Meet Strive Masiyiwa telecom giant the first black billionaire to make the Sunday Times Rich List

London based Strive has become the first black billionaire to break into The Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated wealth of £1.087 billion. Strive Masiyiwa was born in Zimbabwe on 29 January 1961. Rank on the Rich List: 159 (new entry). #econet

He attended primary school in Zambia before completing his secondary education in Scotland. When he was seven, his family fled the country after Ian Smith’s government declared independence from Britain.The family settled in Kitwe, a city in north central Zambia known for its copper mines. Masiyiwa’s mother was an entrepreneur. By the time Masiyiwa was 12 years old, his parents could afford to provide him with a coveted European education.

They sent him to private school in Edinburgh, Scotland. When he graduated in 1978, he travelled back to Zimbabwe, intending to join the anti-government guerrilla forces there. However, he returned to school in Britain, and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Wales in 1983. He worked briefly in the computer industry in Cambridge, England, but soon returned to Zimbabwe in 1984, hoping to aid the country’s recovery after the war of independence it had won in 1980.

Despite the thousands of us who have buried loved ones and millions of us have feared for our livelihoods at the same time more people have become billionaires than at any point in British history.

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This year’s Rich List identifies a record 171 UK billionaires — 24 more than in 2020. That is the biggest jump in the 33 years The Sunday Times has been tracking the fortunes of the UK’s most affluent people. The combined fortunes of the billionaires in this Rich List grew by nearly 22 per cent to £597.269 billion.