Mostafa Terrab

Mostafa Terrab is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He is chairman and ceo of the OCP Group, a global leader in crop nutrition solutions headquartered in Morocco. OCP develops Morocco’s world-leading reserves of phosphorus, a necessary element in all plant, animal and human life, into an increasingly-diverse range of products for farmers on five continents. Starting in 2004, Mostafa took OCP’s predecessor entity–a Moroccan state agency founded in 1920–on a profound journey of transformation from a primary focus on mining with modest amounts of downstream product development to the world’s largest and most efficient producer in its field, recognized world-wide as a leader. During this time, he and his team substantially grew both the equity value of the company and its revenues for its shareholders, notably the government and people of Morocco.

Mostafa also oversaw the establishment of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, a Morocco-based, world-class research and teaching university that enjoys strategic partnerships with some of the most prestigious universities in the world, and strives to be a major driver of Africa’s economic development and diversification, and the strengthening of its human capital. These accomplishments build upon a career that has bridged the public and private sectors, international organizations, and academia for several decades. 

At the World Bank from 2002 to 2006, Mostafa served as a key advisor to developing countries–particularly in Africa–on liberalizing and diversifying their telecoms sector, at a time when demand for mobile phones was exploding. He also led the Information for Development Program (infoDev), a multi-donor research and incubation vehicle housed at the World Bank devoted to adapting new information technologies and services to the pressing needs of the world’s poor. These efforts built upon his hands-on experience in Morocco from 1998 to 2002 creating, building, and leading Morocco’s telecom regulatory authority. He presided over the liberalization of the mobile sector in Morocco, driving the process of awarding a record-breaking new mobile license. This critical contribution to Morocco’s own development built upon his prior six years of work as a member of the team of experts in the Cabinet of the late King Hassan II.

Early in his career, Mostafa worked for 3 years at Bechtel Civil and Minerals in San Francisco (1983-85), at the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1988-1992), and as an Assistant Professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1990-1992).

He has been awarded the Wissam Alaouite (Order of the Alaouite) high honor by the Kingdom of Morocco, and the rank of Officer in the French Legion of Honor.

Mostafa is a member of the board of directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a member of the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He earned Master’s and PhD degrees in engineering and operations research from MIT after earning an engineering degree from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris.