Opinion
Exemplars of Greatness: The Heroic Stride of Strive Masiyiwa of Africa!
By Tolulope Adegoke
“The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by” – Felix Adler
I have no doubt that the wonderful model of destiny, The Nikola Tesla Story that we studied last week have been of tremendous blessing to you. As the Scripture says, “He who walks with the wise will be wise…” (Proverbs 1:20). It is for this reason that we must, once again, accompany some of the heroes of our contemporary time through the story of their life’s journeys, so that we can receive the necessary impartation of wisdom, guidance and inspiration for our own uplifting. So, here is another exemplar that you just cannot do without knowing about!
Strive Masiyiwa was born in 1961. By his 40th birthday, he had outwitted the dictator Robert Mugabe. By the age of 50, he was a multimillionaire mogul. Now, Masiyiwa – telecoms entrepreneur, philanthropist and proud Pentecostal – is among a cadre of African moguls aiming to turn the continent into a power house of productivity and entrepreneurship.
Masiyiwa’s story is full of trials and tribulations, including a battle against the government of Zimbabwe that earned him death threats and probably made him flee the country in the year 2000. But it is also replete with triumphs.
According to James Mwangi of Global Development Advisors, “Strive is one of a small but growing group of Senior African business leaders and entrepreneurs deliberately engaging in dialogue beyond business. Instead, those leaders are looking into Africa’s future overall, and in their broad-mindedness and sense of obligation, they are the latter-day Mellons and Carnegie.”
Like Cornelius Vanderbilt, who saw early on that railroad infrastructure would revolutionise the American economy, Masiyiwa is using his mobile phone network as a platform for economic development across Africa, from education to healthcare. This has made him a man in much demand. In addition to overseeing the multi-country operation of his $750 million firm, Econet Wireless, and his Kwese Satellite television, he sits on prominent boards like that of Rockerfeller Foundation. He appears on philantro-capitalist panels, is tapped by Richard Brandson for support, and dines with religious leaders at the White House’s annual Prayer Breakfast.
In 2016, Masiyiwa took up the board chairmanship of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a post previously held by his friend, Kofi Annan. It gives him an even broader Pan-African reach than he already had.
For all this, Masiyiwa presents as disarming and humble. He is a small man with a globe-like head, spherical and smooth. He favours gold-framed spectacles and light coloured ties, often in pastels that contrast nicely with the sharp black of his suits. He speaks softly and kindly, and punctuates his talk with jokes and exclamations. Masiyiwa would likely credit the Lord for his success. He turned seriously into faith during the darkest of his tribulations, in the mid-1990s, and has never let go.
“Do you read the Bible for an hour every day?” a CNN interviewer asked him in 2011. “Is that correct? I have read that.” “Oooh!” said Masiyiwa. “That’s when I am busy. I can read it for five hours in a weekend.”
Religion motivates his philanthropy, which involves orphans and schooling, and is very personal: According to June Wales, President and CEO of the Global Philanthropy Forum and World Affairs Council, “I spend most of my waking hours interacting with philanthropists but Masiyiwa really stands out. A lot of folks talk about engaged. Philanthropy – this is the real deal.”
Masiyiwa was born in what was then Rhodesia (Now Zimbabwe) and was barely four years old when severe conflicts broke out in the country. The first major reason for the conflicts was getting independence from Britain and then rejecting white-minority rule. In 1968, Masiyiwa fled to Zambia, across the border. Their neighbours were Scottish, who had a son. That was more or less how young Masiyiwa landed in an Edinburg boarding school.
Masiyiwa returned to Africa in 1978, keen to join the guerrilla fight for independence. But a cousin in the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, later to morph into Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, advised that independence was nearly won. The new country would need people to run. And so, Masiyiwa scored a scholarship to University in Wales. In 1984, he returned with an engineering degree to Zimbabwe, which was then four years into its nationhood. He worked briefly for the government’s telecoms company, but state enterprise frustrated him, he says.
After borrowing the equivalent of $75, Masiyiwa started a construction business. Not only that, he spent two years studying banking in order to procure a small business loan – this before the advent of Internet – and changed his social networks to better understand the business community. He learnt the language of the golf course and of balance sheet. According to him, “In money game, there is a way of talking that will have bankers and investors interested in what you do, and there is a way to talk which makes them shun and run from you, and it has nothing to do with where you come from.”
