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Episode details

World Service,05 May 2025,42 mins

Strive Masiyiwa: Connecting a continent

Good Bad Billionaire

Available for over a year

Telecoms magnate Strive Masiyiwa escaped kidnap to become Zimbabwe’s first billionaire. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tell Masiyiwa’s story from a youth fleeing post-colonial conflict, through education in the UK, to enormous wealth delivering mobile phone and internet technology across Africa. The podcast that tells tales of titans of technology, Wall Street moguls, pop stars, sporting legends, CEOs and entrepreneurs also details Masiyiwa’s many court battles and run-ins with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. Then Simon and Zing decide if Masiyiwa is good, bad, or just another billionaire.

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