Wicknell Chivayo is not just any other influential person in Zimbabwe.
The 42-year-old has almost unfettered access to power, having been pictured with Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, William Ruto of Kenya, Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Zambia's deceased former President Edgar Lungu.
Chivayo, a husband and a father of two, often flies private jets, shops at high-end stores, changes luxurious vehicles frequently, gifts people expensive presents, including cars and houses, and lives in a posh neighbourhood in the north of Zimbabwe's capital Harare.
Chivayo says his main goal is to become a dollar-billionaire, and that money "buys happiness."
According to him, "being rich causes a headache", citing dilemma over what to wear or drive from an expensive collection.
But who exactly is Chivayo, whose Instagram page is a luxury exhibition?
He was born in November 1982 in Harare, where he pursued primary and secondary education.
There is no publicly confirmed record of him pursuing college education.
On his Facebook page, he says he started off as a wage clerk of a bus company in Zimbabwe in 1997.
Zimbabwean media report that Chivayo, thereafter, joined the unregulated foreign exchange business in the capital.
In 2004, he was sentenced to three years in prison for deceiving a South African national that he would deposit over $100,000 in the South African's account in exchange for $46,000, though in South African rand currency.
Chivayo served time at the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in Harare.
In March 2011, Zimbabwe's state-controlled newspaper, The Chronicle, reported that Chivayo had allegedly created fictitious websites, which unsuspecting clients believed could help them procure goods.
According to The Chronicle, the websites would disappear upon receiving payments.
Chivayo would make news headlines again not long thereafter.
In September 2019, the former chairperson of the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), Stanley Kazhanje, was jailed for three years for receiving $10,000 from Chivayo's company, Intratrek Zimbabwe.
The trial established that in October 2015, ZPC, through Kazhanje, had given Chivayo's company a $183-million contract to construct a 100-megawatt solar station in Zimbabwe's southwestern district of Gwanda.
Some $1.2 million were paid up front.
Harare Magistrate Hosea Mujaya established that Chivayo's company did not fulfill the contractual obligation, but in January 2016 Chivayo gave Kazhanje $10,000.
Interestingly, a few years later when Chivayo's firm sued for unlawful termination of a contractual agreement, ZPC was ordered to pay Intratrek $22 million in damages.
In March 2018, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed to institute the arrest of Chivayo, whom he described as "fly-by-night briefcase businessman."
In February 2025, the president described Chivayo as a "philanthropist."
Chivayo has been linked to other tenders relating to elections, security, internet connectivity and cancer treatment.
He vehemently rejects allegations which link him to fraud, saying he is a legitimate businessman, who has "haters" and people riding on his name for "political relevance."
Sport sponsorships
In the Zimbabwean sport sector, Chivayo is a familiar name.
Often, he has announced football club sponsorship deals worth millions of US dollars, though claims of unmet pledges often follow Chivayo.
In January 2025, he pledged a $10-million package for the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) should his preferred candidate, Nqobile Magwizi, win the ZIFA presidency.
Magwizi eventually won that month's election, but until now, there are no publicly available records indicating Chivayo fulfilled his $10-million donation pledge.
