Dr. James Makamba is an African philanthropist and innovator in many African markets who has always ensured that the person on the street is able to participate in wealth generation activities. He also reinforces his conviction that education is the oxygen of life and success by founding and supporting organisations - such as the Ibbamo Foundation and the Bongi Ngemi Zuma Foundation - that focus on the sharing of knowledge and the development of socially responsible leadership. In business and community affairs, Dr Makamba is a pro-active originator, entrepreneur, and individualist who exemplifies and promotes African innovation. In 1980, he was one of the first Africans to become a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, placing one million US dollars’ worth of insurance and investment business in a record period of eight months. Also in the early 1980s, he brought to Africa the SofnFree range of cosmetics designed in USA especially for black people. As a consultant to Lonhro plc in the 1980s, he represented Boeing during its expansion phase into sub-Saharan Africa, bringing jet air travel to many countries on the continent. In 1997, when television broadcasting in sub-Saharan Africa was government controlled, he launched an independent station, Joy TV, in Zimbabwe. In 1998, he expanded African entrepreneurship when he affiliated his own consortium, the Empowerment Corporation, with Telecel International, the continent’s first ever cellular operator – and won Zimbabwe’s third independent cellular operator license. He broke new ground with the Empowerment Corporation, spreading the wealth generation potential of the burgeoning cellular industry to the common man through the shareholdings in the consortium of miner’s unions, indigenous women business groupings, and war veteran groupings.He is chairman of Telecel Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Telecel International, the first cellular phone company to establish operations on the African continent, in 1986.