Netflix Adds Billionaire Strive Masiyiwa To Its Board

Quartz Africa

NETFLIX says it has appointed Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire Strive Masiyiwa to its board.

Masiyiwa is the founder of Econet Group which has operations and investments in 29 countries in Africa and beyond includes Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s leading mobile operator; Liquid Telecom, the pan-African broadband company and its subsidiary Africa Data Centres, the fast-growing data center company, which just raised $300 million from the US government’s development finance arm.

“Netflix is at the forefront of bringing great entertainment from anywhere in the world to everyone in the world, and I look forward to working with the board and all stakeholders to continue its traditions of innovation and growth,” said Strive Masiyiwa in the statement.

The move follows last week’s news that Susan Rice left her board post in preparation to take a role in the Joe Biden administration.

“We are delighted to welcome Strive to the Netflix board,” Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings said in a press release. “His entrepreneurship and vision in building businesses across Africa and beyond will bring valuable insights and experience to our board as we work to improve and serve more members all around the world.”

Added Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, “I’m thrilled to have Strive join our board as we expand more across Africa and the world.”

In addition to serving as executive chairman of Econet, the London-based Masiyiwa serves as a director for Unilever, the National Geographic Society and the Asia Society.

He is a global advisory board member for Bank of America, the Council on Foreign Relations, Stanford University, and the Prince of Wales Trust for Africa, and is a longtime board member of the United States Holocaust Museum’s Committee on Conscience.

A former board member of the Rockefeller Foundation, he is chairman emeritus of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and African Union Special Envoy to the continent’s response to Covid-19.