1.

Ethical Leadership at Econet Global: Case Study 

Econet is a telecommunications group that was founded in 1993 by Strive Masiyiwa [1]. The
group has many subsidiaries that help in attaining its goals. These include Econet wireless,
Cassava smartech, which include ECOCASH and EcoFarmer, and Cassava Technologies. The
company will be used as subject for case study on ethical leadership and how its practices align
with ethical leadership.  
2. Econet Leadership Styles 
2.1 Transformational leadership through Empowering employees 
The management of Econet launched a program to enable their employees gain new knowledge
in the telecommunications industry as it always changing [2].They created a LinkedIn account
where the employees could access resources for studying. On the launch of the program the
COO, Fayaz King made a statement on the importance of change and evolving by improving
their skills in telecommunication[2].The management set a goal, an hour per week, to read.
Employees were given a chance to take an hour off work and study or engage in discussions with
other employees [2]. About 94% employees participated in the program.  

The program made it possible for workers to gain new skills and this made it possible for the
company to reach their goals. The management would tell the employees areas where
improvement is needed, and employees would study materials related to the areas. Six months
review were done, and employees would discuss their findings [2].Employees could easily apply
new positions in the company, but they were questioned about their learning activity. 

In 2001, Econet started sponsoring their employees in management positions to attend the
Success Motivation International, SMI, to train them about management and to realize their full
potential [3]. This initiative made the leaders gain knowledge on how to manage people in a
workplace ethically and how to manage time to attain personal and organizational goals. Some of
the training programs at SMI include employee management, industrial relations, counselling,
motivation, and psychology[4].

2.2 Corporate Social Responsibility 

From the literature review, corporate social responsibility leaders focus is on the environment
and the society. Econet has demonstrated its CSR, in health, education and environment.  

2.2.1 Environment Responsibility 

One of their statements reads, “It is of priority to the organization that the business does not
leave a negative footprint on the environment and the ecological ecosystems in which we
operate” [5]. The company has programs to ensure they keep up with their program such as solar
projects, spill waste and integrated waste management [5].
On the 22nd of September 2017, Econet donated 1000 bins to the City of Harare to ensure that
waste is disposed in the bins [6]. This helped Zimbabwe in initializing the country vision of
having clean cities by 2025. 
In 2017, the company released a report stating that it had shipped 360 tons of telecommunication
equipment for disposal via the program “Obsolete Equipment Take Back” which they agreed
with their suppliers [7].This is helps preserve a clean environment for everyone. Econet also
introduced a way to buy airtime via ECOCASH to limit the number of scratched cards. 
2.2.2 Social Responsibility 
Econet caters the education, health and physio-social life of underprivileged children and
orphans in Africa through the HigherLife foundation[8]. Econet have other related organizations
that support underprivileged children such as Capernaum trust, which offers life skills, food
parcels and scholarships for orphaned children. Econet through its foundations have sponsored
more than 40000 children since its launch in 1996 [8].
 
