AFRICAN FOCUSED: 10 things about Strive Masiyiwa
Monday, a day to get inspired and today we pick one of Africa’s richest man. Here are some of the random top 10 things to know about the man from Zimbabwe.
‘Whether you’re a farmer, builder or engineer, the opportunities are equal: Just add a little innovation.’ Strive
- Strive Masiyiwa was born in Zimbabwe, on 29 January 1961. Family moved to Zambia when he was 7 years old. Returned to Zimbabwe in 1984
- Masiyiwa’s international appointments and board memberships over the years include: Unilever (board member), Netflix (board member), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (trustee), the National Geographic Society (trustee), Bank of America (global board member), Prince of Wales Trust (trustee), UN Commission on Adaptation (Commissioner), Generation Africa (co-founder), Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development (co-chair), The Rockefeller Foundation (former board member), US Council on Foreign Relations (Global Advisory Board), the Asia Society (board member), Stanford University (Global Advisory Board), the Africa Progress Panel, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Chair, now Chair Emeritus), The Micronutrient Initiative of Canada (former board member), Grow Africa, the African Union‘s Ebola Fund (co-founder), Morehouse College, the African Academy of Sciences (Honorary Fellow) and the Pan African Strategic Institute. Masiyiwa is the only African member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum‘s Committee on Conscience. Masiyiwa also served on two UN Advisory Panels.
- In December 2020 Masiyiwa was named by Bloomberg as one of the 50 world’s most influential people.
- Strive set up his first company with the equivalent of US$75. Years later, he would face the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe refusal to license operation of his business, known as Econet Wireless.
- In March 2000, fleeing persecution from the local authorities, Masiyiwa left Zimbabwe, never to return to the country, and moved first to South Africa, where he founded The Econet Wireless Group, a new and completely separate organisation to the listed Zimbabwean entity.
- In January 2020 he paid for Zimbabwe’s doctors to return to work after they struck to get paid.
- He is married to Tsitsi, they have six children, and live in London, England.
- Masiyiwa owns two adjacent apartments atop the 29-storey Eldorado Tower at 300 Central Park in New York City, bought for US$24.5 million in 2016.
- Masiyiwa also has interests in the United States of America (USA). He has partnered with one of America’s leading telecoms entrepreneurs, John Stanton, in a venture called Trilogy International Partners, which built New Zealand’s third mobile network operator known as “2 Degrees“.
- According to Forbes, Strive’s Net Worth is 2.8 Billon (2022).
[S: Wikipedia]
