Mo Ibrahim

Ibrahim tied the nuptial knot with Hania. Together, the couple is blessed with two children, a daughter Hadeel Ibrahim who serves as the executive director of Mo Ibrahim Foundation and a son Hosh Ibrahim, an actor by profession.

Mo Ibrahim was born in 1946 in Sudan. His father was a clerk by profession. The family moved to Egypt when Ibrahim was young.

Completing his preliminary studies, he enrolled at the Alexandria University for a degree in electrical engineering. After earning a Bachelor degree in science, he returned to Sudan where he started working as an engineer in the state-run Sudan Telecom.

In 1974, he moved to England and gained admission at the University of Bradford. After earning his master’s degree in electronics and electrical engineering, he went on to attain PhD degree in mobile communications from University of Birmingham. His pioneering academic work included reuse of radio frequencies. Simultaneously, he taught at the University of Birmingham.

In the early 1980s, he took up the profile of a professor at Thames Polytechnic, which later on became University of Greenwich, teaching students undergraduate telecommunication courses.

In 1983, he left his academic career to take up the position of a technical director of Cellnet. Cellnet was a subsidiary of the British telecommunication giant, British Telecom (BT) and was responsible for handling the latter’s wireless operations.

Having gained enough experience in the field of telecommunication, he left his job at BT in 1989 to set up his own firm, Mobile Systems International (MSI). A consultancy and software company, MSI basically dealt with designing mobile networks.

During the late 1990s, he realized the lack of pan-African mobile phone network. Aiming to fill in for the need, he created MSI Cellular Investments, in 1998, which was later on renamed Celtel International. Unlike his other ventures, Celtel was an operator and not a design consultancy.

What was unique to Celtel was its approach of being a no-bribe company. Ibrahim decided that no bribe would be given or accepted by either him or the co-founders. The approach was one-of-its-kind as almost all African companies engaged in bribery in their dealings.

Ibrahim founded Celtel International, which aimed at providing mobile communication services in the African continent. Soon after its launch, it became one of the largest companies in Africa offering coverage in more than a dozen countries and serving millions of people. It created a mobile revolution of sorts, increasing the number of users from a meagre 7.5 million to a mammoth 76.5 million.

Ibrahim philanthropic works led him to found the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which is aimed at celebrating excellence in Africa leadership. Annually, it distributes the prestigious and the world’s largest monetary prize, Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership to a recipient who fulfils the criteria set by the foundation.