South African DJ and businesswoman DJ Zinhle is turning her fan base into a phone network. Bestie Connect, a prepaid mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) named after the "Besties" she greets in her videos, runs on MTN South Africa's network. Pre-registration is open now and the official launch is due later in November, TechCentral reported on 3 November.
The venture is built with BlueStream Mobile, an MVNO advisory business run by Hymie Marnewick, who sold XLink Communications to Vodacom in 2015. Zinhle is a shareholder alongside BlueStream, according to TechCentral. "I've partnered with industry experts, BlueStream Mobile, to bring this vision to life," she told the Daily Sun.
What subscribers get
- Five prepaid combos, bought weekly or monthly, from R59 a month for 1GB of data and 20 minutes to R249 for 20GB and 75 minutes. The minutes cover calls between Bestie Connect subscribers only, and build-your-own bundles are planned.
- Loyalty points that can be spent on her concert tickets, vouchers for her Era retail stores, or extra data.
- A panic button linked to an emergency response service.
- SIMs delivered by courier or collected from Era stores, and handset financing from around Christmas, starting with Samsung, Oppo, Honor and Huawei. Financed phones can be blocked remotely if payments stop.
- A content hub, to follow later, where her music and posts appear 30 minutes before they reach social media.
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Marnewick's pitch is about who owns the audience. "Any influencer is renting their audience from the social media platforms," he told TechCentral. A SIM and an app give the brand a direct, paid relationship with fans, plus data on what they buy. He called Bestie Connect "the first female influencer-led MVNO in Africa", saying he had found no other on the continent; that is the company's claim.
The business case is modest on paper. Marnewick cited a 3.5% social media click-through rate and assumes the network wins 4% of Zinhle's audience over five years. Bestie Connect joins about 30 MVNOs already on MTN in South Africa, according to MTN South Africa CEO Ferdi Moolman, quoted by TechCentral.
The network extends a brand that already spans her Era jewellery and fashion line, Hair Majesty and her Zee Nation festival, all of which feed perks into the plan, the Daily Sun reported.
