Now worth over $2.5bn (£1.5bn), the entrepreneur and philanthropist is changing lives across Africa by using his money and influence to encourage clean politics.
He moved to the UK from Sudan in 1974 to study electrical engineering in Bradford before going on to do a PhD in Birmingham.
By 1983 he was technical director at BT Cellnet - now known as O2. But despite the benefits and salary that comes with a high-profile job, he wasn't happy.
Mr Ibrahim's foundation is trying to improve governance in Africa
"I had no ambition to be a businessman," he told Carrie Gracie on the BBC World Service's The Interview.
"I left BT out of frustration. I got fed up. When you leave you lose your job, your car, your secretary, your mobile phone - all the nice things. What do you do? You say: 'OK, I'm a consultant.'"
He went home and told his wife he would be setting up an office in the dining room. From here, he founded MSI (Mobile Systems International), which he sold to Marconi for $916m in 2000.
His next company, Celtel, was bought for a reported $3.4bn (£5.1bn at the August 2000 exchange rate) and now provides mobile phone coverage for more than 25 million people in Africa.
"The mobile industry changed Africa," he said.
"I must admit we were not smart enough to foresee that. What we saw is a real need for telecommunication in Africa, and that need had not been fulfilled. For me that was a business project, but also a political project."
Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8309396.stm
Share