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| Mohammed 'Mo' Ibrahim |
Am sure you
have heard the name Mo Ibrahim the founder and the former chairman of Celtel Africa. Born in Sudan, he was among the few Africans in his time to
have a chance to get the college education. He earned a Bachelor of Science
from the University of Alexandria in Electrical Engineering. He started working in England and earned a master's degree from the University of Bradford in Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in Mobile Communications. Actually his official name is Dr.
Mohammed Ibrahim. He is also a founder of Mo Ibrahim foundation for African
development. Actually I would like to share with your few moments and activities
of his life so that we can learn something from this African tech legend.
“Born
the son of a clerk in Sudan, the young Mohammad moved with his family to
Alexandria, Egypt where he grew up. His father sacrificed all he had to send
him to school”
We learned
that Mo Ibrahim come from just another normal African family just like anyone
else his passion and effort is what put him there today were he is. They say
most of the time in his childhood days he used to dream to be academician,
someone like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie, it just happened by chance he turn
out to be an entrepreneur. From the phrase we realize his father’s commitment on
ensuring he is attaining a good education. From Sudan to Alexandria Egypt it
shows how committed he was for his son to attain education, this is something the
African parents should learn always. He used to consider is life was “hand-to-mouth kind of life.” at that time.
After
working briefly for Sudan Telecom, Ibrahim’s fascination with phones procured
him an engineering scholarship in the U.K., where he acquired a Masters in
electronics and electrical engineering from the University of Bradford, and a
PhD in mobile communications from the University of Birmingham.
Actually Mo
was already and employee, but he realizes there is an opportunity to do more
and achieve great things in his life. This spirit was what pushes him to
success. Have you asked yourself what was if he said am satisfied with my
salary? Would we have Celtel today? Another thing is innovativeness; he was so
pushed to come up with something which would be the game changer. Actually is “A brainwave during a taxi ride, as he saw the driver operating his
radio” what give him complete new perception
with what he can achieve with the knowledge he has.
Impressed
by his work, British Telecom (BT) lured Ibrahim away from academia to become
the technical director for Cellnet, its in-car telephony company.
One thing we
learn from this phrase, if you have the potential people will definitely see you.
Just keep doing what you are doing just make sure you are doing it well. At the
end of the day of you have the potential to deliver then you worth more than
your product.
But
after six years with the telecom giant, Ibrahim left BT in 1989 to be his own
boss. With just $50,000, he started his own telecommunications consultancy,
Mobile Systems International (MSI), and in just under ten years, the firm
boasted 800 employees and 17 international subsidiaries. In 2000, Mo Ibrahim
sold MSI to Marconi Plc for $916 million, reinvesting the funds into Celtel, an
earlier spin-off of MSI. Ibrahim’s Celtel was formed in 1998 to build and
operate mobile networks in Africa.
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| Celtel Shop Uganda |
Here we
learn ability to dare to try, remember Mo has to sell his good position at the
strong and established firm to start his own small company. Witnesses said he
add to convince his friends and colleagues to come and work with him for free. “Working for free” it something most of us Tech entrepreneurs we don’t
understand. I had to search for people to write articles to my blog while
people with potential refusing to write for free. To establish a company
requires dedication and the commitment to the task. Sometimes is not about
money, it is how you feel when you do what you does. Quoting Larry Page Google Co-founder
when he talks about Google’s success “if it was about money we could have sold the company long time ago
and ended up somewhere on a beach”. He
invested in Africa, he saw the potential in the continent this is something we
should all see and exploit.
Hint: Celtel’s users ballooned from
7.5 million in 1999 to 76.8 million in 2004, an average annual increase of 58%.
In 2005, Celtel was bought by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC (MTC
Kuwait) for $3.4 billion. Ibrahim commented, “At the end of the day, the level
of transparency and quality of corporate governance enhanced the value of the
company. When we sold the company we received 8.5 times EBITDA.”
Giving
back to the community;
He is among
the few African Billionaires who gave back to the community what they own; his
foundation is funding various projects in Africa. He left Celtel and
established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and initiative which encourages business
and development in the continent and awards funding to African heads of state
and governments that have demonstrated excellence in African leadership. The
mobile telecom entrepreneur went on to develop the Ibrahim Prize and the
Ibrahim Index that rates African countries according to their efficient
governance. There is a lot to learn from the African legend use this for as
your starting point.