Fatou Sagna Sow
Appearances
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
It's an amazing potential for this simple industry. So I worked a lot on IT issues, made recommendations, wrote memos. I also was invited to to many seminars, major events, representing the presidents. We discovered recently that Senegal has gas and petrol, a country in the West of Africa.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And globally speaking, Africa is a continent that everybody's looking at because there's so many things to do here. In every country, it's just growing and growing, and we are anticipating to grow very fast in the coming years. So this is the place to be if you want to experience new business areas, and if you want to challenge yourself and see how you can start new businesses.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So many opportunities. That was amazing.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Making such a change, of course, you will face difficulties, honestly speaking. I left a great job making good money and I started working here in an NGO. I can't even tell you the paycheck. My fear was not to be successful, professionally speaking, and not to be able to take care of the kids. At the end of the day, are you making the best environment that you can for the kids?
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Are you taking all the responsibility that you have? But I'm a strong person. So like I said, I did prepare myself. So I have a great network here. I know many ministers, very high level person here. So I'm not alone. And my husband, was born here and he has such an amazing network here. And also my husband, he's working here. He's been working in the public area for years.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
That's why I met him in Tulum in 2K also. So it was not such a challenge to me. You can always at the end of the day, be successful. Because I love politics, I have a reputation for that. And I started being the head of the President Macron political party field. I've been heading it in 2017 and also for his re-election in 2018.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So this position widened my network and it was passionate to be part of the two presidential elections in France. I always wanted to keep an eye on France and also be involved in France. In 2022, I decided to run for the election for the deputation in France. If I had been elected, I would have represented the French people living in West Africa and in the Arabic countries.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So this is something that I will probably try again and run five years. All those experiences, political experiences, have been great and very important in the construction of the person that I am now. I've started my own business, my own consulting firm named New Deal Consulting.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I know that all those networks, political networks, professional networks, are crucial to what I'm doing now every day. So I'm lucky I have this network and I can work easily with that.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Yeah, you know, in Senegal, we are living in a difficult period, the political period as we speak. And it's been for a while now. This is an election period in Senegal. We are re-electing, at the end of the month, our new president.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
This has been a long process of contestation, and the election was aiming at... We were supposed to vote in the last month, on the 25th, and the election had been postponed. Many opponents had been put in jail. Many young people arrested. Really, the situation here is not the best for the economy.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So I'm making connection with the private sector, the administration, and also with the people, foreign people who want to come to Africa, to Senegal specifically, and to start business here. And specifically, I'm working with young people.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
who are curious about Africa and want to come and have an experience, a professional, a real professional experience, why not start being an entrepreneur here in Senegal? So all this political, whole political context is terrible for business. This is a challenge we have, and we have been electing for mayor, the parliament, and now is the presidential election.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So it's been for four or three years at least that we've been in this unstable environment, political environments. This is a big challenge I'm facing.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Can you share some example? You remember you and I experienced the boot experience, Chicago boots experience. putting together people coming from different countries, from different horizons, different cultural knowledges, and we could observe the magic. And this is what I'm trying to do. Put together people with different perspectives and making them working on different projects.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
One project I'm doing right now with my consulting firm, it's called No Mana. This project is about transforming banana fiber and turning it into sanitary pads for women. It has never been done in Senegal, in Africa. Here in Africa we have very talented young people who cannot find jobs, who are desperate. Some are even dying trying to travel to Europe. So I'm trying to put young
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
and people who love Africa, who are living outside of the continent and people here and young people here together, mixing them. I have five students coming from France. They're coming from different cities in France. Four of them came last February, and they're here until July.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And the young people that are here in Senegal and that are about to graduate from the EES Polytechnique, which is a major business school here in Dakar. This project, Luna Now, It's a perfect fit to me because this is both culture, French and Senegalese culture. And I observe all those people, very talented people, each and every one of them are working together.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Each and every one of them are bringing their skills, their experience. And I could see the magic and it's very exciting to me working on that kind of project. So I can work on either industrialization project just like Nulana. I also have... project in green industry, in blue industry. Aquaculture has an amazing potential here in Africa, in Senegal, and so on.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I think this changed the perspective of the young people who are sometimes desperate here when they are in the continent of the future. So putting them together with people, young people that are coming from Europe, working on projects here, It's definitely a goal for me and I'm happy. So far, very successful with this lean on our projects.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
