Munyaradzi Gwatidzo

Business : Astro Mobile

Many would want to identify with this young man’s life after hearing the success story but one would think twice after hearing about the thorns, hills and obstacles Munyaradzi Gwatidzo had to overcome to get to the top. In the beginning probability had it that success was beyond his grasp and manufacturing phones an impossibility but who said the laws of probability do not bend for the passionate and hard working.

It is true that no profession can escape the clutch of Science and technology for yesterday is past today is history and the future is now. If it wasn’t for Gwatidzo’s inventiveness and enthusiasm for the digital world, it may not have been another few years until Zimbabwe was manufacturing phones. Not only did he make a fortune through his business; he also helps many orphans and under privileged to attend school having faced neglect as a child and struggled even for the right to Education.

Munyaradzi Gwatidzo grew up in Mbare, his father having left when he was young. It became double barreled misery when his mother also passed away shortly afterwards. After completing secondary school he failed to proceed to tertiary education due to financial constraints. Munya sought and found employment as a filing clerk at a bank and bought nokia phones that needed repair to resell them in Zambia. It was from this endeavor that Munya managed to educate himself and attain a degree in computer Science.

Munyaradzi Gwatidzo helped co-found G-Tide famous for its not so noise friendly speakers but parted ways at the age of 27 to establish Astro. Astro now sells over 4 million phones in different countries every year. Munya aims at providing cheap technology and this is what he said “We want the guy selling airtime at the street corner to be able to buy a $20 Smartphone, we want to give our customers the same features that will cost you $500 bundled up in a $20 phone because technology is not a privilege but a right.”