Strive Masiyiwa is a telecommunications and technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. In nearly four decades as an entrepreneur, he has founded and invested in businesses globally, spanning Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the USA.
Some of his most prominent start-up companies and investments include Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), Liquid Intelligent Technologies Group, Econet Wireless New Zealand (now 2degrees Mobile), Trilogy Capital Partners Canada (early investor), Cassava Technologies (including most recently, Cassava AI), Africa Data Centres, Sasai Fintech, and Telrad Group Israel. He continues to invest privately through his investment companies and family office.
Born in Zimbabwe and now living in Jersey, Mr Masiyiwa serves on the boards of Netflix Inc., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), and National Geographic Society, as well as global advisory councils including Bank of America, Stanford University, and Bloomberg New Economy Forum. Previously, he held board positions at Unilever Plc, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Morehouse College, among others.
A graduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, Mr Masiyiwa holds honorary doctorates from Stellenbosch University, Yale University, Morehouse College, Nelson Mandela University, and his alma mater, Cardiff University (Fellow). His accolades include the World Food Prize Borlaug Medallion in 2019 for his role as Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; induction in 2023 as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal awarded in 2024 by Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. In May 2025, Mr Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi Masiyiwa received the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, and were recognised by Time Magazine as Time100 Philanthropy honorees for 2025.
Through his family foundations, Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, led by his wife and eldest daughter Elizabeth Tanya, Mr Masiyiwa has supported over 350,000 scholarships for African youth and continues to invest in catalytic social impact initiatives in Africa, focusing primarily on education, health, women and children, youth mentorship, rural transformation, sustainable livelihoods, disaster relief and preparedness. They are signatories of the Giving Pledge.
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