Many of the pieces he posts online evoke his stubbornness, tenacity and ability to educate himself into being better; his utter prescience, too. In the mid-1990s, only a few would have guessed that cell phones would become a major growth section in African countries. The government of Zimbabwe certainly did not. Masiyiwa did. He offered to develop a cell phone network in tandem with the State telecoms company, but the Mugabe-controlled government rejected his offer – a refusal that Masiyiwa wrote, “must surely rank amongst follies in the world of business: They could have owned the Econet Wireless Group, but instead they declared war on me!”
The State telecom refused to grant Masiyiwa a license to cell-frequencies, claiming it had a monopoly. That was when Masiyiwa sued in 1994. The case went on for five years, and at one point early on, Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court ruled against Econet, leaving, apparently, no chance to appeal.
As Masiyiwa recounted, “When we lost the Supreme Court case in June 1994, I was totally devastated. Two years of work appeared to have gone down the drain. My dream was shattered. The lawyers made it clear that there was no appeal possible, and we packed away all the files.
“Although four years earlier, I had survived abduction by what I believed, at the time, to be divine intervention; I never pursued this further from a spiritual perspective. Church for me remained a place of funerals and wedding ceremonies.
“When we got married, my wife tried very hard to get me to go to church, but whilst always respectful of her values, I never went. On Sundays, I would drop her and our then young daughter, at her church and go for my weekly squash game with “the boys” and dutifully pick her up, after the service. She was then pregnant with our second daughter.
“On the Sunday after our Supreme Court defeat, I was still too gutted to go and play with the boys, but I took my wife to her church, as usual. She begged me to come in with her, but again I refused. I drove round the block and decided to return…I sat in the back, by myself.
“My wife did not know I had returned. It was the first time in my life I had listened to a church service, without the compulsion of duty for an event held there. It seemed as though everyone in the room, except me, was so happy! The young American pastor was preaching about Jesus Christ, whom I thought I had known all my life. And yet now I realised that I did not know Him; I only knew of Him. Disturbed, I left hurriedly and went and sat in the car.
“Throughout that week, I continued in my miserable daze, but I was also disturbed by what I had heard in that service. I went back the following week. At the end of the service, there was a call for those who wanted to “accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour”. I stood up, and went to the front. This is, and shall ever remain, the most important decision of my life. ‘Now that you are ‘born-again’, you must read your bible everyday’, the Pastor said, to the small group of us standing in front of him, after he had led us in prayer.
“Arriving home that day, I realised that the misery of my court defeat had completely lifted. It just seemed so unimportant. Sitting down that afternoon, with a borrowed copy of the New International Version Bible, I sat down to read the Bible for the very first time, in my life.
“Since the Pastor had said, “read the Bible”, I presumed that you must read the whole thing (cover to cover); and my wife did nothing to disabuse me of that: I just read, and read, and read…Often, I would read the whole day, and the whole night. Finally, I finished it after about three weeks.
“What I did not tell anyone at the time (including my wife) was that almost every night I laid my head down to sleep, I would begin to have quite extraordinary dreams. One evening, I attended a special church event, held at a local hotel. The Pastor preaching had never met me. As he preached, he suddenly stopped:
‘There is a man in this room; you have been having these dreams. In these dreams, you are building towers, rather like broadcasting towers, everywhere, all over the world. God is asking me to tell you that He is the one giving you those dreams, and He is going to make it happen. He has also given you a new heart; you are going to have such compassion. Please come forward, if you are that man.’
“There could have been 500 people in that room, that Sunday evening. I got up, and made my way to the front of the room. A few days later, a miracle would occur, which would take us back to court, in a very dramatic way…”
To put in a nutshell, some years later, Masiyiwa won the case. Econet now has a majority share of users in Zimbabwe and operations in more than 15 countries. It started offering mobile banking through its phones a few years ago, and within 18 months, some 20 per cent of Zimbabwe’s GDP was passing through its networks.
This reveals one of the keys to his success: foresight. At the time he was fighting the Mugabe government over his licence, hardly could anyone have imagined that mobile phone networks could become platforms for banking, or that they would so dramatically affect economic and healthcare infrastructures.
