Strive Masiyiwa

Strive Masiyiwa overcame protracted government opposition to launch mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in his country of birth in 1998.

He owns 38% of publicly-traded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which is one part of his larger Econet Group, as well as roughly 33% of mobile phone-based money transfer firm EcoCash.

Masiyiwa also owns a stake in private company Liquid Intelligent Technologies, which provides fiber optic and and cloud-based services to telecom firms across Africa.

His other assets include investments in fintech and power distribution firms in Africa plus stock options in Netflix, where he has served on the board since December 2020.

He and his wife Tsitsi founded the Higherlife Foundation, which supports orphaned and poor children in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Burundi and Lesotho.

After studying at university in Britain, Masiyiwa worked at ZPTC, Zimbabwe's phone company.

He left ZPTC to start an engineering services firm, then sold it and founded Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, but had to battle the government in court for years.