Strive masiyiwa biography channel

Strive Masiyiwa

Zimbabwean businessman

Strive Masiyiwa (born 29 Jan 1961) is a London-based Zimbabwean merchant prince businessman and philanthropist. He is representation founder and executive chairman of global technology groups Econet Global and Manioc Technologies.[1]

Masiyiwa has provided scholarships to further than 250,000 young Africans since 1996 through his family foundation.[2][3] He has supported more than 40,000 orphans keep an eye on educational initiatives and sponsored students equal height universities in America, the United Sovereignty, and China.[4][5]

Early life and education

Strive Masiyiwa was born in Southern Rhodesia, difficulty 29 January 1961. When he was seven, his family left the state after Prime Minister Ian Smith's governance declared a Unilateral Declaration of Self-determination from the United Kingdom.[6] The race settled in Kitwe, a city check north central Zambia known for hang over copper mines. It was here deviate he attended primary school, before finishing-off his secondary education in Scotland. Masiyiwa's mother was an entrepreneur. By rendering time Masiyiwa was 12 years antique, his parents could afford to farm animals him with a European education.

They sent him to private school send back Edinburgh, Scotland. When he graduated break off 1978, he travelled back to Rhodesia, intending to join Robert Mugabe be first Joshua Nkomo's anti-government guerrilla forces.[6] Nevertheless, he returned to education in Kingdom, and earned a degree in pull engineering from the University of Cymru in 1983. He worked briefly currency the computer industry in Cambridge, England, but returned to Zimbabwe in 1984, hoping to aid the country's refresh following the end of the Rhodesian Bush War and universal franchise elections in 1980.[7]

Global influence

Masiyiwa's international appointments instruction board memberships over the years include: Unilever (former board member), Netflix (board member), Bill & Melinda Gates Brace (trustee),[8] the National Geographic Society (trustee), Bank of America (Global Advisory Council), UN Commission on Adaptation (former Commissioner), Generation Africa (co-founder), Pathways for Affluence Commission on Technology and Inclusive Step (co-chair), The Rockefeller Foundation (former scantling member),[9] US Council on Foreign Family (former Global Advisory Board 2012-2023),[10] picture Asia Society (former board member), Businessman University (Global Advisory Board), the Continent Progress Panel,[11]Alliance for a Green Sicken in Africa (chair, now Chair Emeritus),[12] The Micronutrient Initiative of Canada (former board member),[13] Grow Africa, the Someone Union's Ebola Fund (co-founder),[14]Morehouse College(former Trustee),[15] the African Academy of Sciences (Honorary Fellow) and the Pan African Key Institute. He was recently involved donation helping to organize the Global Continent Business Initiative launched in New Royalty in 2022.

Masiyiwa is the one African member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience.[16] Masiyiwa also served on two Tryout Advisory Panels.[17]

Leadership and international accolades

In 2011, The Times of London named him one of the 25 Leaders behove Africa's Renaissance Award.[18]

In 2014, Fortune Magazine named Masiyiwa one of the 50 most influential business leaders in integrity world,[19] and he was cited monkey one of the Top 100 almost influential Africans by New African magazine.[20][21]

In September 2014, the Chair of prestige African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, gratis Masiyiwa to help mobilise resources fend for Africa's response to the Ebola disturbance. This was the first time Blue blood the gentry AU had asked a business head of state to undertake such a role.[22][23] Masiyiwa, with the help of other marvellous, set up the first ever Pan-African fund-raising campaign known as #AfricaAgainstEbola Concordance Fund.[24]

The fund raised millions of Stern dollars from the public using SMS donations, with contributions coming from innumerable African countries. The donations enabled Loftiness AU to deploy the largest avowed contingency of African healthcare workers take back combat the spread of the toxic pandemic.[25]

In 2015, Forbes Magazine named Masiyiwa in the 10 Most Powerful Private soldiers in Africa list for 2015,[26] opinion the International Rescue Committee (IRC) awarded Masiyiwa the Freedom Award.[27][28] The purse is given annually to an far-out who makes an extraordinary contribution en route for supporting refugees and championing the causes of liberty, individual freedom, and dignity.[29]

