Related Articles

• Police bust major drugs network
• PM’s Belgrade visit stirs debate, uneasiness over Kosovo comments
• Albania PM joins pressure on Kosovo gov’t with unconsulted proposal 

(The image used in this article is from The Economist and is property of Dan Williams. It is used for illustrative purposes only; all rights belong to Dan Williams)

The following is a story of immense personal achievement; it’s a story of a tremendous love for one’s country, and it is a story of what will and vision can achieve. The subject of this story is Mohammad Ibrahim, Mo for short.

Mo is a Sudanese-British entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born in 1946, he was one of five children, all of whom are respected professionals. Educated in Egypt and the UK,  Mo achieved two monumental feats in his life. The first is bringing mobile phone technology to Africa at a time when landline infrastructure was so ineffective that the vast majority of the continent was unable to place a call. That alone is cause enough for early retirement, but Mo Ibrahim’s second monumental achievement overshadows even that. Mo found a way to pay for the corrupt governing elite in his continent into becoming good leaders. Think about that for a second. He tackled one of the most staggeringly complex issues that a country can face, and he made a difference, and he did it just so spectacularly.

But before he could do anything that grand, Mo had to become a great man. He had to become a man who had the freedom to choose what he did with his time, and a man who had the power to make what he did matter. To understand how Mo achieved the latter, we have to look at what he did to achieve the former.

Mo Ibrahim was a scientist by training and a “reluctant entrepreneur” by trade, as he puts it. I think he chose those particular words for a reason. Mo’s idea was great not only because it would make him a fortune, but because it would provide a tremendous service for his people. One has little choice in the face of that great a proposition.

Mo’s study of electrical engineering led to a PhD at Birmingham University, where he would study the practical applications of mobile (wireless) communication at a time when landline was king. The technology showed a lot of promise, but Mo had to get from lab to market. This was not easy. His path to market led him to British Telecom, where he would quickly lead his own department and push for his idea. The problem, however, was that British Telecom was making a significant amount of money with landline. This was another hurdle Mo had to overcome.

If you’ve dipped your toes into business analysis, you know that big companies that make a ton of money from a star product have a particular distrust for new technology that can potentially eat away at a piece of their pie. This is the reality that Mo faced. He had a great idea, and he had his eye on the ball, but no one would back him. So, what is a man to do when he can’t get help from those around him? Well, he does it himself. At least, men like Mo do.

Mo established his own company, Celtel, in 1998, and for the next years that company would find immense success in a virtually unserved market. In 2005, as many as 24 million cellphone subscriptions had been placed in 14 countries across Africa. That same year, the company was sold to MTC Kuwait (now Zain), and Mo was 3.4 billion richer for it.

Now that Mo had the money, he had the power to pursue what would become his second monumental achievement; he could aim to ‘fix’ the corruption that ran rampant in Africa. The way he did it? He fought fire with fire. If the promise of riches is what led politicians to corruption, maybe it could lead them to fair governance. After all, Mo now had the means to make that impossible goal a reality.

In 2006, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation was established. It offered the ‘Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership’ to any African head of state that demonstrated exceptional leadership, led to the development of their country, and, importantly, voluntarily gave up power to make way for new leaders. ‘What’s the amount’ I hear you ask? The amount is a $5 million award paid over 10 years (500,000 per year), as well as an additional $200,000 every year for the rest of a laureate’s years. It was a tempting offer for the African leaders at the time, and it brought good governance and the peaceful transition of power into the public eye.

🔔Subscribe to our newsletter!

The next step in Mo’s odyssey was to develop the ‘Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG)’. This one is truly, truly special. Mo’s fortune allowed the foundation to assemble a team of international scholars, researchers, and specialists of African governance. This team would develop a set of 80 indicators that in their summation would measure the quality of governance in African countries. The team would look for things like participation in human rights, citizen safety, existence and adherence to the rule of law, sustainable economic opportunity, and so on.

The beauty of this idea came in its result. African countries would now use the Ibrahim Index as a tool for measuring their standing compared to neighbors. They would use it to measure their own progress from year to year. A country that found itself in a higher ranking than the year prior had cause for celebration, their citizens would sing praises, and leaders would relish in their people's continued support. Ultimately, leaders competed for who’s country was the most democratic, for who did the most for their country, and for who’s country was the most fair. I can only see that as a great thing.

These were the two monumental achievements in Mo Ibrahim’s life. If you’re interested in a more in-depth look at Mo’s life, you can get that here. I must admit that I was completely swept off my feet by one quote from the article I linked above; it ended with an answer that Mo had for the question of what he wanted his legacy to be. Mo’s response was, “I’d like to be remembered as a good African boy who didn’t forget his people.”. I think that’s beautiful, and inspiring, and I think it sets the standard for all of us, here in Albania and beyond.

As a final thought, I would like to touch on Albania for a moment, and think about what Mo would say about us. To do that, we can look at another one of Mo’s excerpts from a speech that he gave at the University of Ghana:

“We are a very rich continent, the second-largest continent in the world, lush-green, plenty of resources. Everything we have. Yet we are the poorest people on earth. So, rich continent, poor people. After fifty years of independence, I don’t think we can continue to blame the colonialists.”

I’m sure that Mo’s admonishment of the state of his continent is something that many Albanian readers have felt about their own country. Rich country, poor people. Even more than that, it’s been 30 years since that vicious communist regime seized our country; perhaps we cannot justify the deprivation that many of our people still live with today with something that happened so long ago.

I urge you to remember the criteria for the Ibrahim Prize: the peaceful and voluntary transfer of power, and honest governance. Our leaders have been in the driver's seat for 30 years now. Three whole decades. Would any of them be deserving of the Ibrahim Prize? Today there are only 6 laureates that the Ibrahim Foundation recognizes as truly exceptional and just leaders, in addition to one honorary award for Nelson Mandela. That speaks to the quality of leadership that a country like ours should aspire to. This should give us pause for thought. What score would Mo's index for good and honest governance give Albania?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s all for this week. This piece was a bit of a deviation from our regularly planned topics, but I still think it serves as an inspiring example of what we of the ‘Next Generation’ can aim for. Please let us know how you feel about this one. We always look forward to your feedback so we can improve content and make this hub more engaging and interactive. Thanks for reading, and please consider subscribing. We have a surprise for this next one, so stay tuned next week!