Moustapha started working for the national oil company: Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM) as a development engineer in 2004 and subsequently held several senior positions including, Production Department Manager and Director of Downstream.

During his thirteen years at SMHPM he gained experience in the development and production of oil projects and was a member of several internal committees in charge of the implementation of strategic projects for the organisation.

He was promoted to Director General of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines in January 2017.

Moustapha has an engineering degree in industrial automation from Polytech Tours in France and a masters in electrical engineering from l’Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France.