Below, we look at 30 important quotes from Strive Masiyiwa‘s Facebook account.

  1. If you are going to be a successful entrepreneur, you will likely have disputes at one time or the other.
  2. The best lawyers are those who say “Lets try and talk to them”.
  3. As far as I am concerned, a business that does not innovate is not really a business.
  4. America produces more oil than Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, but they export very little of it, because entrepreneurs use it in products like this iPad and your iPhone.
  5. Come to think of it, if you are on the internet right now (using something like Facebook), we have probably enabled it!
  6. The leaders who need the most advice do not need or value advice (and advisors) and rarely ask for it.
  7. You should so value advice that you are prepared to get it, and above all to pay anything for it.
  8. You don’t have to be a famous celebrity like Beyoncé and Jay Z to make a difference. You can use your own talents and skills every day right where you are to help fellow global citizens defeat poverty.
  9. I used to win debates but not people. Now my lesson is to lose debates and win people. It works even in marriage.
  10. You can still be a very successful entrepreneur even if you are not the originator of the idea, if you are able to adopt and adapt something successfully for your own market.
  11. Every time I start something, there is always someone who tries to convince me that they “thought about it first”.
  12. Econet Zimbabwe is like a big haulage truck which is carrying a hidden Ferrari (Cassava).
  13. As entrepreneurs we fight in the conditions, and not the conditions.
  14. Raising capital is itself entrepreneurship.
  15. I want you to get to a place in your understanding where you can buy shares as easily as buying a packet of sugar in a shop.
  16. A modern business must be an innovation machine.
  17. The only thing that “steals an idea” is procrastination and incompetence.
  18. In Africa we do not have enough of anything, so we must use whatever we have as efficiently as possible.
  19. There is no entrepreneur who does not have a website.
  20. You must be prepared to start small and build yourself up, sometimes doing things that are beneath your qualifications.
  21. The wealth of the world’s richest people is mostly measured through shares in a public listed company, and not cash or property.
  22. I’m not an investor! I’m an entrepreneur.
  23. A football match is 90 minutes. If you spend 90 minutes a week watching business and company news, what do you think would happen? Choose passions that will prosper you!
  24. Fortunately, no one is born an entrepreneur, you can be trained.
  25. Entrepreneurship is a mindset.
  26. It is virtually impossible to tackle unemployment if we cannot re-imagine rural.
  27. The next generation of great African entrepreneurs will not only be greater and richer than anyone before them, but many of them will be women.
  28. Every teacher at every level must be issued a tablet computer as a standard job tool.
  29. Every school must have free wi-fi.
  30. Exposure to other cultures and countries will make you successful.