Africa is Richer Than You Think

The Mandela Washington fellows placed at the University of Texas in Austin were pleased to welcome Dr. Vijay Mahajan to class. They received a wonderful lecture on growth and opportunity in Africa. It was insightful and inspiring.

Dr. Vijay Mahajan holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at Mccombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. 

He wrote “Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think” (Wharton School Publishing) after a journey across Africa (including our beloved country, Senegal) over a period of three years.

He shared with the fellows his powerful vision about the Africa rising, after being swayed by the constant wave of negativity about Africa in the mainstream media.

His speech was not about politics, but about very positive spirit of the entrepreneurs who are trying to make a difference in this consumer market. According to Dr. Mahajan, “Africa has some of the poorest nations in the world, but it is wealthier across the continent than India".

During his presentation, Dr. Mahajan broke down the African market into three segments–Africa One, the small minority of people with incomes similar to top-earners in the West; Africa Two, the vast middle class; and Africa Three, the underclass whose members are striving to reach Africa Two. However, he asked the fellows to focus mostly on Africa Two, arguing that the sheer size of this market means it will be the driver of consumer spending in the future.

"The large informal economy running throughout the continent might act as a buffer." said Dr. Mahajan.

He invited the fellows to also recognize also the important role of the African diaspora and the informal economy because they are enriching the continent in many different ways.

All fellows are grateful to Dr. Mahajan. Indeed, he has been a wonderful supporter of the Mandela Washington Fellowship since its inception, besides that, he has generously offered to sponsor the Closing Luncheon & Certificate Presentation at the County Line BBQ at the end of the Institute!

El Hadji Malick GUEYE

Mandela Washignton Fellow 2016

malick@gueye.net

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El Hadji Malick Gueye talking about the MWF

Prior to his departure for Austin, where he has been placed at the University of Texas, El Hadji Malick GUEYE presented the MWF on the West African Democracy Radio.

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Two fellows invited to join YALI CREATIVES

#YaliCreatives is a network of African Media, Arts & Entertainment professionals. Started by the 2015 Mandela Washington fellows to give technical and creative support to 2015 Mandela Washington Fellows and their communities.

This year, two Mandela Washington fellows from Senegal have been invited to join this prestigious network of great minds : Babacar BIRANE and El Hadji Malick GUEYE. 

Incubating African Ideas with Babacar BIRANE

Babacar is a #MWF2016 Fellow and the CEO of CONCREE a collaborative and community driven platform that provide entrepreneurs with mentoring, networking, virtual incubation and funding to create and develop their startups.

Born in Yarakh – Dakar. At 12 years old he joined the Senegalese Pan African Military School of Excellence where he unknowingly started his entrepreneurial career selling burned Compact Disks. After his degree, he went to study project and change management in Grenoble, France. He worked as a junior consultant for the Entrepreneurship center at the University of Grenoble. Among other jobs, he worked for Schneider Electric as a junior supply chain manager. He left France after working as junior Project Management Officer in the A350 program at Airbus Toulouse, a highly prestigious company.

Besides his professional career, he led the Association of Panafrican and Senegalese students of Grenoble.November 2013, he quit Airbus, returned to Senegal to co-found CONCREE which he has the privilege to lead since then. In addition to CONCREE, Babacar is a mentor, an international speaker and a business model design consultant in agribusiness in Senegal.

Merging Tech Innovation & Education Merged Together El Hadji Malick

El Hadji Malick is a techie accumulating over ten years of experience in the management of Information Technology. He leverages a deep technical background, and an international experience to effectively coordinate, collaborate, and communicate with diverse stakeholder groups and advance objectives.

Perseverance allowed him to become certified in auditing Information System. He is the youngest among a limited group of certified across West Africa. As a Manager at MAZARS, a firm operating in several countries, he is leading the IT Audit and Advisory activities.

The way African leaders are trained matters to him, so he decided to get engaged in the education system, as a young professional and mentor, teaching in the top ranked business and IT schools, in West Africa, based in Dakar. Passionate and ambitious, he has set the task to empower his mentees and students and train ethical leaders, able to confront complex problems and design sustainable solutions.

In the coming years, this #MWF2016 fellow coming from Senegal aspires to be highly involved in the design and the implementation of the rules and regulations of IT in various business sectors, and to improve the education system in West Africa.

Thus, Babacar and Malick join other Senegalese Alumni of the Mandela Washington Fellowship: Victorine SARR, Selly Raby KANE, Aissatou SENE and Elsa DANSOKHO.

Good luck to these representatives of the 2016 cohort.

Visit YC website: http://www.yalicreatives.com

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