Caston Midlands Country Visit Report.
Towns Visited
Town Number of SCPs Visited
Chegutu 5
Kadoma 3
Kwekwe 5
Gweru 5
Total SCPs Visited 18
Key Issues Raised.
1. Stock Availability.
SCPs in Midlands complained of shortage of stock and mentioned that the problem
was severe in January 2025. The major distributer in the territory is Evidatech.
Although Evidatech had stock in Kadoma, his outlet in Kwekwe was dry. The partners
in Kwekwe complained that the stock that is distributed in Kwekwe is usually limited
and most of it is purchased by non-accredited dealers who then sell them on a
higher price for profit. This practice can lead to price distortions in the market.
2. Commission Structure Awareness.
12 out of the 18 SCPs visited did not fully understand the commission structure.
Some of them were not aware that there is a commission for opening new accounts.
This has a negative impact on the drive to open new accounts. The agents that were
not aware of the commission had no motive to look for new business. They
concentrated more on other businesses.
3. Content Awareness.
Only Series Technologies, Matiyi Tech and Tatenda Madaba had an appreciation of
the new content available on DStv and how to discover it. The other partners had
difficulties in selling the DStv content as they were not aware of anything else other
than football and the ‘I blew it’ show which was launched in January and is being
advertised through posters in their outlets. The lack of content knowledge makes it
difficult to sell DStv to new customers.
4. Brand Visibility.
Only 5 SCP outlets had visible branding from outside the shops. These are Gladben in
Chegutu, Evidatech and Extreme Satelites in Kadoma, Series Technologies and MSN
in Gweru. The rest of the outlets lacked visibility.
5. Under-Utilised Company Resources.
3 partners, namely Matiyi Tech in kwekwe, Tatenda Madaba and Alfred Tswatswa in
Gweru were not fully using the Gazebos that they were given to drive new accounts.
Alfred tswatswa has not pitched the Gazebo in over a month and is using the gazebo
table in his outlet. Matiyi Tech and Tatenda Madaba have been pitching the gazebos
but only recording at most 1 new account per week which is too low. The SCPs with
gazebo have been given a one week grace period to improve on sales or the gazebos
will be recalled.
6. System Challenges.
FSS users complained of frequent system downtime and the inability of the system
to perform certain functions such as change package and create xtraview. Some of
the partners like David from Evidatech and Tsungirirayi Maphosa from Maps
Investments had system user challenges where they are failing to sign in. Details
were capture and assistance to be rendered by Monday 3 February.
Price Compliance
All the SCPs that we visited confirmed that they got the decoders at $28 or $29 from the
mega dealer and were selling them at $35. The decoder price posters were place in shops
where they were absent.
Stock Availability
Most of the SCPs had stock except for Matiyi tech, Cellular hub and Maggytech.
SCP Available Stock
Phisha electronics 6
Shasha 5
Gladben 20
Alpha Alma 8
Evidatech 18 in shop (Undisclosed number in
warehouse)
Extreme Satelites 14
Dee Installations 3
Matiyi Tech 0
Maps 2
Cellular Hub 0
Takuzee 12
Mega Chip 4
Series Techologies 65
Tatenda Madaba 13
Maggytech 0
MSN 0
Competitor Activity
15 Starset LNBs were found in Extreme Satellites outlet in Kadoma. No Starset decoders
were found in the outlet. The partners said that the starset LNBs can be used on DStv
decoders and they are cheaper than the DStv LNB. Dual LNB for DStv going for $8 and the
same size Starset LNB going for $5.
Tatenda Madaba in Gweru openly admitted selling Azam decoders. He has an Azam branded
car. In January he sold 12 new Azam accounts and for DStv he closed at 32. His Azam sales
were almost a third of his DStv new accounts in December. He says he gets the Azam
customers from those that would request to migrate from DStv to OVHD. Instead of selling
OVHD he then sell the Azam decoder which has the lowest package at $5 and highest at
$15. Apart from the lower packages, Azam gives customers access to more free to air
channels from different customers across Africa including ZBCtv.
A new competitor called Moreplex was discovered in Kwekwe. The Moreplex decoder is
going for $25 and the dish set is at $20. The subscription fee is $10 per month and it gives
customers access to English premier league and WWE. We could not find a physical location
where this decoder is being sold but it is being advertised in whatsapp groups.
Any Other Business
Call Coverage
The FSS call scheduling is being affected by SCPs that are mapped on routes but not active.
For example, in Kwekwe the FSS app shows that there are two routes with 11 outlets each.
However, we could only find 5 active partners. This mismatch is negatively affecting the call
coverage percentage. There is need to physically visit each town to search and determine
the existence of each partner and their locations. If the partners have moved, we can then
update their details. If the Partner is no longer dealing with DStv products, then we delete
from the system. The challenge is also prevalent in other towns.
Key Action Plan
Item Key action By Whom By When
Improve Call Clean and Caston 28 February
Coverage % update my Muwungani 2025
calling schedule
Commission Educate all SCPs Caston 8 February
Structure on the Muwungani 2025
Awareness commission
structure and
explaining their
monthly targets
Drive Content Educate SCPs on Caston 14 February
Awareness ways of Muwungani 2025
discovering and
selling new
content to
customers
Increase Work with SCPs Caston 28 February
Visibility to improve Muwungani 2025
visibility of their
outlets
Improve Stock Liase with Caston 8 February
Availabilty in Evidatech to Muwungani 2025
Kwekwe increase the
number of stock
distributed in
Kwekwe
Improve Monitor the Caston 10 February
Company Gazebo usage Muwungani 2025
Resources and recall all
Utilisation under utilised
Gazebos for
reallocation.
