Anyone who follows trends in and around Africa must have come across the famous Mo Ibrahim Foundation. According to its official website, Mo Ibrahim Foundation is an African foundation established in 2006 and focused on the critical issues of governance and leadership in Africa.

It is devoted to improving the standard of leadership across Africa and has handed scholarships to thousands of African students.

In this article, we will look at the Sudanese billionaire championing this philanthropic effort.

Who Is Dr Mo Ibrahim ?

Mo Ibrahim is a Sudanese-born British businessman who became a billionaire after selling his communications company, Celtel to Kuwaiti investors.

Mo Ibrahim founded Celtel Ltd in 1998 and sold it to Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company for $3.4 billion in 2005. He pocketed $1.4 billion from the deal.

He was born in Sudan where he lived for a while before his family moved to Egypt. He studied Electrical Engineering at Alexandria University and after he graduated, he moved back to Sudan to work in the National Telecommunication Board, Sudan Telecom.

British influence and career growth 

In 1974 Mo Ibrahim moved to England to gain his master’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bradford. This was followed by a PhD in mobile communications from the University of Birmingham.

Dr. Mo Ibrahim had a brief stint teaching undergraduate telecommunications studies at the University of Greenwich before quitting to take up a Technical Director role at Cellnet, a subsidiary of the British telecommunication giant, British Telecom (BT).

He returned to Sudan, armed with enough experience and contacts to set up Celtel telecommunications which he eventually sold for $3.4 billion in 2005. He has since then, committed his time to his philanthropic efforts.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation 

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation was founded in 2006 and its primary objective is to promote good governance across the African continent. The foundation pays a total of $5 million prize money to selected winners. The award targets African leaders who show stellar leadership and winners are selected by a prize committee made up of reputable Africans.

What you should know 

• Dr Mo Ibrahim is also a British citizen and he resides in the United Kingdom.
• Dr Mo Ibrahim is one of the 15 black billionaires in the world with a net worth of $1.1bn.
• Dr Mo Ibrahim is the richest Sudanese citizen.
• President Mahamadou Issoufou was the 2020 winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.