News / National
Strive Masiyiwa among Africa's 40 richest people
18 Nov 2011 at 05:53hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's telecom magnate Strive Masiyiwa has made it into Forbes's inaugural list of Africa's 40 richest people. Strive is richer that the likes of Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa who is currently the chairman on MTN.
The magazine puts Masiyiwa's net worth at $280 million. He came in at number 34. A Nigerian construction mogul topped the list of Africa. Aliko Dangote, with a stake in Dangote Cement and interests in flour milling and sugar refining, has a fortune of $10.1bn (£6.4bn).
South Africa's Nicky Oppenheimer was number two with $6.5bn. The average age of those on the African list – which contains no women – is 61.
Egypt has the most billionaires, with seven coming from two families, the Sawiris and Mansours, according to Forbes.
Forbes said it had reached the values using stock prices for publicly-traded companies and estimates of revenues or profits for the many privately-held businesses.
The magazine ignored dispersed family fortunes, such as the Chandaria family of Kenya.
Masiyiwa founded mobile phone company Econet in 1993, though because of objections from the ZImbabwe government the cellphone network did not go live until 1998.
It soon became the largest mobile telecom operator in the country. Today he serves as its chairman. Publicly traded Econet controls Mascom, which has 70% market share in neighbouring Botswana. It also operates in Kenya and Burundi, and is the only African-based company with a telecom license in the UK (Econet Satellite Services).
It has won a 3G license in New Zealand and will roll out a network there once the market is fully liberalized. Masiyiwa moved with his family to Johannesburg, South Africa in 2000, where Econet is now based. He was also publisher of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, which was closed down in 2003.
His mother was an entrepreneur involved in the informal economy in what was then called Southern Rhodesia; she made enough money to send Masiyiwa to secondary school in Scotland and then the University of Wales, where he studied electrical engineering. He returned to worked for newly independent Zimbabwe's state telecom company before starting Econet. Masiyiwa created a foundation that provides scholarships to orphans, including those whose parents have died of AIDS.
Full list can be viewed here.
The magazine puts Masiyiwa's net worth at $280 million. He came in at number 34. A Nigerian construction mogul topped the list of Africa. Aliko Dangote, with a stake in Dangote Cement and interests in flour milling and sugar refining, has a fortune of $10.1bn (£6.4bn).
South Africa's Nicky Oppenheimer was number two with $6.5bn. The average age of those on the African list – which contains no women – is 61.
Egypt has the most billionaires, with seven coming from two families, the Sawiris and Mansours, according to Forbes.
Forbes said it had reached the values using stock prices for publicly-traded companies and estimates of revenues or profits for the many privately-held businesses.
Masiyiwa founded mobile phone company Econet in 1993, though because of objections from the ZImbabwe government the cellphone network did not go live until 1998.
It soon became the largest mobile telecom operator in the country. Today he serves as its chairman. Publicly traded Econet controls Mascom, which has 70% market share in neighbouring Botswana. It also operates in Kenya and Burundi, and is the only African-based company with a telecom license in the UK (Econet Satellite Services).
It has won a 3G license in New Zealand and will roll out a network there once the market is fully liberalized. Masiyiwa moved with his family to Johannesburg, South Africa in 2000, where Econet is now based. He was also publisher of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, which was closed down in 2003.
His mother was an entrepreneur involved in the informal economy in what was then called Southern Rhodesia; she made enough money to send Masiyiwa to secondary school in Scotland and then the University of Wales, where he studied electrical engineering. He returned to worked for newly independent Zimbabwe's state telecom company before starting Econet. Masiyiwa created a foundation that provides scholarships to orphans, including those whose parents have died of AIDS.
Full list can be viewed here.
Source - Byo24News
