Strive Masiyiwa: Celebrating Black Excellence In Business And Philanthropy

Strive Masiyiwa is a London-based Zimbabwean billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and executive chairman of the telecommunications, technology and renewable energy company, Econet Global. 

According to Forbes updated list for March 2020, Masiyiwa has a net worth of US$1.3 billion. 

He has won numerous accolades and gained international recognition for his business expertise and philanthropy. Masiyiwa is considered one of Africa’s most generous humanitarians, as he has used his wealth to provide scholarships to over 250,000 young Africans over the past 20 years through his family foundation. 

Masiyiwa also funds initiatives in public health and agriculture across the African continent. Masiyiwa is generally recognized as one of the most prolific philanthropists to ever come out of Africa. 

Masiyiwa has been avidly involved in supporting a diverse range of health issues including campaigns against HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer, malnutrition, and more recently EBOLA. 

Upon the cholera outbreak which happened in Zimbabwe in 2019, Strive Masiyiwa together with his wife donated a total of US$10m to fight against the disease. 

Together with his wife, they pledged $100m to establish a fund to invest in rural entrepreneurs in his home country. The two also started a non-profit organisation, Higherlife Foundation, which empowers disdvantaged children through education and creating opportunities for highly talented young people.Through one of the largest scholarship programs in Africa, the Foundation pays the school fees for 30,000 students annually in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Burundi who they call their “history makers”. In 2020, he paid for Zimbabwe’s doctors to return to work following an industrial action in the country’s health sector. Masiyiwa will pay each doctor a subsistence allowance of about $300 (£230) and provide them with transport to work, through a fund he set up. Most of the doctors on strike were earning less than $100 a month.