Categories: Stories

Masiyiwa drops out of Forbes Africa’s top 50 richest

Zimbabwe’s richest man Strive Masiyiwa has dropped out of the Forbes Africa’s top 50 richest list though the minimum net worth to be included in the list dropped from $510 million last year to $330 million this year.

Masiyiwa could have lost about half his net-worth which was previously put at $600 million.

He was one of seven that dropped from last year’s list with the other six being media mogul, Reginald Mengi of Tanzania,  Hakeem Belo-Osagie of Nigeria, Tunde Folawiyo of Nigeria, Oba Otudeko of Nigeria, Ahmed Ezz of Egypt and Desmond Sacco of South Africa.

According to Forbes, the share price of Econet, Masiyiwa’s flagship, has fallen by 63 percent in value since last year.

His slide has been gradual dropping from number 32 in 2013 to number 41 last year.

Econet, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone network, reported a 52 percent decline in after-tax-profit to $23 million for the six months to August.

It instituted a 20 percent salary cut, retrenched about 100 employees and demanded a 15 percent price reduction from suppliers to stay afloat.

(300 VIEWS)

This post was last modified on November 21, 2015 9:26 am

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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