For the benefits of Africa because there's so many things to do here and so many things are not done.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Yeah, just yesterday I've been interviewed by a woman who is an entrepreneur in Monaco in the South of France. She's really interested in Senegal. She comes often in Senegal. And we're about to build links between Monaco and Senegal as well. There are great schools over there. People need to have great perspective. And I'm ready to welcome them here in Senegal and start working.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Hi, Vince. Thank you so much for having me. It's good to talk to you again. Thank you.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
At the end of the day, those students are going to be part of the new business. They will have shares and they will have this experience, this entrepreneurial experience in Senegal, which is great.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Yeah, I'm working, I'm talking with the economic council in the embassy from Portugal, from China, I went there, from India, I talked to them, from Korea, and so on. And Japanese, I went, I discussed with the Japanese ambassador himself, and I'm really involved with the Japanese corporation here, and we are about to do a lot of things. They have a great program of taking young people
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
from Africa to Japan for one, two years, school internships and come back. And those young people, very talented people who get to be close to the Japanese culture are coming back in Africa. We have 20 Japanese groups in Senegal. talk to those people and see what kind of small business those students can start around the group activities and create a link between all those people.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
There's so many things to do. I started with France, naturally, but I'm open because Senegal is really a great country and we are open to work with everybody, with the entire world, of course.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And it will remind me of where I'm coming from, what I did. And it's great to sometimes sit and think of what has been done and what's again to be done. So thank you again for this moment. I really did appreciate it. Life is about change, challenging yourself and see how far, what's the best person you can be. It involves change. It involves challenging yourself, going outside your comfort zone.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Well, last time I saw you, Vince, actually, it was in Singapore. It was in 2013. So indeed, long, long time. At this time, I was a financial lawyer at a bank in Paris. And I was also a municipality council of a small town in France, finishing my six-year terms as a municipality council. So a long, long time in it. As a background, as you know, I'm a financial lawyer. I studied law.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
But of course, you have to prepare yourself. when you wake up in the morning and just move this is not the point but you need to challenge yourself and put yourself in a situation that will obviously make you change and obviously for the better so thank you so much no problem you enjoyed what I said and what I tried to express in my experience
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Changing from Europe, France to Africa, Senegal has been probably the best choice I ever made in my life and I'm really thankful for that. Thank you.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
You take care and talk to you soon.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I always wanted to study law because law is the way you manage people to live together in a city. And I always wanted to know the rules and be able to be part of the law makers and policy makers. I studied law, of course, but I really wanted to be an economic lawyer. So I studied business law. I took a finance course as well. I also studied IT.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I started to work as a financial lawyer in different law firms in France, in Paris. Very exciting, both French and U.S. law firms. Very exciting. And then I moved to France. to bank industry. I first started working at the central industrial of Paris in the BNP Paribas Bank as a financial lawyer. And then I moved to Soussacgène, which is the second major bank in France.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
This is where I spent most of my career in Société Générale Bank in Paris. And before I leave, I decided to make the big change you mentioned earlier. I was born in Paris. I grew up there. I studied there. I started working there. My family is still there. My twins were born in Paris.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So I decided to quit this environment I've always known to start a new adventure in Africa and specifically in Senegal, which is my own country as well.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I was born in Paris, but I have two cultures. I think this is a chance. Having two citizenship is a chance. So I only had the occasion to experience my friend's citizenship, and I did it fully. But I felt it was like calling me because I knew there was this challenging country for me. I used to go in Senegal very often, but it was for vacation.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Coming here on vacation, you don't get to know the real country as I know it now from the inside. I was very successful professionally speaking in France. Working in a bank, a great position, making good money. My kids were fine. Everything was okay, but I felt like I was not challenging myself enough.