Zimbabwean business mogul, Strive Masiyiwa has been appointed African Union (AU) Special envoy in the global mobilization of medical test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) for African countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking on South Africa's News24 livestream recently, AU chairperson and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa revealed the appointment of owner of the Zimbabwean telecommunications giant, Econet Wireless to the led the continent's response strategy.
I appointed Mr Strive Masiyiwa, a business leader with businesses here in South Africa and Zimbabwe to be our envoy of the continent to scour the world and find these diagnostic as well as the medical supplies," Ramaphosa said.
Just in the past few days of getting the suppliers in China with the intervention of President Xi Jinping to agree that they will, make available up to 30 million test kits for us on the African continent and they will make these available per month as well as 18 million masks per month," he added.
With most Africa countries facing few resources to buy sufficient medical test kits and PPE, financing modalities and the procurement processes will be unveiled in weeks to come, Ramaphosa said.