Masiyiwa has come to relish obstacles and challenges. When asked, “What are you doing with the challenges around you?” He replies that they are opportunities in disguise. And like other prominent African businessmen, he believes that “Ultimately, Africa’s development challenges are also its business opportunities.” Gaps in infrastructure, healthcare delivery and the like are “huge opportunities to unlock value,” not barriers to entry. Once those barriers are addressed people get more disposal income, and market opportunities grow – creating a phenomenal virtuous cycle.
And that, perhaps, was what Masiyiwa meant in the year 2016 when he sat on a panel with Bill Gates, Tony Blair, Paul Kagame and others, and told the audience to stop considering Africa “exotic”. Instead, he said, it is a business climate like any other – defined by challenges and opportunities – and one that rewards innovation, determination and homework.
Masiyiwa is, indeed, a living proof of the power of TENACITY. Added to that is the ability to FOCUS on the crown and not the crisis. And most importantly, his story reveals the strength of divine grace that comes through salvation! He went through the painful processes to get ultimately paid. He carried his cross to get his crown. He empowered himself with relevant skills and knowledge and applied them all through divine wisdom to solve challenges in a changing world. Being a lover of God, he became empowered and conquered his zero, then, emerged a HERO!
The key question is, what have you learnt from all these inspirational narrations and experiences so far? And what will you do about it?
Exemplars of Greatness Series continues next week…
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
One of the best things that can happen to anyone is to believe in themselves. Often, we don’t see the value and potential we have due to several factors including detractors’ utterances, disbelief in oneself or even past mistakes. Sometimes, we want other people to believe in us before we can believe in ourselves. Ordinarily, this shouldn’t be so.
If one is desirous of stepping up their game, one must understand how to use affirmations. Affirmations are powerful. And more powerful when they are positive. When you affirm to yourself, the universe has a way of affirming your thoughts, imaginations and words. However, it should be noted that affirmations are not about stating what you want, one must also work towards the affirmations, and believe the universe will align with you. One can practice affirmations by either writing it down or speaking it into existence.
Affirmations can be spiritual; they work like faith. If you don’t have faith, affirmations won’t work. You can attract opportunities, blessings, and favors from people when one affirms right. When people see your faith in action, they will generally feel the impulse to support your convictions.
Regardless of whatever situation one may be experiencing, it’s always good for one to feel good about oneself. It’s easy for one to feel discouraged, frustrated and depressed when the lines are not adding up, however, one can change the narrative by affirming to oneself, I expect my every need to be met; I expect the answer to every problem; I expect abundance; I will not lack; I will be great, I will attract blessings, favors, opportunities, etc. All these positive words are meant to trigger us to always think positive thoughts about our life regardless of our situations or what we are experiencing.
As human beings, sometimes, we don’t know the power we have. We tend to give other people power over us. In some cases, we want the world to give us opportunities or platforms to thrive, we fail to understand we are the platform we are seeking. For instance, sometimes we look for big companies, organization to showcase our work or give us opportunities to thrive, and when they fail, we become demoralized. However, if we can look into ourselves, we will realize in this age of technology we can showcase our work and when our supposed idols and organization see our work, they will rate us and give us potential opportunities.
It’s sad to see people begging for platforms to showcase their work. Sometimes they go extra to seek for roles and opportunities as interns or volunteers just to get an opportunity to have their name on their resume. They don’t know they can use the internet to showcase what they have. It’s instructive to note that when you showcase what you have, the platforms you are looking for, will begin to look for you. And when you showcase what you have, speak into it and affirmatively believe it.
This is how affirmation works. When you showcase your work, say I believe my work will thrive, I will get recommendations, my work will attract attention, my business will not fail, my articles will go viral etc. Trust me, when you do this, the people and organizations you are looking for, will start to look for you. As a seasoned creative writer, each week I publish articles, before I send my article to my editor, I do say a word of prayer over my work and trust me, the grace to write and succeed has truly been felt from my tribe. I say this because I do get positive feedback almost on a weekly basis. creative.
Let me share personal experience with you, I have been blogging for quite a while before big media platforms began to give me recognition and opportunity to publish my articles on their media platforms. I believe some of them saw my little effort before they gave me an opportunity.
