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By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwe’s arguably richest man and Econet Founder Strive Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi are amongst leading billionaire philanthropists making a difference in deeply impoverished and marginalized Continent of Africa.The Power-couple have already invested over USD$160 Million in health, disaster management and employment creation related to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) even dishing over 250 000 scholarships.
This is according to Time Magazine which confirmed in its recent posts that,
“Guided by their deep Christian faith, Econet founder Strive Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi, a social entrepreneur, have devoted much of the estimated $1.2 billion fortune he has amassed through the telecommunications company to empowering Africa’s people.”
The originally Zimbabwean couple launched their HigherLife Foundation in 1996 to provide educational support to orphaned children from their native country.
Whilst locally they use Higher life Foundation, internationally the organization uses Delta Philanthropies, which the Masiyiwas founded in 2017 focusing on education, health, disaster relief, and rural entrepreneurship initiatives to help communities across Africa thrive.
The Masiyiwa’s have so far supported over 250,000 people with scholarships and leadership training, while investing $100 million on job creation and $60 million on health care and crisis response. Strive is also the former chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which promotes sustainability efforts for Africa’s small farmers.”
Another Billionaire philanthropist emulating the Masiyiwa’s is Egyptian Yousriya Loza-Sawiris:
“Yousriya Loza-Sawiris, the matriarch of one of Egypt’s wealthiest families—their business interests span telecommunications, construction, technology, and tourism—has spent over 40 years leveraging her family’s power and influence to create pathways out of poverty for marginalized Egyptians.
She has been Involved in philanthropic initiatives since 1984, and formalized the family’s efforts to help Egyptians living in poverty as the founding chair of their Sawiris Foundation for Social Development in 2001.
Yousriya remains chair and her sons serve on the board as well.Today, in partnership with governments and the private sector, the foundation has invested more than $65 million in over 150 projects, benefiting over a million people by its own count.”
Not to be outdone is Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, alongside other African billionaires listed in this TIME’s top 100 philanthropists whose efforts, according have not gone unnoticed according to TIME.
According to Time, Africa’s deepest pockets Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Group,
Aliko Dangote:
“Business magnate Aliko Dangote, founder, president and CEO of the Dangote Group, built a net worth of $23.9 billion through cement, agriculture, and oil refining operations in Nigeria.
He runs Aliko Dangote Foundation, which he endowed with $1.25 billion in 2014, aiming to give back to the continent that facilitated his success, spending an average of $35 million a year on programs across Africa.”
That said, Philanthropy is becoming an increasingly powerful force in Africa, with these African billionaires taking the lead in addressing critical developmental challenges.
Gaining significance in Africa, driven by billionaire efforts indeed Prominent philanthropists include Zimbabwe’s own Strive Masiyiwa leading from the front alongside Aliko Dangote, Patrice Motsepe, and also Mo Ibrahim.
The billionaire magnets implement culturally sensitive and context-specific initiatives While many African countries continue to suffer from widespread poverty, underfunded healthcare systems, educational inequity, and inadequate infrastructure, with a surge of their billionaire-led philanthropy making a real difference in a variety of sectors.
The aforementioned African billionaires like Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, Strive Masiyiwa of Zimbabwe, and Mo Ibrahim of Sudan have emerged as some of the most committed philanthropists on the continent and because of them, Africa’s philanthropy is distinguished by its deeply personal and localized nature.
The business mogul’s are not just passive donors; they are often intimately familiar with the problems they are attempting to solve, having either grown up or spent significant time in the communities they support hence such proximity enables them to design initiatives that are context-specific, culturally sensitive, and more likely to produce long-term results.
These philanthropists are instilling a culture of giving in Africa’s emerging middle class, entrepreneurs, and diaspora groups beyond cash donations and hence a growing recognition that long-term development in Africa must be led locally, and philanthropy is increasingly seen as a critical tool for achieving this.
In spite of these good tendencies, difficulties persist as Many African charitable organizations continue to encounter legal barriers, limited access to data for effect measurement, and challenges in mobilizing domestic resources at scale.
Nevertheless, the influence of billionaire donors is assisting in overcoming some of these barriers by bringing attention to concerns and encouraging policy discussions with Zimbabwe’s own Econet Founders Masiyiwa’s leading the charge.
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