Privacy notice

Who we are

Apex Four Ventures (Private) Limited (registration no. 84313A0222026), Harare, Zimbabwe, also trading as GIS Experts Zimbabwe. We decide how the personal information described here is used. Questions or requests: customercare@apexfourventures.co.zw.

What this notice covers

One notice for everything we run: this website and its enquiry form, the client and team portal (projects, documents, messages, maps, quotations, invoices and receipts), the document check page at /verify, and the emails we send you.

What we collect

• Enquiries: your name, email, phone, the service you need, the site location and size, any website estimate you attach, and your message.
• Portal accounts: name, email, phone, company, job title, an optional profile picture, your role, and when you last signed in.
• Project information: files you or we upload, site boundaries and map layers (which can include property details), messages, notes and project updates.
• Finance records: quotations, invoices, receipts and payment details such as method, reference and amount. For online payments we keep the amount, the payment provider’s reference and the result. If you tell us about a bank transfer or cash payment on the payment page, we keep the details you give (amount, date, reference, name, email) and any proof of payment you attach, so we can match it. Card numbers and mobile-money PINs are entered on Paynow’s or Pesepay’s own pages and never reach us; for EcoCash or OneMoney prompts we pass on the mobile number you type.
• Security records: sign-in activity, an audit log of important actions, password-reset codes (stored scrambled, valid 15 minutes) and standard server logs such as IP address and browser type.
• Email delivery log: to whom and when we emailed, the subject and whether it was delivered — not the message itself.
• Website visit counts: for each day, how many times each page was viewed, how many times the WhatsApp or call buttons were tapped, and which website or campaign the visit came from (for example Google or Facebook). These counts use no cookies and store no IP address or other personal detail. When you send an enquiry, it includes where your visit started and, if you arrived from one of our adverts or campaign links, the campaign name and the advert's click reference.
• Insights emails: if you sign up, your email address and whether you confirmed or unsubscribed.
• Testimonials: if you agree to be quoted, your words, name and the role or company you choose, with a note of when and how you agreed.
• Spam protection: a count of enquiries sent from each IP address over the last day, and copies of messages our filters treat as spam, so we can check none were genuine.

How we use it

• To reply to enquiries, visit sites and prepare quotations.
• To run projects you engage us for, keep you informed and deliver the work.
• To issue invoices and receipts, take payments you choose to make online, and keep the accounting records we must keep.
• To keep accounts and records secure, prevent misuse and investigate problems.

We do not sell personal information. If you accept advertising cookies (see below), Meta and Google can tell us which of our adverts led to an enquiry.

Who can see it

• Clients see only their own projects, documents shared with them, their messages, quotations, invoices and receipts.
• Our team sees what their role needs: field staff see only projects they are assigned to and no prices; finance and managers see more. These limits are enforced by the server.
• Profile pictures are visible to you and our team; your picture and job title appear next to your name in messages and project updates, and in emails sent because of something you did. Emailed pictures use a private link that only works for that exact picture.
• The /verify page shows only a document's type, status, date and project reference — never amounts, names or contact details.

Services we rely on

Our web hosting provider stores the website, portal, database, files and backups. Emails are sent from our own mailboxes through our mail server. Online payments are processed by Paynow and Pesepay (Zimbabwean payment providers) under their own terms and privacy policies; we send them the invoice number, the amount and, where needed, your email address or mobile number. The maps load imagery from Esri and street maps from OpenStreetMap, which receive your IP address when your browser requests map tiles.

Advertising and analytics (only if you accept): we may use the Meta Pixel (Facebook and Instagram) and Google Analytics / Google Ads to measure our adverts. They load only after you choose “Accept” in the cookie message, and they then set their own cookies and receive details of your visit under Meta’s and Google’s own privacy policies. If you accepted and then send an enquiry, we also tell Meta directly from our server that an enquiry was made, with your email address and phone number scrambled (one-way hashed) so Meta can match it to the advert you saw, plus your IP address and browser type. If you choose “No thanks”, none of this happens. You can change your choice at any time with “Cookie choices” at the bottom of every page.

Cookies and browser storage

• A sign-in cookie keeps you logged in to the portal (it ends when you sign out or after a period of inactivity).
• Your browser remembers your light/dark theme choice and which portal panels you folded away.
• When you move from another page to the enquiry form, the details you chose (for example a fee estimate) are held briefly in your browser so the form can be filled in for you.
• Your browser tab remembers which page your visit started on and where it came from, until you close the tab, so an enquiry can say how you found us.
• If you arrived from one of our adverts or campaign links, your browser remembers that campaign (and the advert's click reference) for 30 days, so an enquiry you send later can say which campaign it came from.
• Your browser remembers your cookie choice for 12 months.
• Only if you accept: cookies from Meta (for example _fbp, _fbc) and Google (for example _ga, _gcl_au) used to measure our adverts. Choosing “No thanks” later removes the ones set on our website address.

How long we keep it

Enquiries that do not become projects are kept for as long as needed to follow up, then deleted on request. Backups of portal data are kept on our server on a rolling basis (by default the 14 most recent) and older ones are deleted automatically. Project, finance and audit records are kept for as long as needed for the work and for our legal and accounting obligations. Old profile pictures are deleted when you replace or remove them.

Keeping it safe

Passwords are stored only as secure hashes; staff can protect their accounts with two-step sign-in (the authenticator key is stored encrypted); project files and profile pictures are kept outside the public website and are served only to people allowed to see them; actions are recorded in an audit log; and every quotation, invoice and receipt can be checked for authenticity. No system is perfectly secure, so please keep your password private and tell us straight away if you suspect misuse.

Your choices and rights

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, correct it, or have it deleted where we are not required to keep it. You can update your own portal details and picture at any time under My account. Email customercare@apexfourventures.co.zw and we will respond as required by applicable Zimbabwean data-protection law.

Changes

If we change how we use personal information we will update this notice and the date below.

Last updated: 8 October 2026