How African Investors Missed a $641.7 million Opportunity

EcoCash Holdings, a broad smart-tech conglomerate run by billionaire businessman Strive Masiyiwa, has been one of Zimbabwe’s best-performing listed firms this year, with significant increases since the start of 2022.

EcoCash, originally Cassava Smartech, is a tech firm that uses digital and financial technology to create shared economies, broaden financial inclusion, and empower individuals.

The value of the group’s shares on the Zimbabwean Stock Exchange has more than quadrupled since the start of 2022, as market investors continue to purchase shares in anticipation of better financial performance when the 2022 fiscal year.

EcoCash shares have risen from $0.123 per share on Dec. 31 to $0.248 on Feb. 18, representing a 101.3 per cent gain for owners.

On the back of the price surge, the company’s market capitalisation has increased by $322.7 billion, from $318.7 million at the start of the year to $641.7 million at this time.

If local or foreign investors had bought EcoCash shares on the Zimbabwean exchange 49 days ago, their investment would have appreciated by 101.3 percent since the beginning of the year.

It holds that if an investor had acquired $10,000 dollars worth of EcoCash Holdings shares, they would have $20,130 as a result of the jump in share price. 

Strive Masiyiwa is Zimbabwe’s wealthiest man and owns 30.26 percent of the company. Since the start of the year, his share has increased in value by about $97 million. He is one of the continent’s wealthiest billionaires, with a current net worth of $3.4 billion.

Masiyiwa also controls slightly more than half of Liquid Telecom, a private firm that provides fibre-optic and satellite services to African telecom companies.

His other holdings include mobile phone networks in Burundi and Lesotho, as well as interests in African fintech and power distribution companies. Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi founded the Higherlife Foundation, which helps orphaned and underprivileged children.

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