Adama Ndjol Kouyaté, an entrepreneur bringing management consulting expertise to Morocco  — Lionesses of Africa

Why should anyone use your service or product?

The offerings from Farafina Consulting are unique because we are able to execute all projects exquisitely, with rigor, and heart. We are not your typical management consulting agency; we combine creativity with structure seamlessly. We are all about Africa, and the word Farafina actually comes from the Mandigo language spoken in The Republic of Guinea (West-Africa) and it literally means Africa. We ensure that in our delivery we encompass the depth, beauty and wealth that the continent offers. We understand local context, we speak several African languages as well as English, Arabic and French, which facilitates business deals. Contributing to a constructive narrative change through mindset shift and high standard project execution are key for us.

Tell us a little about your team

I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by brilliant minds, gorgeous human beings inside out. They are experts in their fields, and we trust each other fully. Our collaboration on different projects is fun, insightful, and always brings another level of mutual growth. Our aim is to satisfy the client while leaving a footprint that is memorable and impactful.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

Come with me and let’s embark on a voyage that took me from a corporate life to becoming an entrepreneur. It all started in Conakry, The Republic of Guinea, where I was born into a Mandingo family. Mandingos in my part of the world are known to be traders. However, my father did not follow that path, he was a military officer, also held high level political positions in the country. My mother is part Malagasy and Guinean, followed the traditional path of most women of her time, and started her career as a civil servant. Later she got involved in politics. My maternal grandfather was a combatant, he fought the second world war and met my grandmother in Madagascar. My grandmother was a house-maker. Nothing destined me to become an entrepreneur aside from my lineage to the Mandingo group renowned for being exceptional traders.

I moved to America, New York, to be more precise at a young age for my studies and later started my professional life in corporate working for philanthropic organizations with programs on the continent. Service has always been part of my DNA, but there has always been an entrepreneurial flame in me that pushed for me to branch out on my own. That flame never left me. I started with AnKOR Advisors a management consulting agency in New York as a way to test the waters. In 2018, the flame turned into a huge internal fire burning my soul and I couldn’t deny the entrepreneurial fiber in me anymore, I jumped and answered the calling of my heart. I decided to move back to the continent, registered Farafina consulting in Morocco, this time, I did things slightly differently. I combined my love for service, my management consulting skills, my storytelling abilities, and flair for curating well-being events for personal expansion into one entity. I bring creativity and structure into clients’ lives and share from lived experience. This is how both AnKOR Advisors and Farafina Consulting were born. Voilà!

What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?

The aim is to keep growing our clientele, and to have a large base of international and national entities benefit from our different offerings. As we enter the post COVID-19 period, we are looking to expand not only our management consulting services but put an emphasis on exporting our Leadership and Transformational Coaching service along with curated personal expansion events to corporations in the five regions of the continent and internationally.