SURE LOAN

MUTARE, ZIMBABWE — Cellphone minutes are in constant demand, so Susan Musungambira, who sells cards that replenish those minutes, has no problems with job security.

But her income is another issue. Musungambira doesn’t earn much, so she has to make tough choices.

One tough choice? To forgo medical insurance.

“We actually joke that a vendor shouldn’t get sick, as we cannot afford to get sick,” she says.

And yet, Musungambira has enough money to buy funeral insurance. In a culture where a funeral is often an expensive but required, dayslong affair rich in meaning, she feels that it’s important to prepare.

“Given a choice, a funeral policy is better, because death is untimely, and funeral expenses are more than health expenses,” she says.

She’s not alone. The majority of Zimbabweans aren’t insured at all, but most who do carry insurance have it to cover expenses incurred for their last rites, rather than for medical costs that might otherwise keep them alive.

Just 30 percent of adult Zimbabweans have any form of insurance, according to 2014 research conducted by Finmark Trust and published by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency. Of those people who are insured, 82 percent have funeral insurance.

Estimates by the Association of Healthcare Funders of Zimbabwe show that the situation is perhaps even more dire. A 2017 report noted that 1.3 million people – out of 14 million people in Zimbabwe – have medical insurance. That’s about 9 percent of the total population. (Some estimates note that Zimbabwe’s population is closer to 16 million.)

Medical insurance, often called medical aid in Zimbabwe, costs anywhere from $15 to $100 per month, depending on the plans and the services they provide.

Funeral insurance, on the other hand, can cost as little as 50 cents per month for a basic plan.

Traditional insurance companies offer policies that cover funerals, but often it’s funeral homes themselves that act as informal insurers throughout Africa, according to research published in 2011 by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility, a division of the International Labour Organization. Funeral insurance is especially popular in South Africa, where an estimated 45 percent of adults have policies. Last rites are a high priority in that country, even when they’re expensive.

The same is true in Zimbabwe, but with a serious, years-long economic crisis stunting daily life, people sometimes struggle to gather the money needed for even their most important traditions.

Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is debilitating. Exact numbers are disputed, but some estimates note that it might be as high as 90 percent. Many of the people who are employed work in informal sectors. Jobs that offer benefits are rare.

Even for people who can afford insurance coverage, there’s not much motivation to pay into a system that might not be around when they need it.

In 2009, when Zimbabwe introduced a multi-currency system, crushing inflation came with it. Life insurance policies were wiped out, along with the life savings of many people.

Now, as Zimbabwe’s economy still struggles to stay afloat, some doctors no longer accept medical insurance, because they don’t get paid by the insurance companies, they say.

Dr. Enock Tatira, a general practitioner in Mutare, says doctors are forced to pay taxes to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority on money that they haven’t received yet.

“Many practices folded as a result, and the remaining ones started asking for cash payments from patients,” Tatira says.

When it comes to funeral insurance, the low price makes it affordable for Zimbabweans who want to plan ahead for future financial needs but who otherwise can’t afford to do so.

Mildred Matwenyu is a vendor who sells soft drinks and sweets – a job that offers little money for expenses other than basic necessities. She bought a funeral insurance policy that, for $36 per month, covers her and her children.

“I would want to have medical aid insurance…but with no salary and [a] fixed income, there is no guarantee I would be able to pay every month,” she says.

If she has more children, she says, she’ll simply add them to her funeral insurance policy.

Evidence Chenjerai, GPJ, translated some interviews from Shona

If you thought leaving corporate America and starting your own small business would mean the end of conference calls, you might find yourself sorely mistaken. Most service- and product-based businesses require conference calls at least every once in a while.

If you need to organize an occasional call, or even a frequent one, any of these services may be up to the task. And, the best part: many of them are free to use! Let’s take a look at the best conference call services for small business to get your calls on the right track.

If you want a free conference call tool for voice calls, UberConference is the first place you should look. UberConference makes voice calls simple and easy for business owners, and the basic service to host calls is free to use. No PIN required, and if you click on the website they can even call you.

