Zimbabwean Billionaire Strife Masiyiwa Becomes First African To Join Netflix Board

by Duke Magazine

Netflix has named Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of telecommunication company, Econet Group, to its board of directors. Masiyiwa’s appointment to the streamer’s 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 Biden’s 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 Zimbabwe’s state-owned telecommunications operator.

Masiyiwa, in a statement provided by Netflix, said, “Netflix 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.”

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. He’s also a longstanding board member of the United States Holocaust Museum’s 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 continent’s COVID response.

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