On a personal note, I have practiced affirmations, and it has worked for me. Let me share a practical example, when I was studying taxation law as a graduate student in New York Law School, I remember when a friend of mine asked me a question, Henry, if your exam is tomorrow, how do you feel you will perform? In all honesty and sincerity, I do know if my professor is kind to me, I will score a C or D, but I told her, I will score an A or B the least. You will be surprised to know, I scored an A- and B+ during that semester. That’s the power of positive affirmation. T
There’s another scenario where I shared on Facebook, I would like Mr. Peter Obi a former Governor in Nigeria who was aspiring to be the President of Nigeria. In three months, the universe connected me to him, and the most interesting thing about our meeting was that he gave me his number and advised me to keep in touch.
In conclusion, in your search for validation and opportunity, endeavor to practice affirmation and see it work like wonder in your life.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
There’s always the urge to get certain things done as a living person. Most times, the urge transcends to impatience and desperation as the thirst for fame, power, wealth and success increases. This happens to the extent that the average human being either forgets or fails to take into consideration the process and most importantly, the foundation or origin of their inspiration.
It is worth noting that before anyone decides to go on a journey, several factors play a role; before anyone decides to study a course in college, he must have a sponsor assuming they don’t have the personal financial muscle; before anyone becomes a millionaire or billionaire, there’s always someone responsible for the opportunity; before one becomes a Chief Executive Officer of a company, he must have climbed through the ropes from internship either in the said company or another, and it’s also instructive to note that someone gave him the opportunity to showcase his charismatic work skills; before anyone decides to go into politics, different people play roles either in form of mentors or citizens. There’s always a significant source in the making of a the person. The list is endless.
Why is it necessary to highlight these significant points? The answer is quite simple; nobody achieves greatness on his or her own. Nobody is self made no matter what one may claim. Even God in his infinite knowledge used Virgin Mary to birth Jesus Christ. So, if the saviour of mankind can come in the form of man, why should anyone think he is self made?
It’s sad to see certain people think they have arrived either because they now have money, power, influence or attained a certain height. They begin to act like demi-gods, and sometimes, play God in the affairs of men. They fail to remember they were once nobody, and had nothing.
It’s always good for one to remember their source, and this is very important. Sometimes, when we see people doing great and big things in the world, we wonder what their secret or source is. While some people will be bold to acknowledge their source, others might be a little bit hesitant and decide to keep it as their best kept secret, especially when it involves trade and merchandise.
To know the secret of anyone, look at their lifestyle, some people attribute it to God, some to mentors, mentees, good food, exercise, academics, rest, parents or spiritual leaders. For me, I am unapologetic to state three things responsible for who I am today; the first is God. We live in a society where some people find it hard to acknowledge God publicly for reasons best known to them. I truly know I am not the smartest, strongest or most intelligent, but I can authoritatively tell you, I have seen and experienced the hand of God upon my life.
Another great source of mine is my late parents comprising my late grandmother, my late father and my late mother. They all played significant roles in my life with their prayers and blessings. I can say with all boldness, they are my biggest inspiration and reason I do what I do today. It’s sad to see young men and women who fail to recognize and appreciate their parents because they are either old, not academically exposed or for whatever reason best known to them. Well, I won’t judge anyone, but I do know that the earlier one receives the sense to appreciate their parents, no matter their shortcomings, the better the positive influence it would have in their lives.
Finally, my third major source of strength is the people I work with, especially my immediate team. Like I always say; I’m not just smart, I am only smart by association. I have a team of ingenious minds, who I am very loyal and committed to in any way I can. What attracts me to them is their mindset, attitude and most importantly their talent/gift. If I may add a fourth category, I will say my mentors, there are certain people I look up to based on their position, accomplishment, personality. I call this set of mentors my pinnacle mentors because of who they are, or what they represent. If you would like to know the role of mentors in my life, please read one of my most insightful articles Mentors Are Life Savers.
Let’s get this clear, anyone can be a source. It might not really be a man of substance. Your mentee, child, partner or employee can be your source. What’s important is for one to recognize their role. Like I stated earlier, my team who I work with are my third greatest source, and I strongly believe God is using them to lift me up.
