Top 100 Mo Ibrahim Quotes

#1. Rwanda really did take very strong steps towards development. I mean, this place is unrecognizable. There's a very good management of economy and resources - it's a success story, and that's great.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #35244
#2. People never confess to failure. They should.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #37673
#3. Africa is rich, and why are we poor then if our continent is rich. It is not right.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #43711
#4. The Nobel Prize is worth $1.5 million, but that's not the issue. Do the distinguished scientists who win the Nobel Prize need the money? Probably not. The honor is more important the money, and that's the case with the prize for African leadership as well.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #83482
#5. The problem is that many times people suspend their common sense because they get drowned in business models and Harvard business school teachings.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #86003
#6. Behind every corrupt politician are 10-20 corrupt businessmen.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #94675
#7. Educational opportunities have supported the rise of the African middle class, the professional cadre of young people who are now willing and able to contribute to Africa's future prosperity.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #100619
#8. Modern slavery is a hidden crime and notoriously difficult to measure.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #108099
#9. I left Sudan when I was 25 or 26 years old. If I had stayed, I would never have ended up being an entrepreneur. You can have the qualities, but if you don't have the environment, you just wither away. It's like a fish: take it out of water, it will not survive.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #119380
#10. I'm uncomfortable, frankly, with the hype about Africa. We went from one extreme ... to, like, Africa now is the best thing after sliced bread.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #128481
#11. The state and its elites must be subject, in theory and in practice, to the same laws that its poorest citizens are.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #130837
#12. The U.S. has been a great friend all these years, but as soon as Africa found itself starting to move up, the U.S. is really disengaging.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #137843
#13. There's no point in trying to hoard money after life, so better really to share with people.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #149043
#14. Africa has 53 countries. And you find that three or four countries in these 53 are dominating the news.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #167614
#15. When you ask people what they think of Africa, they think of AIDS, genocide, disasters, famine.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #167926
#16. Nobody can come and develop Africa on behalf of Africans.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #197274
#17. Governance has been at the heart of the work of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations and is a clear focus in its report, 'Now for the Long Term.'

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #199156
#18. Mexico established a unique three-part governing system shared by the government, the information commission and civil society organisations.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #226921
#19. More people smile at me now I'm richer.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #238890
#20. All we hear about Africa in the West is Darfur, Zimbabwe, Congo, Somalia, as if that is all there is.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #265056
#21. The African Development Bank is one of the most aggressive advocates of regional integration.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #307300
#22. The issue with international institutions is that there is a crisis of legitimacy. Trust in these institutions is a serious problem.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #310595
#23. Africa is progressing but maybe not in the way you think it is. Even if the overall picture looks good, we must all remain vigilant and not get complacent.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #312705
#24. It is very difficult for any dictator or any incumbent to falsify the results of an election and just get away with it.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #332981
#25. Societies are not sustainable without institutions.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #340144
#26. The Ibrahim Index is a tool to hold governments to account and frame the debate about how we are governed.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #357403
#27. Computers are very expensive and they need power, and that can be a problem in Africa.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #369564
#28. I really don't have heroes in business; I never looked up at business people.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #369813
#29. I think the Cold War was worse for Africa than colonialism.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #457992
#30. I never set out really to build a financial empire or to be a wealthy man.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #458589
#31. Many African people are smarter than me - kids who could have been better. I have no claim for genius.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #462903
#32. Sudan cannot afford to be on the wrong side of history. The north and south will have to work together, but will they?

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #463887
#33. We need to keep pressure on our own governments to force more and more transparency.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #469588
#34. While the Marshall Plan was important for Europe's recovery, Europe's prosperity was really built on economic integration and policy coherence.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #479496
#35. I came to the conclusion that unless you are ruled properly, you cannot move forward. Everything else is second. Everything.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #514736
#36. Remember, 2000 was the year of the dot-com bust. The telecom industry lost about $2 trillion in market capital at that time.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #528273
#37. After the sale of Celtel, I really wanted to give the money back, and I had a number of choices - to go and buy masses of blankets and baby milk or to go into Darfur or Congo. That would have been very nice actually, but it's just like an aspirin: it doesn't deal with the problem.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #552639
#38. I'm an engineer. I'm a techie, really.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #569133
#39. Many Africans are used to a life where they get up in the morning and don't know what they're going to do that day.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #593016
#40. Mobile communications had been around for a long time, but always as a limited market, constrained by the radio spectrum.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #611051
#41. Business people get many undeserved prizes - golden parachutes and bonuses even when companies fail. I don't think people should get rewarded for screwing up.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #626571
#42. What we need in Africa is balanced development. Economic success cannot be a replacement for human rights or participation or democracy ... it doesn't work.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #637489
#43. You fly for hours and hours and hours over Africa to go from one place to another.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #644455
#44. Positive market incentives operating in the public interest are too few and far between, and are also up against a seemingly never-ending expansion of perverse incentives and lobbying.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #648281
#45. The brain drain from Africa has been reversed.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #655281
#46. Mobile phones play a really wonderful role in enabling civil society. As well as empowering people economically and socially, they are a wonderful political tool.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #677940
#47. If we are to build grassroots respect for the institutions and processes that constitute democracy, the state must treat its citizens as real citizens rather than as subjects.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #687119
#48. Business is global. Countries need to react to that; taxes need to be paid where profit arises.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #701141
#49. When I was young, there was only one TV channel, sponsored by the government, and it only broadcast things like what the leader had for breakfast. There was no real media.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #724613
#50. Literacy in Tunisia is almost 100%. It's amazing - no country in the region or even in Asia can match Tunisia in education.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #730032
#51. Young people, all too often, find their interests overlooked and their voices ignored.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #745077
#52. I never had a doubt that I wanted to do engineering.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #749306
#53. African leaders work really under severe limitations and constraints.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #760078
#54. Women do kids. Women do cooking. Women doing everything. And yet, their position in society is totally unacceptable.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #770295
#55. Africa is underpopulated. We have 20% of the world's landmass and 13% of its population.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #772366
#56. Roads are not practical in Africa.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #781244
#57. I made money. I wanted to give it back to Africa but I wanted to give it back in a meaningful way. So I really want to do something which deals with the root of the problem of hunger, of disease, of ills we have in our society.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #783691
#58. Africa offers the highest return on investment in the world.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #794695
#59. The way forward for Africa is investment.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #813166
#60. In the final analysis, finding a way to do clean business and not to pay bribes actually improves your bottom line.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #827467
#61. Nobody in Africa loves to be a beggar or a recipient of aid. Everywhere I go in Africa, people say, 'When are we going to stand up on our feet?'

