Masiyiwa Wins Spear’s Entrepreneurial Award
As UK Media Labels Him British
Strive Masiyiwa was crowned Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2022 Spear’s Awards last night, in recognition of his work with two pan-African technology companies (Econet and Cassava Technologies) and his philanthropic endeavours.
Strive Masiyiwa, Ajaz Ahmed, and Wagatha Christie-lawyer Paul Lunt were among the winners as Spear’s celebrated entrepreneurs, philanthropists and leaders of the private client world with a ceremony hosted by Nicholas Owen
Strive Masiyiwa was crowned Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2022 Spear’s Awards last night, in recognition of his work with two pan-African technology companies (Econet and Cassava Technologies) and his philanthropic endeavours.
Dubbed ‘Britain’s first black billionaire’, Masiyiwa – who trained as an engineer in Britain and has a home in the UK – is executive chairman of Cassava Technologies which, through Cassava’s business Liquid Intelligent Technologies, is now the largest data centre provider across Africa.
The entrepreneur was also recognised by Spear’s, the media brand for high-net-worth individuals, for his work as a co-founder of the Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, a UK-registered impact investment charity promoting development initiatives across Africa. In addition, Masiyiwa is a signatory of the Giving Pledge, an initiative backed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett through which the world’s wealthiest people commit to give the majority of their wealth away. During the pandemic, Masiyiwa also chaired the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.
Masiyiwa said: ‘It’s a real honour for me to receive this award — I’m truly humbled.’
‘I trained as an engineer in the United Kingdom, and then returned to Africa where I worked first in telecommunications, and then decided that I was going to be an entrepreneur.’
I was truly blessed that the revolution in telecommunications […] happened on my watch as they might say. And I threw myself into ensuring that Africans got access to telecommunications, so I was very much part of that revolution that took place in Africa, where today we have more than 800 million people in Africa that have mobile phones.’
‘This was an entrepreneurial revolution, led by entrepreneurs, and I was really humbled to be part of that.’
Masiyiwa added:
‘At a very early stage in my entrepreneurial journey, I realised that as an entrepreneur you must always be part of providing solutions within your community, which go beyond your profit motive'.
