Netflix has named Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of telecommunication company, Econet Group, to its board of directors. Masiyiwaβs appointment to the streamerβs board comes a week after Susan Rice, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she was relinquishing her board seat to join the league of president-elect Joe Bidenβs by January 20, 2021.
Masiyiwa, who has an estimated current net worth of $1 billion according to Forbes, champions Econet, which has operations and investments in 29 countries in Africa and Europe. He launched mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, in his native country, in 1998 after years-long fight with Zimbabweβs state-owned telecommunications operator.
Masiyiwa, in a statement provided by Netflix, said, βNetflix is at the forefront of bringing great entertainment from anywhere in the world to everyone in the world, and I look forward to working with the board and all stakeholders to continue its traditions of innovation and growth.β
Masiyiwa serves on several international boards including Unilever, National Geographic Society and Asia Society and the global advisory boards of Bank of America, the Council on Foreign Relations in the U.S., Stanford University and the Prince of Wales Trust for Africa. Heβs also a longstanding board member of the United States Holocaust Museumβs Committee on Conscience.
A former board member of the Rockefeller Foundation for 15 years, Masiyiwa is chairman emeritus of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and African Union Special Envoy to the continentβs COVID response.
