Zimbabwean Billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, #16 Africa’s Richest Man, Alive!

Real Time Net Worth as of 7 February, 2021 is $1.4 Billion

Zimbabwe’s self-made  business mogul, Strive Masiyiwa, who counts Econet Wireless Zimbabwe as part of his business domain has once again been named amongst 2021 Africa’s richest people.

The Econet Zimbabwe founder is listed at number 16 with a net worth of US$1, 2 billion.

‘Strive Masiyiwa overcame protracted government opposition to launch mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his country of birth in 1998.‘ ~forbes.com

Each year Forbes brings out the list of African billionaires, and this year the list published features gainers and losers with no new personnel’s hence of Africa’s 54 countries, only seven countries have billionaires.

The region has 18 tycoons this year, down from 20 in 2020. Together, they are worth $73.8 billion, slightly more than the $73.4 billion aggregate worth of the 20 billionaires the previous year conferring to Forbes.

63-year-old Lagos-based mogul founded and chairs Dangote Cement namely Aliko Dangote of Nigeria is the richest person in Africa for the tenth year in a row, worth $12.1 billion. He is richer by $2 billion from last year’s list.

The biggest gainer this year is another Nigerian cement tycoon, Abdulsamad Rabiu (60) who is now worth $5.5 billion up from $3.1 billion last year. In 2019, his net worth was recorded at $1.6 billion.

South Africa and Egypt each have five billionaires, followed by Nigeria with three and Morocco with two. South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe is ranked at Number nine on the list, with a net worth of $3 billion. Likewise, Africa’s youngest billionaire, Mohammed Dewji of Tanzania, and CEO of MeTL is at $1.6 billion.

Forbes 2021 Africa billionaire list has no woman because Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria and Isabel dos Santos of Angola were not featured in the 2021 list because they fell below the one billion benchmarks per the calculation of their capital. Forbes also notes that Alakija’s worth dropped below one billion due to the coronavirus pandemic which affected oil prices.

Forbes’s method of calculating African billionaires comprises of those who reside in Africa or have their primary business there.

 “We calculated net worth’s using stock prices and currency exchange rates from the close of business on Friday, January 8, 2021. To value privately-held businesses, we start with estimates of revenues or profits and apply prevailing price-to-sale or price-to-earnings ratios for similar public companies,” according to Forbes.

More About Strive Masiyiwa [S: forbes.com]

• He owns just over 50% of the publicly-traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which is one part of his larger Econet Group.
• Masiyiwa also owns just over half of private company Liquid Telecom, which provides fiber optic and satellite services to telecom firms across Africa.
• His other assets include stakes in mobile phone networks in Burundi and Lesotho, and investments in fintech and power distribution firms in Africa. 
• He and his wife Tsitsi founded the Higherlife Foundation, which supports orphaned and poor children in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi and Lesotho.