Jimoh Ibrahim (G15) is the first person to obtain the degree of Doctor of Business at the University of Cambridge, and graduated last week.
He obtained the Master of Business (MBA) from the University of Cambridge and a Master of Science (MSC) of the University of Oxford before he errored for the degree four years ago.
Ibrahim completed the degree six months before the four years requirement of the University. He is an alumnus of Harvard Law School. Ibrahim’s doctorate thesis has promptly been published in a book by Palgrave and Macmillan titled How Megaprojects are Damaging Nigeria and How to Fix It. The book is co-author by his two supervisors, Christoph Loch and Kishore Sengupta, also of the University of Cambridge.
Ibrahim was the Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria. In 2005 he was appointed the Honorary Consul of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and principe to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He initiated and founded the Energy Group of Companies, one of the largest Africa conglomerates with diversified interest in banking and financial investment (Energy Commercial Bank Ghana, Energy Bank Sao Tome). Other interests of the group include insurance (NICON insurance Abuja), hotels (NICON Luxury Hotel Abuja and Lagos), re-insurance (Nigeria Re Insurance Corporation). Ibrahim’s business interests include the establishment and licensing of the Worldwide Fortune DMCC in the United Arab Emirates as major programme management consulting for infrastructure development in Africa. One of Ibrahim’s initiatives is the yearly meeting of Africa leaders at presidential and ministerial level on Infrastructure Development Funding for Africa (IDFA).
Ibrahim earned an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and a Master of Science in Programme Management at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He has also earned a certificate in International Tax Law at Harvard University and has attended various executive education programmes including: University of Cambridge Advanced Leadership Programme (ALP), University of Oxford Negotiation Programme, University of Oxford Advanced Leadership and Management programme, Harvard Business School Senior Executive Leadership Program for the Middle East and the University of Cambridge programme on How to Lead Successful Projects. Ibrahim also attends in the guest category of the annual meeting of the World Bank/IMF.
More about How mega projects are damaging Nigeria
Since 1960, two-thirds of very large governmental projects in Nigeria have not only failed, but been abandoned mid-course. This presents a bigger failure rate than mega projects elsewhere, and yet there is no available data or analysis to help us understand the reasons behind such failures. This book provides an authoritative examination into why very large projects in Nigeria have failed so badly, and provides practical recommendations on how the Nigerian government can improve its project performance.
Drawing on data from 38 very large projects (19 completed and 19 abandoned) with a total budget of over $25B, this book presents detailed analysis of these projects and in-depth case studies of 11 of the projects, and presents lessons for improvement. Through this, the authors have identified a small number of key success drivers, and argue that making moderate improvements on any of them would, on average, save hundreds of millions of dollars on one large project alone.