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #828383
#62. Before any investor goes into any country, he is looking for the exit door.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #832329
#63. To be frank, I don't think President Obama gives much thought to Africa - or gives much to Africa.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #834463
#64. Electoral turnout is falling among the young, and political apathy is on the rise.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #869485
#65. I don't even have a small boat. I don't even have a toy boat in my bathtub. I don't have a biplane, I don't have anything. Those things are toys, and I don't need them to be happy.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #872465
#66. I need to be free, to speak the unspeakable. You can't do that in office.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #887063
#67. A narrative that branded Africa as little more than an economic, political and social basket case was not likely to provide the investment needed to drive development.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #913448
#68. Experience shows that when political governance and economic management diverge, overall development becomes unsustainable.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #919611
#69. Make as much money as you can, but can you please pay your taxes, because this is a major problem.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #942945
#70. I ended up being a businessman unwittingly. I wanted to be an academic; I wanted to be like Einstein.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #958467
#71. We cannot expect loyalty to an unjust regime.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #994991
#72. Tony Blair is paid $500,000 for one speech, and no one asks how he is going to spend it.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1017868
#73. Celtel established a mobile phone network in Africa at a time when investors told me that there was no market for mobile phones there.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1064131
#74. Compared to developed countries, or even to some major emerging countries, burdened by aging populations, financial crises, widening budget deficits, faltering faith in politics and growing social demands, Africa has become the world's last 'New Frontier:' a kind of 'it-continent.'

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1069574
#75. Nobody messes with China, nobody messes with the United States, or with Europe, because these are really big entities with a lot of clout and a lot of economic power. They have a place at the table.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1110311
#76. Mobile phones could not work in Africa without prepaid because it's a cash society.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1139077
#77. Almost every country in Africa has now instituted multi-party democracy.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1143712
#78. Governance is everything. Without governance we have nothing

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1150516
#79. Every man, woman and child knows about Mugabe, but people say, 'Mogae, who is that?'

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1152166
#80. Experience counts in government even more than in business.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1153537
#81. In a world of growing food demand, Africa is home to two-thirds of the world's unexploited arable land.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1166648
#82. Billions of dollars are thrown at African countries.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1167900
#83. What do you do if you're an executive who resigns? You declare yourself a consultant.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1176613
#84. There is a crisis of leadership and governance in Africa, and we must face it.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1196139
#85. It's time Africa started listening to our young people instead of always telling them what to do.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1205340
#86. It was a no-brainer that the cellular route would be a great success in Africa.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1207687
#87. Multinationals don't pay taxes in Africa - we all know that.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1260445
#88. Rule of law is the most important element in any civil society.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1265440
#89. Everywhere in Africa, you see Indian, Chinese, Brazilian businesses. Other than Coca Cola and the oil companies, it is very rare to see American businesses.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1317112
#90. Botswana had three successive good presidents who served their legal terms, who did well for their countries - three, not one.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1340913
#91. The leakage of information means you're going to be able to read everybody's e-mail.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1346816
#92. Africa should not again face isolation or stigmatisation based on ignorance and unrepresentative imagery.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1350201
#93. Cape Verde produces good people.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1368667
#94. Far from being hopeless, Africa is full of hope and potential, maybe more so than any other continent. The challenge is to ensure that its potential is utilised.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1373565
#95. I am not a politician. I am not in politics. I'm just a citizen.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1432923
#96. When Captain Moussa Dadis Camara came to power, too many thought he would hold to his promise to stand down, introduce democratic elections and restore the rule of law.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1490350
#97. Africa was perceived - it still is to some extent - as a place which is very difficult to do business in. I don't share that view.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1507697
#98. I come from a typical family.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1509765
#99. The mobile industry changed Africa.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1519956
#100. Not any amount of aid is going to move Africa forward.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim Quotes #1537297

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