Strive Masiyiwa Zimbabwean Businessman

Strive Masiyiwa was born in what was Southern Rhodesia in 1961. He went to High school in Scotland; he gained a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Cum Laude) at the University of Wales, returning to newly independent Zimbabwe in 1984, where he took a job with the state-owned telephone company. He later grew up to his own engineering company.
Strive is a committed Christian. He lives in Johanessburg, South Africa, with his wife, Tsitsi, and six children.

IStrive Masiyiwa certainly has an eye for a good deal. The electrical engineer who founded the Econet Wireless Group has made his name and money on a knack for a smart move and a quick decision. 

He is probably best known as a kind of African David, a CEO who fought off the Goliath of government monopoly repression to take the mobile phone revolution to Zimbabwe in 1998. Since then he has expanded into or bid for telcos in Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Malawi, Burundi and Lesotho as well as taking on ventures in the UK and New Zealand. In 2002, he was crowned one of Time’s Global Influentials - one of 15 selected in a global poll from a list of more than 100 - for his potential as well as achievements as an entrepreneur. 

His career has been built on the strength of his instinct for a savvy business move. For him, the decision to establish Econet was a natural process of watching and waiting: "You have an entrepreneurial feel about something that is going to happen, and you say, well, we’ll set up a venture on the side, we’ll hire a few people, we’ll keep a closer eye on it. That’s what we did in telecommunications, and by the early nineties I could see it was going to gather some momentum. So I began to invest a little more."

For Masiyiwa, business isn’t about being a visionary, but being quick to jump at a chance. "There was nothing original in what I saw," he says. "You can’t move on a vision, you move on insight. Insight is when you see something there that others don’t."

Doing his homework

As the nascent telecoms industry began to take shape, Masiyiwa drew from every available source for ideas and business models that could add to his venture. "I just travelled," he says. "I went to fairs, I went to see manufacturers, I met players in the industry, I argued with them about where things were going, so I could get my own clear view. And that’s when I decided that this thing is going to happen."

That search provided all the tools he needed for Econet’s success - and gave him the assurance that the market was bigger than any previous expectations. "In the early nineties I argued to anyone who would listen that cellphones could go to mass communication, but even some of the industry’s best people couldn’t see it," he says.

"I heard about an Israeli company that had come up with a concept that everybody now knows as pre-pay. When I saw it, I thought, yes, that’s where the money is." 

His research gave him the conviction to push all his resources, including those of his family, into Econet. "As soon as I saw where this was going, we sold out of every other business area - our family business, our construction businesses - everything - and said ‘We’re in telecommunications now’". 

The entrepreneur in Masiyiwa clearly thrives on pivotal decisionmaking, though he claims it is a careful process. "I don’t consider myself rash. I spend a lot of time in prayer, thinking about it, meditating about it, and when I’m comfortable - I use an expression around here that I have to have found the peace - then I make the decision."

It’s also his instinct to enjoy the cut and thrust of business - chasing the deal and bidding in high-stakes plays. At the same time as facing down the Zimbabwean government’s telecom monopoly in the Supreme Court, he pitched for the Botswana telecoms license against four other well-prepared consortia. Against the odds, Masiyiwa won the day and Mascom, the cellular operator he founded there, has performed strongly and recorded 557,000 subscribers at the end of September 2006. 

"To the surprise of many people he won the license," says Alan Boshwaen, CEO of the Botswana IFSC. "People attributed it to the fact that the man is very entrepreneurial; he spotted the opportunity. The business rolled out very quickly and is very successful, probably only limited by Botswana’s population size." 

Clouds form on the horizon

With his first two markets established, in 2001 Masiyiwa stepped up into the big league with a bid for a Nigerian mobile licence. It was a bizarre three-day public auction: "We weren’t allowed any recording devices, telephones, only a TV. We couldn’t get hold of anyone." He remembers the challenge with relish: "We went all the way to US $285 million, and everyone said we were crazy. And now we have licences in Africa or Saudi Arabia changing hands for $6bn. So we were vindicated there too."

It may have been a victory, but soon it got messy. Econet didn’t have the cash to pay the $285m fee, and Nigerian investors ended up taking most of its stake. One Nigerian CEO who watched the deal closely recalls a lack of real resources to back up his claims. "Strive ran into a situation where there wasn’t enough money to invest in the business. He saw Nigeria as an opportunity to expand his position in the GSM environment and he led people knowingly or unknowingly to believe that financing was not a problem. He didn’t have a lot of money to bring to the table and he had already developed a reputation with a few other financiers who were clearly not ready to back him."