In 2020, during the covid19 pandemic when countries were struggling to deal with the pandemic,
Higher Life Foundation partnered with other foundations donated 45 Intensive Care Unit
Ventilator suites which were distributed in Zimbabwe public Hospitals [9]. HigherLife
foundation Lesotho also provided food packages to an orphanage, Ministry of Hope in Lesotho,
in 2021 after the second wave of covid 19 [10]. The public relations manager Puleng Masoabi in
her speech mentions that the company’s drive was to provide monthly donations to orphanages
[10].
3. Nature of leadership at Econet 
This section focuses on the nature of the leaders in terms of ethical leadership. 
3.1 Ethically sound  
A study performed by [4], on the level of education of employees in leadership positions in
Econet showed that about 60% had a master's degree or higher and 80% had more than 5 years
working experience. This shows that the leaders are highly educated, and they understand their
roles and responsibilities clearly to make sure that the organization meet their targets [4].The
leaders through experience have acquired skills on how to lead people ethically and not
compromise with meeting the organization’s goals. 
Econet has a group, Social and Ethics group, that is responsible for observing the ethical conduct
in the company and integrity of the employees and leaders [7]. The committee is made up of Mr
G Gomwe, who has 27 years of experience in executive positions, Mr K Chirairo and Mrs. T
Mpofu both have MBAs among other qualifications and Ms B Mtetwa who joined the company
in 2010 is a lawyer who has an international recognition [7]. The board through its experienced
members overviews how members behave and takes disciplinary measures to those who behave
unethical. 
3.2 Leaders relates well with employees  
According to [4], the employees at Econet relates well to their management. The employee
empowerment programs at the company enable the leaders to interact with employees ethically
and they can easily form team or group to enable that organizational targets are met. The leaders
acknowledge best employees with awards, for example Tlali Phoofolo and Tumelo Lilele
received awards for being high performing employees and their department were the
“performance beyond expectations” trophy [11].[12] The initiative reduces employee
absenteeism and ensures a competent workforce. 
One of the ways that Econet does to make sure that their employees are always happy is to assist
them in fighting economic hardships [7]. The leader understands that having a house is one of
the main priorities of most employees and it offers house loans to help them alleviate the
economic hardships [7]. The leaders made a platform where employees can suggest solutions on
improving the company’s services [7]. This communication platform gives employees a sense of
belonging when ideas are implemented or considered. This also demonstrates that there is no
discrimination because anyone is given a platform to express their ideas. Some employees also
use the communication channel to say their issues. 
3.3 Battle against Corruption 
From its onset in 1993, the founder Strive Masiyiwa, and his management group faced major
setbacks from the Zimbabwean government. They were faced with a challenge to get a telecoms
license to start operating legally in the country, at that time the only telecommunication company
was state owned [12]. The leadership fought the government via the court in its decision to
award other operators who had acquired the license in an illegal way, that is through corruption
[12]. Although, they were against the government and many government officials had visited
them and were willing to help them, they did not resort to corruption. They were awarded the
license to operate in the country in 1998 [12].
In 2019, Mr Masiyiwa the CEO of Econet at the 9th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace
Lecture in Cape Town spoke against corruption and how Africa as a continent must unite and
fight corruption [13]. This is in line with what he practices, that is being honest, and it also
shows that he leads by example and practices what he preaches. 
The leadership behaved ethically, even though they could have acted unethical and paid bribes to
government officials in return of the license. The demonstrates that the leadership of Econet
believes in acting ethical even when the situation is not favorable. The company has gone on to
win awards for behaving ethically and some of their top leaders have received individual awards
for being the best managers nationally, for example Daniel Mhonda in 2018 won the HR (Human
Resources) Manager of the year [14].  
4. The impacts of Econet’s leadership 
4.1 Inside the organization  
The employees in the company are given access to information through the “An hour a week”
program and this helps them improve their skills or to gain new skills. This program helps the
employees to be highly skilled and they can easily find employment elsewhere if they want to
change due to some reasons. The empowering program to send leaders to attend the SMI
program helps the leaders of be great leaders and improve their leadership skills not only in the
organization but also in other personal areas. 
4.2 Outside the organization 
Strive Masiyiwa being one the biggest patron in Zimbabwe and Africa has encouraged
companies and individuals across Africa to be corporate socially responsible. In 2014, leading
mobile operators joined forces in the fight against Ebola [15]. They managed to raise over 30
million dollars to help fight the disease.  

The founder through HigherLife foundation managed to educate many orphans and less
privileged children to school, this enables them to acquire skills and help change the world. The
foundation also helps the children to realize the need help others who are poor in future.  

[1] (2022, September 2). About Econet. Available: [Link]

[2] P. Petrone. (2017, September 7). [Link]
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[4] H. Chakonza, "EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT ON
ORGNISATIONAL PERFOMANCE: THE CASE OF ECONET WIRELESS ZIMBABWE," 2019.
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orphan-and-underprivileged-children.
[9] M. Gwarisa. (2020). Healthy Times. Available: [Link]
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[12] S. R. Velamuri, "Resisting Political Corruption: Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (Research Case
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[13] C. Loggenberg-Roberts. (2019). It-is-possible-for-governments-to-stop-corruption. Available:
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masiyiwa/.
[14] B. A. Mutingwende. (2018). Econet-wins-top-global-and-national-human-resources-awards.
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awards/.
[15] M. Malakata. (2014). NETWORKWORLD. Available:
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