𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗣 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗪𝗔 𝗭𝗜𝗠𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗪𝗘’𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗘.

Phillip Chiyangwa, born in Chegutu as the seventh of eleven children, grew up in poverty. His mother, a vegetable vendor, had Phillip and his older brother help her by buying stock from local farmers. This early exposure to haggling and business taught him valuable lessons in matching consumer needs with products.

Inspired by creative figures like Manyoke, a snake charmer who performed for money, Phillip aspired to grow beyond Chegutu. After finishing his O'levels, he moved to Bulawayo to train as a machine operator and bookkeeper. He soon secured a job at the Bulawayo Board of Executors, which kickstarted his career. Phillip’s next break came when he was selected as a trainee by Dunlop to improve factory productivity. However, after Zimbabwe’s independence and the unrest in Matabeleland and Midlands, he moved to Harare.

In Harare, Phillip's skills made it easy for him to land a job at Willowvale Motors. He started seeking side hustles, leveraging his bookkeeping skills to assist African businessmen with financial management. While working at Van Leer, he and his brother encountered white farmers selling property at low prices due to the unrest and economic sanctions. They bought these farms and resold them at a significant profit, marking the beginning of Phillip’s wealth accumulation.

Phillip’s first major investment was a 500-hectare farm in Harare South. Though he was offered a good price, he held onto the land, knowing its value would rise as residential stands. He subdivided the land in the late 1980s, developing roads and services before selling it for a handsome profit. This marked his entry into the real estate world, where he soon became a millionaire in his twenties.

By then, Phillip was involved in several businesses, including Jetmaster and Pinnacle Construction. As head of indigenization at AAG, he helped found Telecel Zimbabwe and bought shares in Econet. He also held significant shares in CBZ, Zimbabwe's largest bank, and La Farge Cement before the company divested.

Phillip's talent for valuing and rationalizing businesses led him to acquire companies left behind by white investors, optimizing them for profit. He continued to reinvest in land, acquiring large properties in Harare’s prime areas such as Bluff Hill, The Grange, and Borrowdale. His profitable real estate ventures, like Short Stone and Pamvura Sunset Mews, solidified his status in the property sector.

Pamvura Sunset Mews was a notable project where he developed a secure estate with cluster homes for middle-class Zimbabweans. He expanded his vision by building a school, Divaris Makaharris, which became one of the top institutions in the country, and a shopping center near the school. He is now developing a larger project, the Nyore Nyore Housing Scheme, a mini-city on 2,500 hectares of land in Harare South. This development will include malls, residential areas, office parks, and even a railway line, providing housing for 250,000 people. Phillip aims to replicate this model in other provinces, planning to house over 1.2 million people by 2030.

Further extending his real estate ventures, Phillip is building ten shopping malls and 16 hotels across his properties in Harare, including the Pentagon Hotel in Borrowdale. With over 10,000 hectares of land in Zimbabwe, his real estate holdings alone make him a multi-billionaire in US dollar terms. Additionally, his companies and shares contribute significantly to his vast wealth, cementing Phillip Chiyangwa’s status as one of Zimbabwe’s richest individuals.