One may be wondering why I took my time to address these salient points. The reason is not farfetched. It’s regrettable to see people who have attained certain heights, and they seem to forget their roots. Some even forget their source. Like accomplished journalist, Dr. Dele Momodu, would always quote his late ‘unlettered mother’, who admonished him to “never forget the son of who you are”. That’s a very deep statement.
Acknowledging one’s source is very critical to one’s growth. It speaks volumes about one’s mindset and personality. Let’s take a case study where someone assisted you to become great, and ends up insulting or using sarcastic words on you. They may even be uncharitable to you. I get all these narratives, still acknowledge them.
Acknowledging one’s source can be ambiguous. As Christians, sometimes we pray to our creator, give up our daily bread. By doing so, we are remembering our source, but quite often sometimes when we eat this bread and become well fed, we tend to forget from whom it came, and in some cases, fail to give credit to whom it is due. This is the attitude of ungrateful minds.
I will conclude with a prayer thus; in our quest for greatness and search the material things of the world, may we not forget our source, who gave us opportunities when we were nothing. Can I hear you say amen!
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
When one grinds, he is practically working or studying very hard, often in a repetitive way for a better future outcome. It can also be the act of hustling or striving for success, according to internet overview. This principle explains the phrase, ‘rise and grind’, which encourages individuals to wake up and work hard to achieve goals.
Having said that, please permit me to be a bit personal about my next exposition. It’s for an instructive reason.
As a Christian, and practicing catholic, I’m trained on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. In one of the mysteries – Sorrowful mysteries, we have five other mysteries namely: The Agony in the garden, scourging at the pillar, crowning with thorns, carrying of the cross and death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
One may be wondering what the symbolic and relative nature of the above mysteries are. Well, the answer is quite clear; the mysteries of the sorrow mysteries symbolize the difficult terrain Jesus Christ must go through for the salvation of mankind. As a Christian, each time I meditate on the sad experience of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, it makes me rethink about life, especially whenever I am tempted to sin against God.
As human beings, we also experience the same trajectory in our effort to succeed, and this entails the act of ‘grinding’. Life never promises to be easy, and it will never be easy. As a matter of fact, the higher one goes, the tougher the hurdle.
It is an undisputable fact that nothing good comes easy. Whether you have an interest in running a business, raising a decent family, earning a degree, or improving on your personal development, one must grind, and this entails exploring all legitimate means. Sometimes, life does not give you what you want, but it will surely give you what you deserve.
So, when you grind, and life doesn’t give you what you desire, don’t give up, continue to grind. The mistake most people make is giving up quite early when the odds seem to be against you. Sometimes, when you don’t get what you want, there might be several reasons. It might be a case of one not being prepared or competent for such a position. It can also be a case where the universe has something different for you which one might not see in the immediate sense.
Again, when one doesn’t get what they desire, it is not because they don’t have the capacity, or competency, it might be a case of the timing not being right. On a personal note, I have applied for job opportunities and was rejected; I have tried to meet with resourceful people, but access was denied; I have written hundreds of articles, but only a few went viral. The stories are many, but one thing is certain; I learnt a lot from those experiences.
In your grinding, you might think nobody is watching or noticing your efforts, trust me, your efforts and work are seen. In due time, the work will be rewarded. I can testify to this statement because over time, I have been in the wilderness tilling the ground to make an impact. I am surprised to get award nominations in addition to being an award recipient on several occasions.
In some other cases, I get recommendations on the streets from people who see my work. One of the major challenges may be having the right person to spot your work. One may be wondering how it works. Let’s take the case of a man, who is trying to woo a lady. The lady in question knows what she wants in a man or the qualities and values. So, when you approach a lady, and she says no, what a rational mind will do is to explore other options that appear to be beneficial to both parties, and who knows in the long run, she might give consent.
Grinding can mean a thousand and one things depending on which aisle one is resting on. According to a notable ghost writer, Dr. Yomi Garnett, “The best pictures of you are yet to be taken. The best stories about you are yet to be told. The best of your years still lies ahead. So, affirm to yourself today: The good days are here, but the best is yet to come.”
So, while waiting for the best pictures, stories, and years ahead, continue to put in the work of learning, exploring opportunities, having faith in the creator and universe, and continue to grind. By so doing, the right opportunities will be attracted to you when the timing and the universe feel it’s for you.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
