Can you name the top news stories in Zimbabwe right now, or any recent policy change taking place in the country? Chances are you’ll have a hard time.
The news landscape in the country is fragmented, filled with gossip, entertainment, and clickbait that often obscure the stories that truly matter.
In my brief experience living abroad, trying to keep up with the political and economic changes in Zim was exhausting. I was met with three problems:
- Poor Design: The local news sites are often cluttered with ads and clickbait headlines.
- Low Signal: It’s hard to find stories that actually affect people’s day-to-day lives with all the noise of social media.
- Polarisation: Most sources are heavily biased or provide unverified claims shared through social media and government-sponsored sources.
So, I built Ikka to filter out all the noise. Inspired by minimalist news platforms like Kagi News and News Minimalist, Ikka’s main goal is to only show the most significant stories from Zimbabwe.
The Core Principles
Ikka is built on a low news diet philosophy. Every decision about the product is based on these five values:
- The website is only updated once a day at 8:00 AM CAT.
- Only a maximum of 20 stories per day. If it’s not in the top 20, it’s noise.
- We always link directly to the original reporting.
- No ads, no distractions, no tracking. Just the news.
- Simplicity in both design and experience.
How Does This All Work
Every day, Ikka scans thousands of articles from public RSS feeds and the web. Our AI algorithm then filters, ranks, and summarises these stories based on a
- Scale: Is the impact local, provincial, or national?
- Impact: How severe is the development? (e.g., a policy change vs. a minor event).
- Credibility: We prioritise cross-verified, independent reporting over single-source claims.
- Novelty: Is this a genuine development or a rehash of old news?
- Future Potential: Does this story have the power to transform Zimbabwe’s long-term
Whats Next
This is just the beginning. I am currently refining the platform to include:
- A Weekly Newsletter: A newsletter on the most important news stories of the week
- Context Layers: Adding Background and context to stories so you don’t have to search for the history of a topic.
- Mobile Speed: Optimising the minimalist UI to be even faster for users on limited data connections.
Ready to cut through the noise? Explore Today’s Brief on Ikka News →
If you want to discuss the project, report a bug, or suggest a feature, I’d love to hear from you: dev.mayberaymond@gmail.com