𝗟𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗗 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗭𝗜𝗠𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗪𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘’𝗦 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗘 — 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗟𝗬 𝗭𝗜𝗠 𝗚𝗘𝗘𝗦𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗡 𝗘𝗚𝗚𝗦?

Chairman of Econet Global and Cassava Technologies, Strive Masiyiwa.

For many years, people like myself have criticised Strive Masiyiwa for harvesting the Econet Zimbabwe cash cow to fund the creation and expansion of Econet Global and its offshore businesses, without adequately reinvesting in the golden goose—Zimbabwe.

It is now emerging from Moody’s credit review of Liquid Telecoms and its parent company, Cassava, that despite first mover position in massive investments in fibre, data centres, and AI networks across Africa—excluding Zimbabwe—the group is struggling to service its debt. And once again, the only strategic business unit capable of amortising this debt is the cash generator, Econet Zimbabwe, which has just recorded a significant rise in earnings and profits in the last quarter.

Apparently, all the other African markets where Liquid has expanded—combined, including South Africa where Liquid’s head office is based—are unable to cover even the annual interest repayments of approximately US$40 million, without Zimbabwe’s highly profitable operations.

This raises a fundamental question: why have Zimbabweans, who have largely funded Econet Global and its subsidiaries such as Cassava and Liquid, not been treated as the crown jewel of the empire? Why has Strive consistently portrayed Zimbabwe as a peripheral portfolio not worth investing or reinvesting in, when it is clearly the gold mine of his empire?

Nevertheless, it is now evident that Zimbabwe—particularly Econet and its EcoCash—are the anchor of Strive’s wealth. Yet he has failed to nurture the jewel of his fortunes by reinvesting meaningfully, giving back, or providing venture capital to young entrepreneurs who could grow the market further while improving service delivery within the cash-cow economy.

Now, Econet is being delisted from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, and many financial experts suspect that this move is intended to milk the cash cow further, away from regulatory scrutiny, in order to avert a potential debt default by Liquid Telecoms.

Once again, the forsaken child—Zimbabwe, its markets, and its human talent within Econet—has come to the rescue of an unprofitable empire built outside our borders on the hope that anything but Zimbabwe is better.

Contrary to the negative perception of Zimbabwe being a mismanaged economy with little potential, the Liquid/Cassava saga clearly illustrates that Zimbabwe is a sophisticated economic powerhouse that consistently punches far above its weight, even after 24 years of sanctions.

What I find even more amusing is that Strive took Zimbabwean capital from a highly profitable Econet Zimbabwe and used it to fund the establishment of a novel Liquid operation in South Africa, staffed largely by executives from that country. Yet, despite Liquid being the leading fibre company on the continent, that operation has failed to replicate the success that locally run Econet achieved at inception under serious competition.

This is a clear indication that Zimbabwe is a talent-rich, cash-generating market in which Strive enjoys goodwill and privileged access to capital. He should therefore leverage this advantage and seriously consider reintegrating Cassava back into Econet, so as to utilise its strong balance sheet and cash flows to sustainably finance what is undoubtedly one of Africa’s future tech giants—Liquid Telecom.

Moreover, I believe it is time for Strive to come back home and build Liquid from his financial and spiritual source. He attempted to rely on British and American leverage, but it is now evident that they are unwilling to finance Black Africa to move the continent from the dark ages into the AI era. Once again, he must return to a nation that is unapologetic about Black advancement to fund his efforts to break Western monopolies in data centres, fibre, and communications.