Mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire Mo Ibrahim revealed on Friday that he speaks at universities and conferences dedicated to young people, to do his bit to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship among the youth.
He says he believes in engaging, saying his children keep him connected as he sees a need to listen to them, adding that “the more you grow old you lose touch and thus you need to listen.” An example in point, he says: “At a conference held in Senegal last year where former Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo was also attending, we had an amazing conversation about the gap between generations.”
He reckons the interaction, held between him, Obasanjo and a number of young people, floored them based on what they drew from the young ones. Ibrahim says such interactions are needed going forward.
Since 2010, Ibrahim has lent his support to the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a United Nations initiative which aims to spread the full benefits of broadband services to unconnected people.
After selling Celtel in 2005 for $3.4 billion, a company he founded, he set up the Mo Foundation to encourage better governance in Africa, as well as creating the Mo Ibrahim Index, to evaluate a nations’ performance.
In 2007 he initiated the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement n African Leadership, which awards a $5 million initial payment and a $200 000 annual payment for life to African heads of state who deliver security, health, education and economic development to their constituents and democratically transfer power to their successors.
AUDIO: Mo Ibrahim on youth empowerment and leadership.
– By Tshepo Tsheole, Cape Town
