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During the COVID-19 period, many young people from African countries returned to their homeland. As a Bitcoin enthusiast, Ovidy not only brought back the idea of economic freedom to Zimbabwe, but also conducted two businesses using BTC: importing automobile trade and international payments.
INTERVIEW
In Zimbabwe, where financial concepts are lagging behind, Bitcoin’s investment attribute is relatively weak. More importantly, Bitcoin has the role of empowering the economy.
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Ovidy has lived in the United States for decades and learned about Bitcoin during his undergraduate studies. After returning to Zimbabwe, he established a Bitcoin-based company. The picture below shows Ovidy (center) and Bitcoin traveler Paco (left):
Ovidy encountered Bitcoin during the bull market of 2017, when the price of Bitcoin was around $10,000. However, he did not make any investments because he said, “I knew nothing about it.” After gradually understanding BTC, Ovidy started using Bitcoin to import cars to Zimbabwe and to make peer-to-peer remittances to his family in Kenya and overseas immigrants. He really likes importing BMW cars and believes that BTC gives him hope for the future.
“I thought that one day you could invest $500 in Bitcoin; the next day you would have $1,000, and it would continue to rise.”
During his time in the United States, he accumulated some experience. But it took him several years to learn how to use cryptocurrencies for payments, such as using BitLianGuaiy to buy clothes on Amazon.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Ovidy was forced to return to Zimbabwe from the United States. Unfortunately:
“When I returned to Zimbabwe, I couldn’t find any jobs, so I started foreign exchange trading.”
The foreign exchange account required him to deposit some Bitcoin into the account. Ovidy remembered that he had some Bitcoin stored in an old Coinbase account. He checked and found out that he purchased BTC worth $500 in 2017 and 2018, which was now worth over $2,000.
Ovidy immediately realized that he could use Bitcoin for payments and investments. He could start an innovative business. More importantly, he could be his own boss. So, he created an e-wallet transfer center.
Brochure for Ovidy's remittance business. Image source: Facebook
Then he used his network of relationships to serve the Japanese imported automobile trade, buying BMW or Toyota. His Zimbabwean customers gave him US dollars, and he sent Bitcoin to the Japanese car dealerships. A few weeks later, the cars were shipped to Zimbabwe.
Why do this? He explained:
“I can’t transfer dollars to Japan because the only way is through banks, which takes a long time and carries a lot of risk. If I use BTC, I can immediately send Bitcoin to Japan when I need to trade, and the transaction is confirmed by both parties. Bitcoin is a faster and safer process,” he said.
If done through a bank, this process would take over two weeks and involve high commissions.
Ovidy charges a small commission in sales and balances the dollars he earns by using Bitcoin for reverse remittances. Due to the scarcity of US dollars in Zimbabwe, Ovidy buys Bitcoin from “Zimbabweans or Kenyan immigrants” and pays with the dollars he earns from car sales.
The two recently imported cars by Ovidy were paid for with Bitcoin. Source: Ovidy
Ovidy says, “Although the adoption rate of Bitcoin in Zimbabwe is growing, it is not without challenges. Many people ‘distrust Bitcoin’ and there are obvious differences:
“Initially, people didn’t appreciate Bitcoin because most investors encountered scams. Even I was scammed out of $500 when I was learning to use Bitcoin!”
He mentioned that the trickiest part of adopting Bitcoin is that “it is intangible for the older generation.” His friend William Chui built a “Bitcoin Home, where people in the community can use Bitcoin to transact” to prove to people that with Bitcoin, it is possible to achieve financial freedom.
Bitcoin Home, built by Ovidy's friend William Chui. Source: Ovidy
Although education remains a major obstacle for cryptocurrency adoption in Zimbabwe, and the country is experiencing hyperinflation, he remains hopeful. He said, “We start small, and after persisting for 10 to 15 years, the younger generation who appreciates Bitcoin will make Zimbabwe a country that adopts Bitcoin.”
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