Categories: Stories

Are these really Zimbabwe’s richest men?

WikiSouthAfrica has released a list of 10 richest men in Zimbabwe but it has only one black, Strive Masiyiwa.

  1. Strive Masiyiwa

Strive Masiyiwa fought through government opposition to launch a private mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in 1998. He owns 52% of ZSE listed Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which is part of his larger Econet Group (Headquartered in Mauritius). Born on the 28th of January, 1961, Strive is a London based Zimbabwean entrepreneur with an estimated worth of $1.3 billion making him the richest man in the country.

  1. John Bredenkamp

Born in South Africa in 1940, John Bredenkamp moved to then Rhodesia with his family when he was a child. He was orphaned on his birthday: upon returning home from a bike ride, he discovered that his father had shot his mother and sister and then himself. He founded the Casalee Group of companies in 1976, which was primarily a leaf tobacco merchant company, eventually becoming the fifth-largest tobacco merchant in the world and effectively making Bredenkamp one of the richest people in Zimbabwe in the 90s. His net worth is $793 000 000

  1. Nicholas Van Hoogstraten

Born in Shoreham-by-Sea, England in 1945, Nicholas van Hoogstraten is currently the third richest person in Zimbabwe. He began selling stamps to collectors which he claimed to be worth as much as $30 000. At 14, he began wearing a suit to school and reportedly excused himself from class to read the Financial Times. He has since gone on to become a highly successful property, becoming Britain’s youngest millionaire with a portfolio of more than 300 properties. He later emigrated to Zimbabwe and by 2013 owned over 1 600 square miles of land. He has a net worth of $750 000 000

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This post was last modified on March 19, 2020 9:19 pm

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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