Miko Rwayitare

Miko Rwayitare (December 2, 1942 – September 24, 2007) was a Rwandan-born billionaire and the supposed father of mobile telecommunications in Africa.
It is reported that he made the first cellular phone call on the African continent in 1986.[1] He founded Telecel International, an African telecommunications company.[2]

Rwayitare was born in Rwanda and educated in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) at the Collège Saint-Esprit and then Collège Notre-Dame in Bukavu and received an engineering degree in in Germany at University of Karlsruhe in 1970.
In 1996, he moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. He lived in one of the city’s most expensive mansions on Sandhurst’s Oxford Avenue.[3]
In 2001, he purchased the Mont Rochelle winery making it the first black-owned wine estate in South Africa.[4] He was also the owner of Hôtel des Mille Collines on which the Film Hotel Rwanda was based.[5] He was married to Consolatta Rwayitare and has seven children.

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References

  1. ↑ Rwandans mourn Miko Rwayitare, The New Times, by Edwin Musoni, September 28, 2007.
  2. ↑ Celebrating Africa’s Unsung Heroes: Miko Rwayitare, African Leadership Academy.
  3. ↑ Cosy home for the very rich, Times Live, by Simphiwe Piliso, 07 November, 2010 .
  4. ↑ Celebrating Africa’s Unsung Heroes: Miko Rwayitare, African Leadership Academy.
  5. ↑ Hôtel des Mille Collines