46
No 1
PowerList 2008
as ‘a normal African man’ who ‘maybe had opportunities other
people didn’t have’.
‘We really changed lives and I’m not saying that as a cliché,’ says
the Sudanese Nubian, who is also a British national. ‘You cannot
imagine the size of the problem we have solved. Africa was not
connected before. It had no telecommunications substructure before
in sub-Saharan Africa. The amount of jobs we created were really
immense. We really pushed the GDP of the countries. It’s wonderful
and something I’m very, very proud of.’
And so he should be, for, in effect, Dr Mo Ibrahim is responsible
for the liberation of a continent.
Even more amazingly, he has started the process all over again,
albeit in a totally different theatre. While he was creating the mobile
communications network, Dr Ibrahim realised that African countries
would also require good governance and accountable institutions.
Everyone knew how badly run countries such as Zimbabwe were,
but the outside world, he noticed, was unaware of Africa’s success
stories because nobody had ever really told them what they were. In
addition, of course, Africans themselves need to know how well their
countries are doing compared with others.
In order to address both situations, Dr Ibrahim set up the Mo
Ibrahim Foundation, which essentially does two things. Firstly, Ibrahim has a lot of sympathy for the plight of the average African
it runs an index that benchmarks the achievements of African leader.
countries and ranks them according to governance quality in ‘Leading an African country is a nightmare job, I’ve always
five key areas that together ‘constitute a holistic definition of said this. What keeps the prime minister of UK awake at night?
good governance’: safety and security, rule of law, transparency What is the problem? Inflation at three-and-a-half per cent? Global
and corruption, participation and human rights, and sustainable investments? Look at an African president – the amount of problems
economic development and human development. those guys are facing. They have a lot people with HIV, malaria killing
Secondly, the foundation awards a cash prize – the biggest in people, no schools, no clean water, slow economic development.
‘This is the most difficult job in the world. If somebody manages
to take on that job and do things, is this not a great man worthy of
‘I have no preconceptions
celebration? We offer a Nobel Prize to a man who may write some
paper on physics, but a man who takes two million people out of
about myself... I’m just
poverty, is that not a wonderful act?
‘What we want to deliver is food on the table, jobs for kids,
doing what any African
schools, security for people, respect for human rights. What we
are doing is to focus the civil society on this issue and giving the
should do, which is to care
materials which will support the discussion. That can have a far-
reaching result in helping governance. Unless we do that and have
about his own people’
good leadership focused on the country and the people, then how
can we move on?’
What makes Dr Ibrahim’s story all the more remarkable is
the world of its kind at $5m over 10 years and $200,000 annually the fact that until he was in his mid 40s he was working as the
for life thereafter – to ‘a former African executive Head of State Technical Director of Celnet, a subsidiary of British Telecom.
or Government who has demonstrated excellence in African He set up a consultancy and software company in 1989, most of
leadership’. The inaugural Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement which he sold to Marconi and then decided to go back to his native
in African Leadership went to former President of Mozambique Sudan and set up Africa’s first mobile phone network n 1998. Seven
Joaquim Chissano. This year’s was being decided upon as we went years later he had sold it for $3.4bn. Now, according to Forbes
to press. magazine, he is the second richest man on the African continent
Dr Ibrahim explains: ‘Everybody talks about good governance with a personal fortune estimated to be $2.5bn.
and good leadership and it would helpful if we knew what we were Yet he remains humble.
talking about. Instead of falling into subjective likings and dislikes ‘I really have no preconceptions about myself. I have no
of various people – you like Mugabe, you don’t like Mugabe. Let pretensions to be a leader or a celebrity. I’m just doing what I
us measure exactly what everybody is doing, how every country think any African should do, which is care about his own people. I
is scoring. That, to me, seems to be an objective way to measure happen to be in a privileged position where I made some money on
performance of governments in all areas – roads, power, access to the African continent, and I’m now in a position to say, “OK guys,
water, investments, health, jobs created, education, human rights. I’m giving you the money back. You gave me this money”, There’s
‘We are out to measure. This information needs to be given no heroism in this.’
to civil society because I think African people need to have such For once, it has to be said, Dr Mo Ibrahim has probably got it
truths on how the governments are faring. The prize comes as a wrong.
consequence of the index.’
A proud African, who says that during all the time he was doing Additional reporting by Justin Onyeka
business on the continent he never paid one penny in bribery, Dr Illustration by Phillip Butah
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