Does Strive Masiyiwa need introductions in Zimbabwe? Well, I suppose some of the Ama2000s that did not live in a pre-Econet world might not know who he is. They also might not know just how much he has done for and in Zimbabwe.
Masiyiwa is the founder of the Econet Group and Cassava Technologies. The Zimbabwean tech scene economy would be vastly different had those organisations not existed.
Through the success of these businesses, Masiyiwa contributed to the development of Zimbabwe, both through the technology they introduced and the taxes the businesses paid. However, Masiyiwa went beyond this, giving back to the community through various philanthropic ventures.
I remember back in high school—quite some time ago for me—some kids whose fees were paid by the Higherlife Foundation. Some of them even received scholarships to attend college abroad.
At the time, I didn’t know that Higherlife Foundation was a Masiyiwa initiative. It’s wild to think that I have friends who benefitted from his financial support. It’s even wilder to consider that many of you might know someone who did as well.
After all, they say over 300,000 people have received these scholarships over the years, most of them Zimbabwean, I imagine. So, chances are, you know someone who’s been a recipient.
I’m mentioning all this because Strive Masiyiwa has been honoured for this work and more.
Harvard honours Strive
Masiyiwa has been awarded the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal by Harvard University for his significant contributions to African and African American history and culture.
The man’s trophy cabinets must be overflowing with plaques and awards by now. He has been honoured numerous times over the years.
Strive was among eight honourees recognised at the ninth Hutchins Centre Honours for their work in advancing social justice and combating racism, sexism, and xenophobia etc.
His achievements in telecommunications, philanthropy, social justice, and his leadership roles in global organisations and public health were highlighted.
Regarding those leadership roles, the Ama2000s who love their Netflix might be interested to know that Masiyiwa is on the board of the streaming company. Millennials are more impressed by him being on the National Geographic Society’s board. He’s involved in several other boards and such.
Their efforts [Strive and his wife, Tsitsi] to tackle public health challenges have seen Masiyiwa play a leading role in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Ebola, malnutrition, and COVID-19. As the African Union’s Special Envoy for COVID-19, he spearheaded efforts to manage the continent’s response to the pandemic.
In recognition of his leadership in agriculture and food security, particularly as Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Masiyiwa was awarded the prestigious Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Medallion.
Like I said, his trophy cabinets must be overflowing. But it’s not just him—some of the other honourees have quite the collection too. Spike Lee, whom you might know as the director of Malcolm X and He Got Game, was honoured as well, as was LeVar Burton.
Not the time to hate
I think we should celebrate philanthropic work like this. It gives people like Strive the strength to keep going, and hopefully, it inspires other businesspeople to follow suit.
There will be a time to pick a bone with Masiyiwa for whatever ills you attribute to him or his companies. Now is not the time, the man has been honoured and as fellow Zimbos whose flag he is flying high, we celebrate with him. Way to go Strive.
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24 comments
philanthropic work resources were from Econet emptying our wallets with expensive moblie services.It will come to an end.
Strive dzikisa data rako ku liquid telecom and Econet Group.Your time is up for expensive data services, yawakadya kare ndiyoyo no more cent of mine you are going to eat again
But here you are on a zero rated website only available to Econet,, such premative brain, learn to give an applause when something nice , unovenga hama yako but the whole world is giving a fellow zimbo a token of the good work he is doing
So you think zero rating this site is for the customer’s benefit 🤣🤣🤣. You also think he didn’t have data that’s why he cane here? Oh boy grow up please. There are more deserving Zimbos in that area vasiri Strive. Dubious recognition there!!
I remember there was a time Econet was biggest investor in Zim.Poured in about a billion into the economy. Hats off to the man.Kinda funny/ironic the honours are coming from abroad. Lets’ celebrate our own .
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The Spectator *
Locally, he and his Ecocash deserve the country’s highest recognition for making people to transact even when the country had no physical money. Noone wants to acknowledge, but I personally feel that a lot of nasty things were averted as people could still transact.
Very true mate, its a huge deal, in Shona we say zvinovengwa nemuroyi chete
I’m a bit perplexed by the honour. Culture and social justice? I don’t know him for that here in Zimbabwe. Not that I have any issues with him, but I would have given him honor for business accumen and tech advancement.
I know, right? What do they mean “social justice”?
Spot on! They recognise famous people, not those who really deserve the award!
Congrats man. You are one of my role models. I have red how econet group was formed so many time and i feel inspired
This guy literally saved the Zim economy via Ecocash,there was no money in the system unozongoshorwa uchinzi Ecocash transactions caused inflation etc etc…
OK…
Murume uyu arikuyita basa hombe chayiro. Chimbofungayi vanhu vanoshanda kuEconet vangani, kuzoti vaanobatsira through maOrganisations ake. Zvimwe tendayiwo.
Thus great
I bought a Huawei router and opted for smartbiz 5 as I had read DL were not capped in some towns. To my surprise my speed has been capped to 5mpbs in KweKwe a km from CBD and full bars.
So i am not going to bother buying another bundle next month. I will just stick with Telone fibre for $30 at 14mpbs and purchase Starlink when funds come available in January.
Rubbish at it’s most you would think econet could zero rate educative websites for the further development of school kids but o no we have to keep up with techzims nonsense articles most of the the time are old news.
Old news? Deal with it, pal. Techzim doesn’t have an international network of journalists like the big media houses. It’ll always be old news.
The author reads an article somewhere, like Bloomberg’ site, then summarises it here and adds some additional points to put it into the Zim context. This is my assumption.
If you want the latest news, go get it at the horse’s mouth (where the author gets it). Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the free stuff.
Then why do you keep on coming back?
Well done Mr Masiiwa,l salute you for the wonderful work you have done for our children.Mine is one beneficiary. Keep up the good work
Joke of the year 🤣🤣🤣. When someone us successful, everyone wants to be associated with them – Harvard here gives him a useless and dubious recognition kkkk. People like Nyanduri Ignatius Mabasa have contributed much more in that area but since they aren’t as famous, nobody gives them such recognition. What a world we live in!!
Joke of the year 🤣🤣🤣. When someone us successful, everyone wants to be associated with them – Harvard here gives him a useless and dubious recognition kkkk. People like Nyanduri Ignatius Mabasa have contributed much more in that area but since they aren’t as famous, nobody gives them such recognition. What a world we live in!! My foot!!
Fantabulous