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Business, Careers & Technology
Dealers in
Terence Zimwara
The post 2008 era has seen the
typical dealer face hard times,
a far cry from the extravagant
lifestyle they led when the rest
of the economy was in the doldrums.
Money changers, the most prominent
of these dealers went along with ease
and a large number of them where
environment of the 2000s.
If anything the economic environment
worked wonders for them, having access
to foreign currency during that time
made it easy for them to get anything they
wanted.
currency dealers then because the main
transactions were between the Zimdollar
and other foreign currencies.
was an unknown phenomenon, people
paid little attention to changes in
profound effect on the then prevailing
exchange rate.
This is where the currency dealer
would make their abnormal mark ups,
general public.
However, since the adoption of the US
dollar as Zimbabwe’s primary currency,
there has been little business for currency
dealers and that is why a majority of them
have opted out.
Fast forward to 2014, few street foreign
currency dealers are no longer exactly
living large. Some have been reduced to
close to nothing.
The margins they now earn have
reduced tremendously to what are
relatively normal levels. For instance,
at the moment you can exchange one
American dollar for about ten rands and
cents or a low commission.
percent, a far cry from the twenty percent
or more one would get charged during
because people still shun banks when
changing their money preferring dealers
operating from Roadport and all the way
right down to First Street in Harare.
Currency dealers are not the only
ones to have fallen on hard times since
the economy stabilized back in 2009.
The infamous illegal traders at the now
defunct Ximex Mall complex have also
found themselves falling on rocky times.
During their heyday, Zimbabweans
to purchase the latest mobile phones,
laptops or even semi durable household
items. Again traders at this mall had
access to foreign currency, something
that established and formal businesses
did not have.
People had few or no option but to buy
from the street traders although there was
always the risk of getting conned. Just
like their currency dealing counterparts,
street traders around Ximex have found
the going has become tougher since the
start of dollarization back in 2009.
When restrictions on foreign currency
movement were removed it became
easier for established businesses to start
the business of importing goods into
the country, hurting prospects of street
dealers in the process.
Conventional shops started stocking
and selling mobile phones, laptops plus
Page 64 The Parade - Zimbabwe’s Most Read Lifestyle Magazine
August 2014