Five Years in Court — Strive Masiyiwa and the Fight That Built Econet

In the early 1990s, Strive Masiyiwa asked Zimbabwe's government for a mobile network license. They said no. He took them to court — and stayed there for five years, with no income, fighting a government with essentially unlimited resources to keep contesting it.

This short story follows that legal battle to Zimbabwe's Supreme Court, the ruling that broke the state telecom monopoly, and how Masiyiwa turned that win into Econet Wireless and eventually a pan-African business spanning telecom, fintech, and renewable energy. Includes a "Behind the Story" section separating documented fact from narrative detail.

An 8-10 minute read about betting years of your life on being constitutionally right.