Strive Masiyiwa Becomes Zimbabwe’s First Billionaire According to Forbes
Finally, a Zimbabwean makes it onto the billionaire’s list, Strive Masiyiwa. Well, frankly speaking he is not the first Zimbabwean billionaire… most of us were at some point, just not according to Forbes ?
Strive Masiyiwa, who is probably the most popular non politician personality in Zimbabwe has been ranked as 14th among Africa’s 23 billionaires. His success story is the typical David-Goliath story (with the government being the Goliath – ironically) which most people find inspirational. Apart from that, he is well known for his philanthropic work and most popularly known are the scholarships.
He, Strive Masiyiwa is the founder of the Econet Group which owns Econet Global, Econet Wireless Africa, Econet Wireless International, Econet Media, Econet Entreprises and Liquid Telecom Group. Also to note is that within these groups are a multiple companies you can check out over here.
Last we checked in 2015, he was valued at a net worth of $600 million by Africa Ranking and according to the same he was ranked 45th richest in Africa. The weird thing is that Africa Ranking accredits the list to Forbes, but Forbes in that same year records him under the “Dropoff list” stating that only individuals worth more than $330 million had made the list.
Interesting to note also is the awe-striking leap from 2015’s $600 million (let’s use that one) to the current $1.7 billion in 2018, all accumulated in about 3 years. Forbes currently doesn’t say much to explain that, but an extract from the magazine says:
- Masiyiwa overcame protracted government opposition to launch mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his country of birth in 1998.
- 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.
