Higherlife Foundation is a social impact organization that invests in human capital to build thriving individuals, communities and sustainable livelihoods. Founded by Strive and Tsitsi Masiyiwa in 1996 out of their personal convictions, heartfelt compassion as well as their personal experiences of orphan-hood, we are contemporary Africans moving the African continent forward through opportunities.
“To provide a platform for people to fulfil their God-given purpose.”
“To invest in Africa’s human capital in order to build thriving individuals, communities, and sustainable livelihoods.”
Tsitsi Masiyiwa is an African philanthropist and social entrepreneur. She is co-founder and co-chair of the Higherlife Foundation, whose primary goal is to invest in human capital development to build thriving communities and sustainable livelihoods.
To that end, Higherlife Foundation’s portfolio encompasses impact investments in education and leadership development, healthcare and sanitation, job creation, and rural transformation.
As a result of her work and experience establishing and growing Higherlife Foundation over the last twenty years, Tsitsi has become an advisor and thought partner to universities, national leaders, and social entrepreneurs on issues of education, leadership development, and youth empowerment.
Tsitsi is a founding board member of the African Philanthropy Forum, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Legatum Institute, and the END Fund. She is also a member of the Sesame Workshop Global Advisory Group, the Digital PATH Advisory Board, and a Champion for UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited initiative.
Strive Masiyiwa, the chairman and founder of Econet, a diversified telecommunications group, is the Co-Founder of Higherlife Foundation. Strive Masiyiwa and his wife Tsitsi Masiyiwa founded Higherlife Foundation in 1996.
Strive Masiyiwa also serves on a number of international boards, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Africa Against Ebola Solidarity Trust, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Advisory Board, the Africa Progress Panel, the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board for Sustainable Energy, Morehouse College and the Hilton Foundation’s Humanitarian Prize Jury.
We are an operating and grant making foundation which embeds its staff in the communities it serves and 80% of our programmes are in the field. We have programming offices in 3 African countries: Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Burundi. Zimbabwe hosts our biggest operations with an operating office in every one of the country’s 10 provinces.