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And in 2000, I looked at my country, Senegal, and I heard about the coming election, presidential election. So I decided to be part of this. I wanted to get involved with Senegal in a political way because I always loved politics. And so I started. dealing with politics, being a representative of the Senegalese party, but in Paris, talking, dealing with the Senegalese who were living in Paris.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So I was heading this local branch of the party there. And this was a revelation to me. I started knowing a lot of people, people from Senegal, but very high level in politics, in public policymakers. And I started to learn more and more details about my country, about the economics, about the politics when it comes to really living in Senegal.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And this was a challenge for me to see whether this kind of change is something that I could handle. and to see how all the skills that I had and the professional experience I've gained in presence, how all those skills will be helpful for me. It's been a long process of preparation. It's a 360-degree change, as you can see. I'm a mom, so I have to make it in the most responsible way.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So it took some time. I entered the political way. I did this network for 10 years, and I prepared all that. I followed the economics news, the politics news from Senegal, and I kept talking to my people here. When my kids were born in 2010, I came to Senegal for almost a year, so I really could have a good preparation from the inside.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So since then, the year I finally relocated to Senegal, I decided to go, and nobody could I understand that because I had such a great position at the bank. I was in the cabinet of the group general counsel. So it was a surprise for my mom. She thought I was crazy, for my friends, family, and for my boss, for my managers, and so on. But I knew everything.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
What I wanted to do and I did have to leave this experience. So I jumped. Everything is constantly changing and you need to adapt. And if you don't adapt, it means you're not going to make it and you might not be successful. And still here I am in Senegal, happy with my family.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
The reason I make those changes, these big changes, I mean, there are three main reasons. First of all, yeah, I wanted to challenge myself and to see the full expression of myself. What does it mean being tattooed in Senegal? This Paris-born girl. How can she handle this identity of her in Senegal? What will she become? I was curious about that. And of course, it was a question of identity.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
Who am I? I am also Senegalese and it was a question of embracing this second citizenship as well. My roots, my home country. I did not want to just experience France. I love France, of course. Most of my life, I believe that this is the French experience. So I really want to live something different.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And the third reason I made this change is because probably I wanted to give a different sense to my life. Being successful might not be the ultimate goal for people. We need to seek for happiness. You need to think that what you're doing is helping others, and you need to believe that your life makes sense, matters.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
So working in a bank, making good money, being very successful, handling, like I did, a team of 51 people, a global team, great. But at the end of the day, what are you doing for people, really? Just making money, transactions, billion-dollar transactions. But so what?
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I knew I had this occasion in Senegal to start working on economic development projects and to see very simple projects and to see how I can have a huge impact. So I felt like I had to make this move for myself to feel like my life didn't matter. And of course, as I mentioned, I'm a mother. So I wanted my kids to experience, to fully experience the second country of there.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And they can always go to France where they were born, where their grandma is and so on. And I think this will develop something for them that I could not experience myself before. The world is a global thing. There's no barrier, actually. Understanding that the world is huge.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
It has been such a reward for me, only two years after I relocated to Dakar, and to be appointed technical advisor to the fourth big personality here in Senegal, the former prime minister, my friend, Dr. Aminata. I have to admit that the political decision I made to join the Senegalese politics in Toukele, paid off when I came here because she's someone I met in this political party.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And since then, we've kept good relations during all these years. So I came here. She knows me. She knows I can work. She knows I can challenge myself very well. So she decided to appoint me in the cabinet as a technical advisor. And this Conseil économique, social, and environmental council from Senegal, where I was working, is an amazing institution here in Senegal.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
It's aiming at advising the government on different reforms and conduct studies, investigations, and make suggestions for reform, aiming at fostering the economy here the social and the environmental development of the country. It gave me a global view of all the entire economy, of the entire society.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
And it was great for me being just, as you know, a French girl coming who came to Senegal only two years before that appointment. So this was such an amazing position for me to have a clear understanding of the economics, of the social reality here, of the environmental issues and so on. So that's what I did. And I'm happy.
Chief Change Officer
#192 Fatou Sagna Sow Quit French Banking for a Bigger Mission in Africa—And Brought Her Family Along
I'm very glad because the president gave me full latitude to do whatever it is I wanted to do. So I could work on blue economy, green economy, industrialization challenge. To me, the next revolution in Africa is industrialization. I also studied work on projects for sports and development. The sports industry in Africa is only 1% of the GDP, which is very low.