Ismail graduated with a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Insurance from The Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu in 1990 and an MBA from the University of Ibadan in 2005. He started his Insurance career with a one-year industrial training with Banky Braithwaite & Co. (Insurance Brokers). Upon graduation, he has a brief stint with Henyat Nigeria Limited as Insurance Officer in 1991 before joining the firm Silvertrust Insurance Brokers where he worked between 1992 and 1996. He joined Cornerstone Insurance Plc. as a senior executive in 1996 and rose to the position of Senior Manager and a SBU Team Leader before joining NSIA Insurance Limited (previously ADIC Insurance) as Head Technical in 2008. He left NSIA Insurance as the Vice President and Chief Risk Officer to join the company as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
He is a Chartered Associate member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (ACIIN) and has also attended various specialist and executive management courses in Nigeria and Overseas. He is also an alumni of the prestigious Lagos Business School of the AMP-26 class.