Strive Masiyiwa, a millionaire businessman and philanthropist from Zimbabwe who lives in London is believed to be worth $600 million as of 2022. 

He leveraged his career to create a successful, multimillion-dollar company. In addition, he founded and currently serves as executive chairman of two major international technology firms, Cassava Technologies and Econet Global.

Strive Masiyiwa Earnings and Networth

Masiyiwa has given scholarships through his philanthropic platforms to over 250,000 young Africans for the past 20 years through his family foundation.

He has funded educational programs for more than 40,000 orphans and supported scholars at American, British, and Chinese universities.

Full Name - Strive Masiyiwa

Date of Birth - January 29, 1961

Age - 59 Years

Profession - Businessman

Height - N/A

Nationality -Zimbabwean

Source of wealth - Entrepreneur

Annual Salary - N/A

Net worth -  $600 million

Last updated - December 2022

Strive Masiyiwa Biography and Early Life 

Strive Masiyiwa was born in Zimbabwe on January 29, 1961. His family fled the country when he was seven years old, following Prime Minister Ian Smith's government's unilateral declaration of independence from the United Kingdom.

The family settled in Kitwe, a copper-mining town in northwestern Zambia. He attended primary school here before moving to Scotland to finish his secondary schooling. Masiyiwa's mother was a businesswoman. Masiyiwa's parents could offer him a European education at 12 years old.

He was enrolled in a private school in Edinburgh, Scotland, and returned to Rhodesia after graduating in 1978, planning to join Robert Mugabe. He, however, returned to school in the United Kingdom, bagging an electrical engineering degree from the University of Wales in 1983.

Masiyiwa Career and Earnings

Masiyiwa temporarily worked in the computer business in Cambridge, England. He then returned to Zimbabwe after a 17-year hiatus in 1984. After a few months, he resigned as a telecoms engineer for the state-owned telephone firm. 

Instead, he founded his own company by saving US$75 per month from his income. He established a vast electrical engineering firm. The advent of the mobile cellular telephone prompted him to diversify into telecoms.

Masiyiwa fled Zimbabwe in March 2000, never to return, and settled in South Africa. This is where he created The Econet Wireless Group, a new and wholly independent corporation from the listed Zimbabwean entity.

Still, he launched Econet Wireless Zimbabwe on the local stock exchange in July 1998. This was a thank you to the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who supported him during his lengthy court fights with the Zimbabwean government. 

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has grown to become a big corporation that dominates the Zimbabwean economy. It is currently Zimbabwe's second-largest firm by market capitalization. 

Among the significant companies he founded with partners were Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless International, Econet Global, and Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria).

Other companies he was named among its formation include Lesotho Telecom, Econet Satellite Services, Econet Wireless Burundi, Econet Wireless South Africa, Rwanda Telecom, Solarway, and Transaction Processing Systems (TPS).

His business activities and investments are in Africa, the United Kingdom, Europe, the US, Latin America, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and China.
Masiyiwa relocated to London after spending more than ten years in South Africa. However, he still has substantial economic ties to Africa.

Read Also: Patrice Motsepe Earnings And Networth

Masiyiwa Recognition and Awards 

According to The Times of London, he was among the 25 Leaders of Africa's Renaissance Award recipients in 2011. In addition, Masiyiwa was among the  New African magazine's Top 100 Most Influential Africans.

He also ranks among the 2014 Fortune Magazine's 50 World Most Influential Business Leaders. 

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the AU Chair, urged Masiyiwa to assist in mobilizing resources for Africa's response to the Ebola outbreak in September 2014. This is the first to have an African business executive fill such a position.

Masiyiwa launched the first-ever Pan-African fundraising initiative known as the #AfricaAgainstEbola Solidarity Fund with the assistance of other leaders.  

Through SMS donations, the public contributed millions of dollars to the fund, and many African nations contributed. The donations allowed The AU to send out the most significant known contingent of African medical professionals to stop the deadly pandemic's spread. 

Masiyiwa received the Freedom Award from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in 2015. In addition, Forbes Magazine listed him among that year's 10 Most Powerful Men in Africa list.

The honor is presented each year to a person who has made a particularly significant effort to aid refugees and promote the causes of liberty, individual freedom, and dignity.  

He received the Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Medallion[30] in 2019. In addition, he was recognized by New African magazine as among the 100 Most Influential Africans. 

He was recognized as a Laureate of the JA Worldwide Global Business Hall of Fame in 2020. In addition, Masiyiwa was listed as one of Bloomberg's 50 most influential persons in the world in December 2020.

He was also included in the New African Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2020. Masiyiwa was also among the 100 Africans of the Year for 2020 by the Mail & Guardian.

Some of  Masiyiwa's international assignments and board memberships

• Netflix (board member) 
•  Unilever (board member)
• Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates (Trustee)
• National Geographic Society (Trustee)
• American Bank (Global Advisory Council)
• The UN Commission on Adaptation (former Commissioner)
• Nigerian Generation (co-founder)
• The Rockefeller Foundation (former board member), Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development for Pathways to Prosperity (co-chair)
• The Foundation of The Rockefeller (former board member)
• Americans for Foreign Relations (Global Advisory Board)
• China Society (former board member)
• Stanford College (Global Advisory Board)
• Grow Africa, a project of The Micronutrient Initiative of Canada (former board member)
• The Ebola Fund of the African Union (co-founder)
• Morehouse University (former Trustee)
• The Pan African Strategic Institute and the African Academy of Sciences (Honorary Fellow)
• He recently assisted in planning the Global Africa Business Initiative, which will be unveiled in New York in 2022
• Masiyiwa is the only member of the Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Committee who is from Africa.