Zimbabwean business magnate Strive Masiyiwa, founder and executive chair of telecoms giant Econet Group, says a continent-wide strategy is needed for Africa to support entrepreneurship to ensure broad economic transformational change and social progress.
In an address during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean billionaire who endured adversity to start his telecoms business due to political and policy barriers, told the enthralled audience that systemic changes and new models are needed on how African startups are funded to push structural transformation of local economies, empowerment of the youth and development of the natural resources-rich yet poor African countries.
Masiyiwa told his interlocutors who included a high-profile global audience of leaders, policymakers, economists, innovators and entrepreneurs that Africans have good ideas, innovative and entrepreneurial minds, but lack accessible and affordable funding.
A new ecosystem of funding, especially for startups, is thus urgently needed to promote new businesses and economic progress.
Said Masiyiwa: “We don’t have a problem of entrepreneurship in Africa. Our kids leave school knowing that if you don’t start something, you’re not going to be employed.”
The current funding models for business are not helpful and sustainable for Africa, the overseas-based mogul said.
“You do not fund startups with debt. You provide equity capital, venture capital. Startups require patient, risk-tolerant funding to flourish, not the burden of repayment schedules that crush innovation before it even begins,” he pointed out.
Old funding models characterised by usurious interest rates, expensive loans, unrealistic repayment terms and rigid institutional mindsets are hindering entrepreneurship across the continent and its economic rise.
What Africa needs, instead, are more venture capital firms, angel investors, and equity-based funding models to unlock huge potential and opportunities among youths with great ideas and innovative minds.
While the natural resource-rich Africa has the most youthful population globally and good business ideas, it is currently unable to reap the demographic dividend due to systemic barriers to entrepreneurship, including as lack of funding, mentorship, and infrastructure.
Systemic barriers to business refer to deep societal structures, policies, or practices that disproportionately hinder emergence and growth of entrepreneurship, often based on factors like race, gender, socioeconomic status, or geographic location, limiting their access to capital, markets, and opportunities within a particular business landscape.
The youth, or demographic, dividend is defined by United Nations experts as economic growth that comes when there are more working-age people, between the ages of 15 and 64, than non-working people, aged below 14, and over 65.
Masiyiwa said: “Our youth are incredibly innovative. They are building apps, inventing sustainable technologies, and solving real-world problems. What they lack is not ideas or work ethic, but access to the kind of capital that allows them to turn those ideas into viable businesses.”
To overcome these problems, he added, regional venture funds, tax incentives, and public-private partnerships are needed to promote startups and economic development.
“We need an Africa-wide strategy for funding entrepreneurs. It’s not just about money; it’s about mentoring, access to markets, and policy frameworks that allow innovation to thrive.”
Newshawks
