Strive Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean-born telecoms magnate who is also the first black billionaire in the United Kingdom (UK), has added to his expanding list of accolades by receiving an honorary doctorate in Engineering from Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa on December 10, 2024.

In a statement, the SU described Masiyiwa as a "visionary leader" who has helped to develop Africa's telecoms industry and business sector over the last four decades, while his generosity has aided socioeconomic development for the continent's people.

"He is an example of an African who did well and is now doing good by improving the lives of many Africans. The Faculty looks forward to partnering with him in our endeavour to make an impact to improve the quality of life of people in Africa, says Prof Wikus van Niekerk, dean of the SU Faculty of Engineering.

Masiyiwa, an engineer, was born in Zimbabwe in 1961 and now lives in the United Kingdom. He earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Cardiff in Wales in 1983, then returned to Zimbabwe to work briefly as a telecoms engineer before starting his own firm in 1986.

The founder and executive chairman of Cassava Technologies has business interests in Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.

Cassava Technologies, a pan-African and global technology business, includes African Data Centres, cloud and cyber security services (Liquid C2), fibre infrastructure (Liquid Intelligent Technologies), renewable energy, and, most recently, a new business unit, Cassava AI.

Furthermore, Masiyiwa companies have more than 110 000 km of fibre that give connectivity across the continent, from East to West Africa from Cape Town to Cairo.

His other notable firms and investments throughout the years include Mascom Wireless Botswana, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Liquid Telecom, Airtel Nigeria, 2Degrees Mobile, and Trilogy Capital Partners Canada.

Also, Masiyiwa has acted as a special envoy to the African Union in response to the Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks, as well as on other United Nations commissions.

Forbes magazine named the billionaire one of the ten most powerful individuals in Africa in 2015 and one of Bloomberg's 50 most influential people in the world in 2020.

In 2014, 2017, and 2021, Fortune magazine named him one of the world's 50 greatest leaders. 

In 2019, he earned the World Food Prize Borlaug Medallion for his work as chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which aimed to enhance food systems and assist Africa's smallholder farmers.

Masiyiwa was named an international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023 and received the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University's Hutchins Centre of African and African American Research in October 2024.

Most recently, in November 2024, he received Zimbabwe's ICT Excellence Award for his efforts to transform telecoms and mobile money services.