In 1993, a Zimbabwean engineer applied for a licence to run a mobile phone network. The government refused. He spent the next five years fighting it in court.
Strive Masiyiwa won, and the company he built, Econet Wireless, helped bring mobile phones to millions of Africans.
Early life
Masiyiwa was born in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. His family left during the liberation war, and he was educated abroad, including in the United Kingdom, where he studied engineering. He returned to Zimbabwe after independence in 1980 and worked for the state telephone company before starting his own business.
The monopoly
In the early 1990s, telecommunications in Zimbabwe were controlled by a state monopoly. Masiyiwa believed mobile phones could transform communication and applied for a licence. The government rejected his application.
The court battle
Masiyiwa took the government to court. He won in the High Court, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling. He then argued that denying people access to telephones restricted their freedom of expression under the constitution. In 1995, the Supreme Court agreed.
President Robert Mugabe’s government imposed a moratorium on private mobile licences, and more legal battles followed. In 1997, a final Supreme Court order compelled the government to issue the licence.
Econet launches
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe launched in 1998. Demand was huge, and the network grew rapidly, ending the state monopoly and changing how Zimbabweans communicated.
Expansion
Masiyiwa expanded into other countries and businesses, including fibre networks, payment systems and technology companies. His companies operate across Africa and beyond.
Philanthropy
Masiyiwa and his wife, Tsitsi, have funded scholarships for thousands of orphans and students through their foundation. He has also been involved in global health and agriculture initiatives.
Mobile money and more
Econet’s businesses moved into mobile money and digital services, following the same logic that drove the original network: in a continent where many people lacked bank accounts and landlines, the phone could do far more than make calls.
Living abroad
Because of tensions with the Zimbabwean government, Masiyiwa has lived outside the country for many years, running his businesses from abroad.
A lesson in persistence
Masiyiwa often tells young entrepreneurs about the years he spent being told no. His argument that a telephone is part of free speech sounded strange to some judges in 1995. In a continent now run on mobile phones, it sounds obvious.
