Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe’s richest man, gains $510-million from stake in Econet Zimbabwe

Strive Masiyiwa, Zimbabwe’s richest man and one of Africa’s wealthiest billionaires, has seen the market value of his stake in Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s leading telecom service provider, rise by ZWL164.32 billion ($510.33 million) as investors remained bullish on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange following higher earnings at the end of 2021.

The Zimbabwean billionaire owns a majority 52.85-percent stake in Econet Zimbabwe, the country’s largest telecom services provider, with 1,368,840,391 ordinary shares. Due to the sustained buying interest in the company’s shares on the local bourse, his stake is now worth more than $870 million.

Data retrieved by Billionaires.Africa revealed that the $510-million increase in his stake since the beginning of the year can be attributed to the performance of the Zimbabwean telecom service provider’s shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe shares have increased 141.2 percent since the start of the year, from ZWL85 ($0.264) to ZWL205.05 ($0.637) as of press time, as investors continue to compete for additional stakes in the telecom company.

As a result of the triple-digit percentage uptick in its share price, the market value of Masiyiwa’s stake has risen by ZWL164.32 billion ($510.33 million), from ZWL116.35 billion ($361.34 million) at the beginning of the year to ZWL280.68 billion ($871.67 million) at the time of drafting this report.

This can be attributed to how investors and market participants reacted to figures in Econet’s third-quarter trading update.

The telecom company revealed that its data and voice traffic increased by 43 percent and six percent, respectively, over the nine-month period of its 2022 fiscal year, as it continues to bridge the digital divide and deliver a digital lifestyle through connectivity, gaming, and music streaming, which remained an important theme during the period.

The increase in data and voice traffic puts the company in a good position to increase earnings at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.

Masiyiwa, who celebrated his 61st birthday on Jan. 29 and announced his retirement as chairman and director of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited, is credited with founding and growing Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and Econet Group to their respective positions in the African telecommunications and technology ecosystems.

In recent times, the board of directors of Econet Wireless announced the appointment of Elizabeth Tanya Masiyiwa, one of Masiyiwa’s six children, to the board of the Harare-based telecom company in an effort to drive the firm’s growth forward as a going concern.