In Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills and eternal sun, few figures have risen higher or shone more brightly than Miko Alexis Rwayitare.
He was the engineer who, in 1986, lifted a bulky handset in Kinshasa and made Africas first mobile phone call. It was a moment both audacious and prophetic: a continent long tethered to unreliable copper lines had found its own shortcut to the future.
From that single call, Rwayitare built Telecel, Africas first cellular operator, and expanded it into more than a dozen countries. Later, he poured capital into vineyards, hotels, and broadband. Along the way, he became the first black African to own a Cape wine estate, the man who bought Kigalis most famous hotel, and a strategist who knew when to sell.