It was not only financiers - a partnership with Vodacom that rebranded the network as VMobile failed, prompting years of litigation from Masiyiwa, but his efforts to regain a stake were finally thwarted in 2006 when Celtel stepped up to the board and smoothly bought 65% of the company for a staggering $1bn. Econet, outraged, claimed it had expected to buy VMobile entirely instead, and filed more litigation to prevent the sale, but to no avail; Masiyiwa has had to stick to his 5% stake in the new Celtel Nigeria. In Kenya, and Cameroon too, rash financial promises have fallen through or deals have become mired in controversy.

With a trajectory as bumpy as this, does he ever regret the decisions he has made? "I’ve never regretted a decision. I can regret a mistake I’ve made, but I can’t regret a willful decision. If I’m comfortable that that is the right decision, with all the information in front of me -that’s ok. If it turns out that I didn’t understand something, or have the right information, or things got better or worse, I’m not going to regret that."

Path ahead

There are other threats, to Econet too, as the telecoms sector in Africa matures. The fast-paced environment is increasingly crowded with new investors, prices are high and virgin territory of the kind Masiyiwa knows is ever scarcer. Accessing finance for speedy acquisitions is crucial - could Econet lose out by alienating potential partners? 

As Boshwaen says: "Telecoms is an attractive sector in Africa now, and it has drawn investors with deeper pockets and access to capital markets that have come in and taken the shine off Econet. They can come and raise funding very quickly." 

Masiyiwa remains bullish about the prospects for Econet’s future, and takes a long term view of the company’s growth. "Econet is a generational project. Great businesses are not built in the generation of one man. Our vision is that we are going to be in every single African country - but it doesn’t have to happen in my lifetime." 

More than this, he doesn’t see an exit from a market as a closed door. "When we walk away, it is not because we don’t like that country," he says. "But at that point in time we are not happy with the deal that’s on the table." 

One can’t shake the feeling that he enjoys antagonism and controversy enough not to let it hinder his expansive vision. He’s rightly proud of his successes over the years - "only the diamond business is supposed to be bigger than Mascom in Botswana, and we started that business," - and, he says, he’s still turning down offers from other companies at least once every six months over the last two years. 

The future is definitely still rosy for Masiyiwa - and he’s not at the end of his dealmaking by a long way. 

BOX: FAST FACTS

About him

Born: 1961, Zimbabwe; then Southern Rhodesia
Education: high school in Scotland (UK) and a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Hons) at the University of Wales (UK)
Family: wife, Tsitsi, and four daughters 
Lives: Johannesburg, South Africa

About Econet 

Generates revenue of more than $300m per annum
Has interests in five networks worldwide reaching a total of 8m subscribers
Is the first emerging-market operator to own a 3G license in an OECD country, through its 3G license in New Zealand

Other activities
Amongst his other business leadership achievements Strive was a member of the coordinating committee which set up the Social Dimensions Fund (SDF), an initiative to alleviate the impact of poverty arising during the implementation of economic reforms in Zimbabwe. He was also a founding member of the African Latin American Institute at Punta Del Este in Uruguay in 1994. The institute promotes cultural, educational and business linkages between Southern Africa and the Mercusior region of Latin America.
Strive has served on numerous boards and trusts both in Zimbabwe and internationally. In 1995 Strive was appointed by American President Bill Clinton to a Board Member of the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF) which is chaired by Ambassador Andrew Young. He is currently also a member of ThebeInvestment Corporation of South Africa, an empowerment company that was set up by the Mbabatho Trust of the ANC.
Strive has won numerous business awards and recognitions. Notable of these are the following: in 1990 he was the youngest ever recipient of Zimbabwe's coveted Businessman of the Year Award; in 1998 he was named his countries Manager of the Year as well as Entrepreneur of the Year. He was recently named by Junior Chamber International (JCI) as one of the "Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons of the World" for 1999. In 2002 he was named to Time Magazine's Global Business Influentials List. He is also known as the Bill Gates of Africa, on account of his business and entrepreneurial savvy. He is a workaholic who has bucket loads of guts and passion to achieve his goals notwithstanding anything standing in his way.
He was also the publisher of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, shut down by the government in late 2003 after its management refused to comply with new media regulations which required that media organisations be registered with a government commission.
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