Strive Masiyiwa is a telecommunications and technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. In nearly four decades, he has founded and invested in businesses across Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the USA.
Some of his most prominent start-ups and investments include Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Econet Wireless New Zealand (now 2degrees Mobile), Trilogy Capital Partners Canada, Cassava Technologies, Africa Data Centres, Sasai Fintech, and Telrad Group Israel. He continues to invest privately through his companies and family office.
Born in Zimbabwe and now living in Jersey, Mr Masiyiwa serves on the boards of Netflix Inc., the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ARIA, and the National Geographic Society, as well as advisory councils including Bank of America, Stanford University, and Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He previously served on the boards of Unilever, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Morehouse College.
A graduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, Mr Masiyiwa holds honorary doctorates from Stellenbosch, Yale, Morehouse, Nelson Mandela University, and Cardiff University. His accolades include the World Food Prize Borlaug Medallion (2019), induction as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023), and the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard (2024).
In 2025, Mr Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi received the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award and were recognised by Time Magazine as Time100 Philanthropy honourees. He was also named on Time’s Top 100 Most Influential People in AI.
Through their Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, led by his wife and eldest daughter Elizabeth Tanya, the Masiyiwas have supported over 350,000 scholarships for African youth and continue to invest in catalytic social impact initiatives.