A few years ago, trend setter, serial entrepreneur and founder of TB Bank once said the Tawanda Nyambirai once lamented on how Zimbabwean music industry is failing to use the digital space. I couldn’t agree more until I bumped into the cofounder of Olova at 2014 Shoko festival. We started talking about they were planning to transform the music industry in Zimbabwe whilst Amara Brown was putting a spirited performance on stage.

Olova is an android application developed for the prime purpose of music distribution in Zimbabwe. It makes use of the three main mobile commerce systems available to Zimbabweans (Ecocash, Telecash & One Wallet) to bring better music distribution and affordability of local music. Artists and the industry are not just about songs, that’s why Olova offers more. Olova™ has been made in a way that makes sure that the application itself remains a manageable size as all the music is housed on their servers.

How Olova Works

After installing this great application, users will have to sign up to Olova and create accounts. This is because Olova works with a creditable prepaid account system. Users of Olova™ will be able to purchase recharge pins from Factor O via Ecocash/Telecash/One Wallet and they can redeem these on the Olova™ application thereby crediting their accounts.

The big deal

I bet you have heard about bitcoins and other related virtual currencies. Olova added another flair to there business which I suspect may go a long way into the virtual currency system contribution. Olova will use its own virtual currency called “oLos”. The conversion rate is: 1oLo = $0.10 USD (10cents) so a dollar is 10oLos.

GETTING THE MUSIC

One of the things that bothered me about Zimbabwean music is I had to buy a whole album when I want track 5 and track 8. Why can’t I just have those two tracks only? Olova heard our cry and came to our rescue. There solution has been made to satisfy the users while putting the artists to get their music out to the masses. The music tab on Olova makes attaining music very easy for the fan, a whole new type of easy. Furnished with a Search Bar, Olova makes sure that users can just search from the music tab for the artist or song they want. Under the Exclusive Downloads bar, the user may find music that has been registered as “exclusive”; pre – release downloads or high demand tracks. The Music bar is where all music on Olova will be found. Upon selecting it, users are given the opportunity to choose between the Artwork View and the List View. Aren’t you frizzled and frazzled already or aren’t you saying hush, I had that idea in my mind for 5 years. The golden question is, what did you do about it?

THE EXTRAS – Solving the social problems in Zimbabwe

“Olova™ has been made to service the market, and we know that music is not just about making sure that the music is available when wanted”, said Archie. “Here at factor o, we have made sure to include various value addition features into Olova™ so that all aspects of an artist’s work as a business and brand may be catered for.” He continues. Some of the powerful features on Olova which makes it a must have app on your phone are below. This is social entrepreneurship in action.

Push Notifications

Olova™ is fashioned with a push notification system available for use by artists to disseminate information to either, subscribed artists or to all users of Olova. Users of Olova™ are able to select which artists’ notifications to subscribe to via the settings menu;

The HUB

This is the inbuilt “Artist Directory” that is part of Olova™. Artists are not just about the music; the HUB is there to lead users to Artist blogs, merchandise (t – shirts and more), YouTube accounts and/or websites. This feature hopefully helps in making Olova™ the best place for all things music. the Olova™ HUB currently has links to some of the active bloggers in as far as the Zimbabwean music industry goes; the best place to read on new music and get reviews on released music. To get to the HUB tab, just swipe left from the Home tab.

Scope the Scene (STS)

The scope the scene feature is one that will prove useful to artists and advertisers alike; it is an e – notice board with information stored on the Olova™ servers for easy updating. STS houses information about gigs, parties, events; generally where it is happening, when, what time, and what the price is (directions as well if necessary). This feature was put in place to make room for the variations in time at which people log into their Facebook or Twitter accounts and makes sure everyone has a fair shot at getting information. STS is on the Home tab a one of the bars;

We could have gone and on discussing some of the powerful things Olova offer but we had a show to watch. This discussion cost us 4 Amara Brown songs including her performance with Jay Prayzah and with Guspy Warrior. I hope this interview will motivate some tech geeks sleeping on the couch trying to crack a code and finally break the bank. I can assure you that it is possible. Achie and his team have done it and so can you. If you have a business idea, I have a surprising team of Business idea validation. The work they have done is amazing and the ideas that have gone through their validation process came out superb and ready to take the world by storm. All we are looking for are a few game changers who aren’t scared to take center stage and exploit the many business opportunities in Zimbabwe. As I sign off, the Olova team’s contacts are:

Phone: +263777714566; +263775919692

E-mail: info@olova.biz

negusonai@gmail.com

archieronmoyo@gmail.com

And as always, to your continued success.