Digital Africa

Africa’s top 40 Digital Leaders: #1 – Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe’s telecoms pioneer

In depth

By Olivier Marbot

Posted on Friday, 9 April 2021 10:45, updated on Wednesday, 17 November 2021 17:18

Strive Masiyiwa, founder and executive chairman of the international technology group Econet Global

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, who has raised more than $1bn to ensure the growth of his group Econet, has ranked number one in our exclusive ranking of Africa's digital leaders

Strive Masiyiwa, who celebrated his 60th birthday on 29 January, is a philanthropist and member of the task force set up by the African Union (AU) to fight against Covid-19 as well as on the boards of several multinationals including Unilever and Bank of America. He is also the only billionaire from Zimbabwe. Masiyiwa has above all, for more than 30 years, been one of the main entrepreneurs leading the continent’s digital transformation.

Famous for ending the state monopoly in Zimbabwe’s telecoms sector in the 1980s and having gone through the ranks of the guerrillas as well as the lecture halls of the University of Wales, the now London-based engineering graduate has shown, since his early days in business, an uncommon flair and capacity to bounce back.

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