From right, Andrew Young, Masiyiwa and his wife

“Coincidence is God’s way of staying anonymous”- Ambassador Andrew Young
__Keep expanding your mind with books

By Strive Masiyiwa

Last month my wife and I traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend a very special event. The World Congress for Lawyers was giving its highest award to a man who has been a mentor to me for over 30 years: Ambassador Andrew Young.

If for some reason you don’t know who this man is, you are living a life without a history of who you are, and that is very dangerous in life! Just Google for a moment to read about him. I’ll give you one hint, he was right there with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

He is now 91 years old and his mind is as sharp as ever. When I first met him, Andrew Young took me under his wing and always made a point of either asking me what I was reading or would share with me the title of the books he had just read. He is still doing it and he loves the fact that I always read his recommendations.

I recommend that you get a copy of the book he gave me about his life which you can see my wife and I receiving from him in the photo. It’s called: “The Many Lives of Andrew Young” written by Ernie Suggs.

It is really one of those books that every black family should have. Which brings me to my own recommendation this week. I just completed a book called: “Up from Nothing” by John Hope Bryant, another mentee of Andrew Young, who is a very famous African American entrepreneur. He was also in Madrid.

John is not only a great entrepreneur, he is also an amazing philanthropist who teaches young entrepreneurs, mostly African Americans, about how to handle money and build real wealth. I am looking forward to seeing him soon.

I’m serious, if you really want to create wealth in many [honourable] ways, you should get into reading his books as well as listening to his Podcasts. It’s thought-provoking stuff!

John and I have agreed to do a Youth Entrepreneurship Town Hall in the future but only if you read his book first. So get reading and let’s see how many of you are interested enough for us to do this!

My mother always used to say to me: “You can take a horse to the river but you cannot make him drink”. I can give you advice on how to build a successful business but I cannot force you to use that advice.

Here’s the Audible link to “Up from Nothing” – By John Hope Bryant, Narrated by John Hope Bryant: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B08KBRGJ94…

This is going to be a busy weekend. More to share soon.

*Strive Masiyiwa is a London-based Zimbabwean billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and executive chairman of international technology groups Econet Global and Cassava Technologies