BULAWYO – Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire Strive Masiyiwa has been appointed to the Netflix board as the video streaming service eyes growth in Africa.
The Econet founder will become only the second black person on the Netflix board, his appointment coinciding with the exit of Susan Rice, who became Netflix’s first black board member in 2018. Rice is leaving to join President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration.
“We are delighted to welcome Strive to the Netflix board,” Netflix co-founder, chairman and co-CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement. “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.”
Masiyiwa, in a statement provided by Netflix, said: “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.”
Masiyiwa serves on several international boards including Unilever, National Geographic Society and Asia Society and the global advisory boards of Bank of America, the Council on Foreign Relations in the U.S., Stanford University and the Prince of Wales Trust for Africa. He’s also a longstanding board member of the United States Holocaust Museum’s Committee on Conscience.
Masiyiwa brings a fresh set of connections and experience as the first African — and the third international media executive — to join Netflix’s board in recent years. The streaming giant already has two directors from Europe, which has been its fastest-growing region in recent years.
Netflix now has more than 190 million subscribers, and is looking to regions beyond the U.S. and Europe for its next batch of customers. Asia accounted for the most new subscribers last quarter.
For now, Africa is a small market for paid streaming video. In a continent of more than a billion people, Netflix has just a couple million customers, according to Digital TV Research. But the company has long argued that it would play the long game adding customers in Asia and Africa, home to the majority of the world’s people. Toward that end, Netflix has started offering cheaper, mobile-only plans and has commissioned a slate of original series and movies.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said: “I’m thrilled to have Strive join our board as we expand more across Africa and the world.”
Masiyiwa, who has an estimated current net worth of US$1 billion, heads up Econet, which has operations and investments in 29 countries in Africa and Europe
He launched mobile phone network Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in 1998 after a years-long fight with Zimbabwe’s state-owned telecommunications operator.
A former board member of the Rockefeller Foundation for 15 years, Masiyiwa is chairman emeritus of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and African Union Special Envoy to the continent’s Covid-19 response.