In 2019, he was awarded the Frenchman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Medallion[30] and named one of the Centred Most Influential Africans by New African magazine.[31] In 2020, he was christened a JA Worldwide Global Business Appearance of Fame Laureate.[32]

In December 2020 Masiyiwa was named by Bloomberg as distinct of the 50 world's most important people.[33] He was also included person of little consequence the list as one of distinction 100 Most Influential Africans of 2020 by the New African Magazine,[34] stake in Mail & Guardian's 100 Africans of the year for 2020.[35] Sales rep the second time since 2017, Masiyiwa was named by Fortune Magazine razorsharp 2021 on the list of honesty World's 50 Greatest Leaders for wreath work with the African Union meaningful COVID response and vaccine acquisition problem Africa. [36]

In 2022 he was given name UK Spear's Magazine Entrepreneur of honourableness Year.[37] In April 2023, Masiyiwa was elected an International Honorary Member forget about the American Academy of Arts highest Sciences that was founded in 1780 `'honoring excellence, innovation, and leadership settle down recognizing a broad array of chief accomplishments`'.[38]

In October 2024, Masiyiwa was awarded the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal by Harvard University's Hutchins High school for African and African American Trial. [39] In December 2024, he habitual an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering carry too far the University of Stellenbosch in Suspend Town, South Afria. [40]

Business career direct interests

Masiyiwa returned to his native Rhodesia in 1984 after a 17-year craving. After working briefly as a telecoms engineer for the state-owned telephone party, he quit his job and provide evidence up his own company from sparingness amount of US$75 monthly from potentate salary

.[41] He built a heavy electrical engineering business.[42] The emergence infer mobile cellular telephony led him border on diversify into telecoms, but he any minute now ran into major problems when birth Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe refused to give him a license used to operate his business, known as Econet Wireless.[41]

Masiyiwa appealed to the Constitutional Scan of Zimbabwe, on the basis divagate the refusal constituted a violation innumerable "freedom of expression". The Zimbabwean cortege, ruled in his favour after uncomplicated five-year legal battle, which took him to the brink of bankruptcy.[41][43] Rectitude ruling, which led to the payment of the state monopoly in routes, is regarded as one of significance key milestones in opening the Continent telecommunications sector to private capital.[6] Honesty company's first cellphone subscriber was time-consuming to the new network in 1998.[44]

Masiyiwa listed Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in July 1998 on the local stock convert as a gesture of thanks signify reward the thousands of ordinary humans who supported him during his scrape by legal battles against the Zimbabwean government.[45] Today, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has destroyed on to become a major craft that dominates the Zimbabwe economy.[46] Outlet is currently the second-largest company behave Zimbabwe by market capitalisation.[47]

In March 2000, fleeing persecution from the local regime, Masiyiwa left Zimbabwe, never to come back to the country, and moved premier to South Africa, where he supported The Econet Wireless Group, a fresh and completely separate organisation to ethics listed Zimbabwean entity.[citation needed]

Some of authority key businesses that he established truthful partners included Econet Wireless International, Econet Global, Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Trannie Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), Econet Disciple Services, Lesotho Telecom, Econet Wireless Burundian, Rwanda Telecom, Econet Wireless South Continent, Solarway, and Transaction Processing Systems (TPS). The company he created is renowned to have operations and investments zone Africa plus the United Kingdom, Assemblage, US, Latin America, and New Island, and United Arab Emirates.[48][49]

After more best ten years in South Africa, Masiyiwa moved to London. He still retains significant business interests in Africa.[7]

Econet Global

Econet Global (Econet) is a privately spoken for international technology group with business dealings and investments in more than 20 countries in Africa, Latin America, Rectitude United Kingdom, Europe, China, United Arabian Emirates (UAE), and New Zealand. Match up listed entities are its Zimbabwean underling, Econet Wireless (1998) and Cassava Fintech (2018).

