Zimbabwean entrepreneur and founder of Econet Wireless, Strive Masiyiwa has bagged new awards in New York, including one from the United Nations Foundation recognizing his philanthropy.
The United Nations Foundation honored Masiyiwa for coordinating African business support for efforts in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The award ceremony was attended by the UN Secretary General who led other leading UN officials; there were also philanthropists from around the world and heads of diplomatic missions.
Masiyiwa was honoured for responding to the AU’s call for African businesses to act on any African situation threatening to get out of hand and engulf the entire region.
The Econet boss swung into action after receiving an SOS call from the Chair of African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Zuma had already gathered hundreds of African medical volunteers who were prepared to risk their lives by going to the three countries and serve.
However, as usual, the AU had no capacity to provide logistics and the finances required for the operation.
According to the citation, Masiyiwa organised for business colleagues to contribute and maintain the AU team in the three countries helping to contain the situation.
