Mohammed ‘Mo’ Ibrahim is a Sudanese billionaire, businessman, and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The foundation offers postgraduate scholarships on International Development to African students at the University of Birmingham and London Business School. It also enhances the quality of African governance and leadership through several initiatives.
Mo was born in Sudan but grew up in Alexandria, Egypt. He was raised by his parents and influenced credibly by his mother’s love for education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Alexander University, then returned to work for Sudan Telecom afterward.
Shortly after, he obtained a master’s degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Bradford and a Ph.D. in Mobile Communications from the University of Birmingham, England.
In 2002, Mo received an honorary doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London and another from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011.
His earliest work experience spans from years working as the Technical Director for Cellnet, a subsidiary of British Telecom. He also taught undergraduate telecommunication courses at Thames Polytechnic (now University of Greenwich).
In 1989, Mo founded Mobile Systems International (MSI), a consultancy and software company that became the largest independent technology company in Europe. It was later sold to Marconi Company in 2000 for $618 million.
He saw a gap in the African market and founded Celtel in 1998, a foremost pan-African mobile network operator. After encountering many hassles for running the company, Celtel was also bought over by Kuwait based Mobile Telecommunication Company (Zain) for $3.4 billion in 2005.
Mo Ibrahim is worth $1.18 billion in 2019.
More on Cren0v8:
CRENOV8
