lham is a co-founder and shareholder of PT. ILTHABI Rekatama (established 1992), a private investment company in Indonesia, which he is leading as its Chairman. ILTHABI’s focus is in the fields of aviation, renewable energy, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), property, and financial services.

He is also the Chairman of Bank Muamalat (), Indonesia’s first Islamic (Shariah) Bank.

Ilham’s earlier professional background was is positions such as Specialist Engineer, Program Manager, Division Head and Executive Vice President with several aerospace companies (IPTN, Indonesia; Boeing, USA). Before that he was Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Fluid Mechanics, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany.

Ilham is also a co-founder of the International University Liaison Indonesia (IULI – ) and is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees the Foundation that is owning IULI. He is also a co-founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees of the Habibie Center (THC – ), a NGO and Foundation.

Currently he is also heading Wantiknas, the National ICT Council () of Indonesia as its Chief Executive. This is a government-owned advisory body which has cross sectoral participation.

His other current organisational activities include heading the International Chamber of Commerce Indonesia () and the Indonesian Muslim Entrepreneur Association (), both as its President; and being responsible for Information & Communication Technology, Broadcasting, Research & Technology, as well as for Germany, as Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN – ).

He holds a Doktor.-Ingenieur title in Aeronautical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, USA.