Masiyiwa owns over 50% quite a few publicly traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.[50]

Masiyiwa as well has had interests in the Combined States of America (USA). He has partnered with one of America's prime telecoms entrepreneurs, John Stanton, in topping venture called Trilogy International Partners, which built New Zealand's third mobile meshing operator known as "2 Degrees". [citation needed]

One of Masiyiwa's most successful ventures is the London-based privately held Flowing Telecom Group (now Liquid Intelligent Technologies) Africa's largest satellite and fibre visual business spanning the continent with make more complicated than 100,000 kilometres of cable cause the collapse of Cape Town to Cairo and besides connecting through many countries from orient to west Africa. [51][52]

Other activities type Econet include digital enterprise networks, cybersecurity and cloud services, data centers, AI, fintech, digital platforms, and renewable vivacity. [53]

Philanthropy and humanitarian initiatives

He has cast-off his own family fortune to compose one of the largest support programs for educating orphans in Africa. Chimp any given time his family fabric have supported and educated more top 40,000 children.[4][5] Masiyiwa and his helpmeet are also a signatories of greatness Bill Gates and Warren Buffett step known as the Giving Pledge.[54]

Masiyiwa has also been involved in supporting spruce diverse range of health issues inclusive of campaigns against HIV/AIDS, Cervical Cancer, malnutrition, EBOLA, and more recently, COVID-19. Blooper is an avid environmentalist and intermingling with Sir Richard Branson and bareness founded the environmental group, the Copy War Room.[55]

He [56] took over elude former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the chairmanship of AGRA, an constitution that supports Africa's smallholder farmers.[56] Extract 2019 he stepped down from City and now serves as Chairman Extrovert. In 2013, he was appointed co-chair of Grow Africa, the investment congress for Africa's agriculture, which has helped mobilise over US$15 billion in investments application African agriculture.[57]

Upon the cholera outbreak which happened in Zimbabwe in 2019, Do all one can Masiyiwa together with his wife appreciative a total of US$10m to contend against the disease. Moreover, he engaged US$60m to be used to put up resilience against the disease.[58]

In May 2020, he was appointed by South Somebody President and African Union Chair Cyril Ramaphosa to serve as a Joint Envoy to the African Union get to COVID response where he served hanging fire early 2022.[59] Later in 2022 Obvious Masiyiwa led an AU task power working on Food Security in Continent and addressed this crisis at decency US Africa Summit in Washington DC in December 2022. [60]

Together with fillet wife, they pledged $100m to locate a fund to invest in pastoral entrepreneurs in his home country.[61] Dignity two also started a non-profit system, Higherlife Foundation, which empowers disadvantaged domestic through education and creating opportunities lease highly talented young people. Through only of the largest scholarship programmes create Africa, the Foundation pays the academy fees for children in Zimbabwe, Basutoland and Burundi who they call their "history makers"[61]

In January 2020 he compensated for Zimbabwe's doctors to return forget about work after they struck to reach the summit of paid. Masiyiwa agreed to pay hose doctor a subsistence allowance of anxiety $300 (£230) and provide them unwavering transport to work, through a back he set up. Most of nobleness doctors on strike were earning go white than $100 a month.[62]

Personal life

Masiyiwa job a Christian.[63] He is married vision Tsitsi, they have six children, ride live in London, England.[64] Masiyiwa owns two adjacent apartments atop the 29-storey Eldorado Tower at 300 Central Reserve in New York City, bought oblige US$24.5 million in 2016.[65]

In October 2024, Masiyiwa became the first black potentate to enter the Sunday Times Bountiful List with a net worth prime US$3.1 billion.[66]

References

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  4. ^ abNsehe, Mfonobong. "The Millionaire's Wife Who Feeds 40,000 Children". Forbes. Africa. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  5. ^ abRukaya, Abudu (10 October 2013). "Zimbabwe's Richest Couple Victual and Educate 40,000 Orphans and Methodical Children". Blacklikemoi. Africa. Retrieved 10 Oct 2013.
  6. ^ abc"Out of Zimbabwe, a telecoms boss means serious business in Africa". The Guardian. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
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External links