Strive Masiyiwa: Biography, Networth, family life, achievements
Strive Masiyiwa: Biography, Networth, family life, achievements
A rich businessman and philanthropist from Zimbabwe named Strive Masiyiwa resides in London. He is the founder and executive chairman of the global technology companies Cassava Technologies and Econet Global. Via his family foundation, Masiyiwa has given scholarships to more than 250,000 young Africans over the previous 20 years. He has funded educational programs for more than 40,000 orphans and supported scholars at American, British, and Chinese universities.
Biography
On January 29, 1961, Strive Masiyiwa was born in Zimbabwe. His family left the country when he was seven years old as a result of Prime Minister Ian Smith’s administration issuing a unilateral declaration of independence from the United Kingdom. The family made its home in Kitwe, a copper-mining city in north-central Zambia. He went to primary school in this location before completing his secondary schooling in Scotland. Masiyiwa’s mother ran her own business. Masiyiwa’s parents were able to afford to send him to a European school when he was 12 years old.
In Edinburgh, Scotland, a private school was chosen for him. After earning his degree in 1978, he returned to Rhodesia with the intention of joining Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe’s anti-government guerrilla forces. He did go back to school in Britain, nevertheless, and graduated in 1983 with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wales. Following the end of the Rhodesian Bush War and the universal franchise elections in 1980, he briefly worked in the computer industry in Cambridge, England, before moving back to Zimbabwe in 1984. He did this in an effort to help the nation recover.
Business career and interests
Masiyiwa visited his native Zimbabwe for the first time in 17 years in 1984. He temporarily worked as a telecoms engineer for the state-owned telephone firm before quitting his job and starting his own business by setting aside US$75 each month from his pay. He established a sizable electrical engineering company. He diversified into telecoms as a result of the development of mobile cellular technology, but he immediately encountered serious difficulties when the Robert Mugabe-led government of Zimbabwe refused to provide him a license to run his company, Econet Wireless.
Masiyiwa filed an appeal with the Zimbabwean Constitutional Court on the grounds that the refusal violated her “right of expression.” After a five-year legal battle that nearly drove him into bankruptcy, the Zimbabwean court decided in his favor. One of the major turning points in the opening up of the African telecommunications industry to private investment was the decision that resulted in the end of the governmental monopoly in telecommunications. In 1998, the company’s first cell phone user connected to the brand-new network.
Masiyiwa placed Econet Wireless Zimbabwe on the local stock exchange in July 1998 as a token of appreciation for the thousands of regular citizens who stood with him throughout his protracted legal fights with the Zimbabwean government. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has developed into a significant company that now controls the economy of Zimbabwe. According to market capitalization, it is currently the second-largest company in Zimbabwe.
Masiyiwa departed Zimbabwe in March 2000, vowing never to return. He first relocated to South Africa, where he established The Econet Wireless Group, a brand-new company that is entirely distinct from the listed Zimbabwean corporation.
Econet Wireless International, Econet Global, Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), Econet Satellite Services, Lesotho Telecom, Econet Wireless Burundi, Rwanda Telecom, Econet Wireless South Africa, Solarway, and Transaction Processing Systems are just a few of the significant companies he founded with partners (TPS). The business he founded is known to have operations and investments not only in Latin America but also in China, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Masiyiwa relocated to London after living in South Africa for more than ten years. He continues to have substantial economic interests in Africa.
Econet Global
A privately held multinational technology company called Econet Global (Econet) has business operations and investments in over 20 nations, including those in China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and Africa. Its Zimbabwean subsidiary Econet Wireless (1998) and Cassava Fintech are two of the listed companies (2018). More than 50% of publicly traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is owned by Masiyiwa. Masiyiwa had ties to the United States of America as well (USA). He co-founded Trilogy International Partners, which created “2 Degrees,” New Zealand’s third mobile network provider, in partnership with John Stanton, one of America’s top telecoms entrepreneurs.
The London-based Liquid Telecom Group (now Liquid Intelligent Technologies), Africa’s largest satellite and fiber optic company, spanning the continent with more than 100,000 kilometers of cable from Cape Town to Cairo and also connecting through many nations from east to west Africa, is one of Masiyiwa’s most lucrative endeavors.
Data centers, finance, digital platforms, digital enterprise networks, cybersecurity, and renewable energy are some of Econet’s additional activities.
Personal life
Masiyiwa professes Christianity. He is married to Tsitsi, and the two of them reside in London, England with their six children. Masiyiwa purchased two adjoining apartments in 2016 for US$24.5 million at 300 Central Park, a 29-story Eldorado Tower building in New York City.
Strive Masiyiwa’s Philanthropy
One of the most active philanthropists in Africa is Masiyiwa. In 1996, Strive Masiyiwa and his family established the Higher Life Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing education in Africa.
Higher Life Foundation Includes Four Foundations;
- Capernaum Trust
- The Christian community Partnership Trust (CCPF)
- The National Health Care Trust of Zimbabwe
- Joshua Nkom Scholarship Fund
Each of these foundations has a certain agenda that it is pursuing. 250,000 youngsters now have direct or indirect access to school thanks to Higher Life. The Foundation has expanded to become one of Africa’s biggest scholarship providers.
Other initiatives supported by the Higher Life Foundation include the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe in 2008 and the revival of the medical college’s operations there from 2008 to 2012. The foundation has taken steps to streamline its operations and is now concentrating on finding orphans who are highly intelligent and providing them with a chance to pursue an education. Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Lesotho all have branches of the Higher Life Foundation there.
Awards and Recognitions of Strive Masiyiwa
- Zimbabwean Businessman of the year award 1990
- Zimbabwean manager and Entrepreneur of the year award 1998
- Global Business Influential List by Times 2002
- 10 most influential business leaders in the world by CNN 2003
- Builder of the Modern Africa Award 2010
- 20 Most Powerful Business People in Africa Business by Forbes 2011
- 25 Leaders of Africa’s Renaissance Award by Times of London 2011
- 50 Most influential business leaders in the world 2014
- 10 Most powerful men in Africa by Forbes 2015
- The Freedom award by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) 2015
- Number 33 in the world’s greatest leaders list by Fortune magazine 2017
- Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Medallion and named one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine. 2019
- 50 world’s most influential people by Bloomberg. 2020
- World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine. 2021
- UK Spear’s Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year. 2022
Strive Masiyiwa: Biography, Networth, family life, achievements
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Global Impacts
Masiyiwa has held numerous international positions and served on a number of boards over the years, including those at Unilever, Netflix, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Geographic Society, Bank of America, the UN Commission on Adaptation, Generation Africa, the Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development, and The Rockefeller Foundation (Global Advisory Board),Grow Africa, the African Union’s Ebola Fund (co-founder), Morehouse College (former Trustee), the African Academy of Sciences (Honorary Fellow), the Pan African Strategic Institute, the Africa Progress Panel, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (chair, now Chair Emeritus), and The Micronutrient Initiative of Canada. He recently assisted in the planning of the 2022 New York launch of the Global Africa Business Initiative. Masiyiwa is the sole African representative on the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Also serving on two UN advisory panels was Masiyiwa.
Strive Masiyiwa’s Net Worth
Strive Masiyiwa, who is expected to have a net worth of $1.9 billion, will be the richest person in Zimbabwe in 2023 as well as the 12th richest person in Africa. In the UK and Europe, he is also the richest black person.
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