Real story
Strive Masiyiwa Left the State Phone Company and Fought Five Years in Court
According to the press, Strive Masiyiwa was an engineer at Zimbabwe’s state telephone company. He left that post to start his own business, then fought a long court battle to launch a mobile network. Here is what has been documented.
No recipe here: just facts, with the sources at the bottom of the page. This story is here to show what a change of direction can look like, not to tell you which one to choose.
An engineer at the state operator
According to TIME (2002) and BlackPast, he returned to Zimbabwe in 1984 and joined the country’s state-owned telephone company. According to the Global Business Hall of Fame and BlackPast, he worked there as an engineer. Sources disagree on the year he left and on the year Econet was founded, so we give neither date.
He leaves and builds his own company
According to TIME and BlackPast, he left that job after growing frustrated with bureaucracy. According to TIME, he then formed his own engineering company; the Global Business Hall of Fame says it was Retrofit, an electrical contracting business.
Econet, and five years in the courts
He then founded Econet, focused on mobile telephony. According to the Global Business Hall of Fame and the South China Morning Post, he fought a five-year legal battle. According to the SCMP and BlackPast, he eventually obtained a licence to launch his mobile network.
Worth keeping in mind
Every path is unique. Strive Masiyiwa acted in a political and legal context specific to Zimbabwe at that time, one few people ever face. Context and luck matter, and nothing is guaranteed: this story is neither a method nor a promise that you will get the same result. It also says nothing about the many people who attempt a change like this without it working out: we almost never hear about them.
Sources
- Strive Masiyiwa: Founder of Econet Wireless, TIME, 2 December 2002, accessed 8 October 2026. https://time.com/archive/6667788/strive-masiyiwa-founder-of-econet-wireless/
- Strive Masiyiwa, Global Business Hall of Fame (JA Worldwide), date not shown, accessed 8 October 2026. https://businesshalloffame.org/strive-masiyiwa
- Meet ‘Bill Gates of Africa’ Strive Masiyiwa, South China Morning Post, 17 February 2022, accessed 8 October 2026. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3167277/meet-bill-gates-africa-strive-masiyiwa-billionaire-and
- Strive Masiyiwa (1961- ), BlackPast.org, 18 January 2021, accessed 8 October 2026. https://blackpast.org/global-african-history/strive-masiyiwa-1961
A story based on the public sources cited above. The people and companies mentioned have no connection with AlignPath and do not endorse it. Every path is unique: no result is guaranteed.