Chief Change Officer
#353 Fatou Sagna Sow: From French Banking to Building Africa’s Next Generation
Wed, 7 May 2025
Would you leave a powerful career in global banking, pack up your family, and start over in a developing country?That’s exactly what Fatou Sagna Sow did. Born and raised in Paris, she built a high-flying legal career at some of the world’s top banks—leading teams, managing billion-dollar deals, and thriving in the French system. But it wasn’t enough. In 2016, she returned to Senegal to write a new playbook—one rooted in identity, impact, and intercontinental connection.In this episode, Fatou shares how she navigated fear, culture shifts, and politics to become a driving force in Senegal’s economic development. From banana-fiber sanitary pads to Japan-Africa tech exchanges, she’s creating a cross-border entrepreneurship model that blends French precision with Senegalese ambition. Key Highlights of Our Interview:From Paris to Dakar: Why She Left It All Behind“I had a great career in France—but I wasn’t challenging myself anymore. Senegal was calling.”Motherhood as Motivation“I wanted my kids to know their roots. To grow up understanding both cultures, without borders.”Building Power Through Politics“Politics helped me understand Senegal’s real economy—and gave me a network I still rely on today.”Becoming a Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister“Just two years after I moved, I was advising on blue economy, green economy, and industrial policy. It changed how I saw my role.”Banana Fiber Meets Social Innovation: The Luna Na Project“We’re turning banana waste into sanitary pads. It’s never been done before in Senegal—and it’s changing lives.”Creating Bridges, Not Borders“I bring together young talent from France and Senegal. They collaborate, co-create, and even co-own the ventures they launch here.”From France to Monaco, Then Japan: Global Partnerships for Local Growth“I’m working with embassies, economic councils, and corporate leaders to connect young Africans with opportunity around the world.”The Hardest Part: Letting Go of Stability“I left a stable job with great pay. The fear was real. But so was the mission.”New Deal Consulting: Writing Her Own Law Book for Change“As a lawyer, I followed rules. Now I create new ones—for impact, for equity, and for the next generation.”_________________________Connect with Us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Fatou Sagna Sow --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Why did Fatou Sagna Sow leave a successful banking career in France?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist humility for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Imagine this, you are in Paris, the city of lights, where you were born and raised.
Picture yourself as a highly skilled in-house counsel at one of the world's largest banking groups, overseeing a team of 50 and spearheading billion-dollar financial transactions. Life isn't just good. It's picture perfect. Now, what if I challenged you to leave it all behind?
What if I invited you to move with your whole family to Senegal, a vibrant country in West Africa, once a French colony, to start afresh? Would you take the leap? For many, the answer would be a no. But today's guest isn't just anyone.
Join me as I chat with Fatou Zegna So, a remarkable individual I had the pleasure of studying together during our executive MBA classes in London and in Singapore with Chicago Booth. She has since moved from the well-established legal profession to economic development, technical advisory and youth entrepreneurship in Senegal. In her own words, she aims not just to succeed, but to create magic.
What drives a person to embrace such profound change? How does a lawyer used to practicing set laws becoming a chief change officer, making her own laws of change for careers, for communities, and for societies? Fatou is going to tell her own story.
Hi, Vince. Thank you so much for having me. It's good to talk to you again. Thank you.
I'm so glad you agreed to come on board. Well, it's been how many years? Last time I saw you in Singapore, is that right?
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.
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.
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Chapter 2: What motivated Fatou to embrace her roots in Senegal?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think I did well. Sounds like it was a calculated decision. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing. You were prudent enough to plan ahead. Now you move in the year 2016. Now it's 2024, eight years. You've explored opportunities. You experienced new life. Now, I was wondering... What one thing, what that one thing is that motivate you if I have to ask you to come up with one word?
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Chapter 3: How did motherhood influence Fatou's career choices?
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.
Yeah, you are setting up a role model for your children. They see you in action. They see that, oh, my mother Making a move. I mean, honestly, a lot of things I'm sure going on in your life in Africa. And they are there with you. They see a lot of things which they most likely won't see in France. Yes, after they grow up, they can move back to France or move to other countries to be adventurous.
to do whatever they want to do to create impact for themselves as well as for other people because that's what my mother has done for Africa, for many other countries. So now, let's spend the rest of our time on Africa. Tell us about your time as a technical advisor. What did you see? What have you done? What challenges were you facing at that point?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Fatou face in Senegal's political landscape?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Of course, you build a lot of credentials, reputation in the political circle, which is important, which is an asset, which is a capital. And now you are playing a consultant role I'm curious to know about in your country now, what are some of the issues, challenges or opportunities you try to overcome for the country as a consultant?
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.
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.
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.
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Chapter 5: What is the Luna Na Project and its impact on communities?
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.
So I'm sure when I invite you back next time for an interview, you'll say, well, Vince, well, it's not just France. Now I got another 10 countries or 20 countries. I won't be shocked to hear that. I've occupied your airtime for long. I do...
want to say thank you so much for sharing and i will of course like to invite you back to hear more of those magic magical stories you're trying to create but we'll save it for next time we'll build the momentum so that we'll have the part two well thank you so much i loved it very much talking
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.
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
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.
Well, I would say as a conclusion, you study law, you study all kinds of law books, you memorize all the rules and stuff, but now you are making your own playbook, your own law book for change, for magic. This program, this show is about making changes, making your own laws of change. You are truly a role model of creating your own law book, your own playbook.
I'm really glad that I invited you in the very first place and really appreciate your time. I would encourage you since you're reaching out to different people, what you share here, I'll release it as an episode. You should also share this link to your counterparts. I will. I think they would care to know about your motivation. You as a founder story.
I mean, why for two years doing this and then they listen to this. Oh, I know why you make this big commitment moving from France from a stable job to a position of stability to a position of challenge or creating magic. I think they will be touched. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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Chapter 6: How is Fatou connecting young Africans with global opportunities?
Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, Don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.