan and pay service, creating a big industry around the social platform that allows users to shop, pay and sell easily, without leaving their platforms.
Sasai’s major selling point, at least in Zimbabwe, is the Sasai Bundle, that has been optimally priced for the local market, which means those who are already running on the platform are enjoying the best data services across the nation. Sasai could probably adopt a similar approach with partner operators or service providers in other countries across Africa, creating a win-win package for participating partners.
The application comes with secure messaging, with end-to-end encryption. Like all major global players in this space, the issue of privacy is of utmost importance. Sasai users can also do voice and video calls at very reasonable rates.
The application is also quiet light and easy on the usage, while maintaining voice quality. Our last few tests gave us GSM quality of voice throughput on the platform, when we tested with users in the busy Central Business District.
On the payments side Sasai Pay, a service that integrates with the EcoCash mobile money wallet, allows you to pay for a number of goods and services such as airtime, utility bills and retail merchants.
Podcast hosting and playing
Another interesting entertainment feature is Sasai’s YouTube-like service, called Sasai Watch.
This service could be the next biggest thing in Africa, if local players are encouraged to upload and share content on the platform for competitions, give aways or ultimately to monetize it.
For those who love their beautiful moments captured and shared in seconds over social media, then Sasai Moments is another place that basically broadcasts statuses, or fleets, to a selected community.
A fresh initiative on the application is Sasai Live, where you can stream whatever it is you are doing to your community. This has been a boom in Zimbabwe, with most people taking live moments online. But again, with Sasai, the bundle price-point and community growth are the pointers to its success.
With the current COVID-19 pandemic, Sasai has generously integrated the Africa CDC Passport, which holds your vaccination and COVID-19 test certificates, on the app. This move is ground-breaking, with COVID passports likely to become the next access point for freedom to travel.
Another feature which people are yet to take advantage of, is the Sasai TeamTalk, which allows you to have a conference call as you would on ZOOM, and you can have up to 20 participants at the same time.
Lastly but not least, Sasai has a Wi-Fi finder feature that helps you locate the closest hotspot in your area. This feature, which has been running on the platform for some months, helps one to find the available hotspots, such as ZOLspots around the country. This can save time and money, and help when scheduling outdoor engagements for business or leisure.
With all these features on one app, SASAi is complete and positioned to be the go-to app for one’s daily digital needs.