After signing up, you get your own conference call host web link, which you and your guests can use to quickly join a call with a phone or computer. Starting and managing a call on the computer gives you the best experience, but there is nothing wrong with calling in from your phone. If you download the app, you can start and join a conference with one tap.

The free version supports up to 10 participants at a time. For up to 100 and additional features, UberConference costs $10 per month. My favorite feature, included in the free account, is the ability to use “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley as hold music.

Skype is a great choice for video and international conference calls. One of the biggest benefits of Skype is that it is free to call other Skype users and a huge number of business owners already have it.

Skype comes from a reliable, trusted software company: Microsoft. Skype claims 1 billion downloads and 300 million monthly active users and is a standard for international and video conference calls.

It is free to call Skype-to-Skype, but calling out to a phone number may incur a charge.

Zoom is a newer entrant to the video and online conference call space, but it landed with a splash. Zoom is popular for its reliability and ease-of-use. If you have a Zoom account, you can create a meeting link to send out by email. Participants can then join with a click.

A free account allows you to run a meeting with up to 100 participants (with a 40 minute limit) and unlimited one-on-one calls. Premium plans cost $14.99 and $19.99 per month, but there are additional a la carte features for an additional fee.

If you have a Gmail account, you have an account that works with Google Hangouts. And it’s free. Gmail has over 1 billion active users, so odds are most people can join you if you host a call on Hangouts.

If you use Google Chrome, joining a Hangout is as easy as a click. Because it comes from Google, you can trust it is well supported and reliable. However, some users do struggle with quirky features. For example, adding a user to a recurring conference call may lead to some hassles if the newer participant tries to join without the original host. But that aside, it is a great tool you can count on, and it won’t hurt the budget.

If you are a regular with conference calls, odds are you have come across GoToMeeting. It is a popular meeting tool for both small businesses and enterprise businesses. GoToMeeting is huge among dedicated meeting services. It hosts 80 million annual meetings for 18 million users.

This conference call service is notable for its wide ranging support of different devices, instant and scheduled meetings, and generally user friendly experiences. But it is not free. After a 14-day trial, GoToMeeting charges from $19 per month to $49 per month for its three plans.

If you had any doubt, this website offers a free conference call service. FreeConferenceCall.com is a long-time veteran in the web connected conference call industry. This conference call service lets you host up to 1,000 callers via phone or online connection, host phone or online meetings with screen sharing, and run webinar style meetings all from the same account.

Premium (paid) features include a dedicated number with no access code, toll free numbers, custom greetings, custom hold music, and extra meeting recording storage.

Webex is a product of enterprise networking company Cisco. It comes loaded with nearly every possible bell and whistle you can expect from a conference call service. Cisco even makes Webex hardware so you can host video conference calls with native devices.

But even if you don’t pony up for a Webex camera, it integrates with most browsers, operating systems, and gives you both online and dial-in meeting options. But with all of those tools, sometimes the software can feel a little confusing and bloated.

There is no free version. The basic version for up to eight participants costs $14.95 per month. There are two higher tiers before you hit enterprise scale that can handle up to 1,000 participants in a call.

Join.me is a newer web-focused conference calling app with a range of useful features. That includes both audio and video conference calls, mobile apps, easy scheduling, a personal join link, and screen sharing.

One standout feature is the whiteboarding tool, which allows you to write on your screen just like a whiteboard even if you are not all in the same room. It gives remote teams a little more of an in-person touch.

After a free trial, this service costs from $10 per month for the Lite plan to $30 per month for the Business plan depending on your needs.

Rounding out our list is Appear.in, which has a focus on making conference calls as easy as possible. In fact, you can start a new conference call room by simply entering a name and clicking the button on the homepage. It only takes a few seconds to start.

Share your link with anyone else and they can join your room in a single click as well. Skype, email, text, whatever. It just works. The free plan is good for up to four participants at a time in one room. The $9.99 per month Pro plan offers up to 12 participants in 10 rooms and additional features.