ZB BANK UNVEILS 'SMILE MALL' — A LIFESTYLE MARKETPLACE FOR EVERYDAY ZIMBABWE — AT INAUGURAL MSMES AND COOPERATIVES INDABA

HARARE — ZB Bank has launched Smile Mall, a digital lifestyle marketplace that goes beyond banking and e-commerce to cover the everyday needs of individuals and businesses, unveiling the platform at Zimbabwe’s inaugural MSMES & Cooperatives Indaba as the country’s bank with a strong heritage moving to capture the fast-growing digital payments market.

Built on ZB Bank’s digital rails, Smile Mall was designed as a "financial gateway" — but its ambition runs far wider. ZB Group Chief Executive Officer Dr. Shepherd Fungura positioned the platform as a lifestyle mall spanning retail, services, groceries, utilities and everyday essentials alongside banking,insurance and investments giving individuals and businesses a single destination for how they live, shop and transact. 

Buyers and sellers can pay using bank wallets, Visa, Mastercard, mobile money and other digital payment methods without leaving the ecosystem.

"Cooperatives and MSMEs are the backbone of our economy, but they have been locked out of formal digital trade," Dr. Fungura told delegates. “Smile Mall connects the bank to the market, and the market to the bank.”

The launch directly targets two barriers long facing cooperatives, informal traders and SMEs: limited access to finance and limited access to markets. ZB designed Smile Mall to close both gaps at once, giving merchants a formal storefront to reach buyers while feeding the transaction data that unlocks credit.

 Merchants can onboard through Smile mall portal and receive a virtual storefront within minutes, with payments settled instantly into ZB accounts or other wallets.

"For years, cooperatives have been selling at markets and on WhatsApp with no transaction record," Dr. Fungura said. “Smile Mall creates a digital footprint the bank can use to lend.”

Unlike standalone marketplaces, Smile Mall is embedded within ZB’s banking infrastructure, but its reach is deliberately broader than payments alone. 

Every sale updates a merchant’s balance in real time and can trigger tailored offers for savings, insurance or working capital loans based on sales data, turning everyday buying and selling into a pathway for both market access and financial inclusion.

The platform supports ZB wallet-to-wallet transfers, Visa and Mastercard payments for diaspora shoppers, and interoperability with mobile money operators. By running transactions on its own rails, ZB says it can offer faster settlement and lower fees than traditional card-acquiring models.

All merchants will undergo KYC verification with real-time fraud monitoring, while buyer protection will be managed through ZB’s international virtual servicel center. 

ZB said Smile Mall aligns with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy. Officials from the Cooperatives Ministry welcomed the launch, noting that digital marketplaces can help cooperatives access wider markets and formal finance.

Looking ahead, ZB said the next phase will include logistics partnerships for delivery, buy-now-pay-later options, and integration with government payment portals for rates, licenses and levies before year-end.

The bank is targeting 100,000 active merchants and 1 million buyers within 18 months, with cooperatives expected to account for a significant share of early adopters.

"Smile Mall is ZB Bank’s answer to where banking is going," Dr. Fungura said. “From branches, to phones, to marketplaces. If that is where our customers trade, then that is where the bank must be.”

Smile Mall enters a competitive field that already includes EcoCash’s Vaya247, InnBucks and similar platforms from rival banks. 

Analysts say the move reflects a broader shift among banks toward becoming "lifestyle super apps" — platforms that combine banking, payments and commerce with the everyday services people and businesses rely on, rather than staying confined to financial transactions alone.

Zimbabwe’s e-commerce market is estimated at more than $400 million annually, driven by diaspora remittances and mobile penetration above 90%, though cash shortages and high card fees continue to constrain growth.