By 
By Ross Moyo
Two Zimbabweans shared the stage at Harvard University last week when Strive Masiyiwa presented the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal to fellow Zimbabwean-born executive James Manyika.
The ceremony was held on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at Sanders Theatre where Manyika was among eight recipients of the 2026 Hutchins Center Honors. The medal is Harvard’s highest honour in African and African American studies.
Harvard’s official caption listed: “From left: philanthropist Glenn Hutchins, presenter Strive Masiyiwa, medalist James Manyika, and Hutchins Center director Henry Louis Gates Jr.”
Masiyiwa himself received the same medal in 2024.
This year’s honorees included actress Angela Bassett, soccer striker Didier Drogba, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, artist Theaster Gates, singer Mavis Staples, film producer Lena Waithe, Google executive James Manyika, and civic leader Fletcher “Flash” Wiley who was honoured posthumously.
The award is named after W.E.B. Du Bois, who graduated from Harvard in 1890 and became the first Black person to earn a Harvard Ph.D in 1895. The Hutchins Center has awarded the medal since 2000. Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, Chinua Achebe and Nelson Mandela.
WHO IS JAMES MANYIKA
Born in Zimbabwe in August 1965, Manyika attended Chitsere Primary School in Mbare from 1971 to 1977 and Prince Edward School.
He graduated with first-class honours in Electrical Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe in 1989. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he earned an MSc, MA and DPhil in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He was a fellow at Balliol College and collaborated with MIT and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In 1997 he joined McKinsey & Company, rising to senior partner and Chairman of the McKinsey Global Institute. He served as Vice Chair of the Global Development Council at the White House under President Obama and currently serves as Vice Chair of the US National AI Advisory Committee.
In January 2022 Google appointed him Senior Vice President of Technology and Society, reporting to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. In April 2023 his role was expanded to Senior Vice President and President for Research, Labs, Technology and Society, overseeing Google Research, Google Labs, AI, computing and quantum.
He was recently seen on the sidelines of UNGA 81 with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and ICT Minister Tatenda Mavetera discussing 100,000 Google scholarships for Zimbabweans.
WHO IS STRIVE MASIYIWA
Masiyiwa, born in Zimbabwe in 1961, is founder of Econet Wireless. He studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Cardiff University. Econet’s first subscriber was connected in 1998 after a five-year court battle over licensing.
He serves on the boards of Netflix, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and National Geographic Society. In 2024 he was among eight recipients of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. In August 2025, Time Magazine named him among the 100 Most Influential People in AI.
Through Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies, his family has supported over 300,000 scholarships for African youth.
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