Linking People, Crossing Borders: A Conversation with Mo Ibrahim

Abstract

Born in northern Sudan at the end of World War II, educated in England with a Ph.D. in engineering and mobile communications, Mo Ibrahim returned to Africa in 1998, bringing cellular technology with him. At the time of his arrival, there were barely three million landline telephones on the entire continent—the bulk of them in North Africa and the nation of South Africa. Most of sub-Saharan Africa was all but inaccessible to terrestrial telephone lines. The Democratic Republic of Congo had only 3,000 phones to serve its population of about 55 million. Seeing demand for mobile phones and with little competition from landlines, Mo Ibrahim created Celtel, beginning in Kenya, branching quickly into Uganda and Tanzania. The company allowed millions of mobile subscribers to roam freely across borders, recharging with local cards as they went. Quickly, Celtel expanded across Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia, and finally his native Sudan—a vast pan-African territory almost devoid of telecommunications boundaries. By the time he sold Celtel five years ago, he had linked 24 million people—a number that was growing exponentially.Today, Mo, as he insists on being called, encourages the spread of democracy and democratic leadership as chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The billionaire philanthropist believes his transborder communications system contributes to improved political transparency across Africa and helps the everyday lives of millions. To explain his vision, he talked from Paris with World Policy Journal editor David A. Andelman and managing editor Christopher Shay.