Mariam Sy Diawara is an Ivorian businesswoman specializing in communication and advertising, as well as a philanthropist. She is the founder and president of the House of Africa Mandingo, a house of culture and a museum, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [1]
Diawara was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. She is known in the world of advertising in Francophone Africa for creating the communication organization, Universe Group, which includes various advertising agencies, publishing, education and tourism in Ivory Coast. Diawara worked in the field of advertising in Ivory Coast and first came to Quebec in 1982. "I encouraged my children to study here. I arrived in Montreal in 2000 for a year, a political uprising in the country forcing my stay in Canada. It was during her stay in Montreal that the idea came to Diawara to create the House of Africa Mandingo. Since its creation, it has become a place of importance to Africans who live in Montreal as well as to Montrealers interested in Africa. [2]
Diawara is the founder and president of the House of Africa Mandingo, an organization based in Montreal, with a presence in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali and the United States. Since 2001, she directs the Canadian law firm, the Covenant/INC Universe Group. Diawara spent several years in communications. She founded media agencies, and worked in consulting, publications, events, and tourism in West Africa. From 1973 to 1993, she served as CEO in Ivory Media (Havas Africa), the national advertising agency (and head of Ivory advertising Media / Havas Africa (1973-1992)). She led companies in Ivory Coast, including the Universe group she founded and directed from 1993 to 2000. She has represented Africa on the board of the Francophone World Advertising. She is the initiator of the first African Book Fair held in Abidjan in 1993. She was President of the Association of Publishers in Ivory Coast from 1991 to 2000. She created the International Exhibition of leisure and tourism Abidjan (SITLA) held for the first time in November 1998. It is also the founder of the first edition of the Web Africa festival, held from 24 to 26 November 2014 in Abidjan. A philanthropist, Diawara supports various causes, especially for young people in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa. She founded Young Universe, the first youth newspaper in Cöte d'Ivoire and supported the creation of the Association of student entrepreneurs clubs from Ivory Coast in 2000. Diawara lives in Quebec since 2000 and has Canadian citizenship. She is the initiator of the Prix Afrikenous, which rewards the best image of Africa in the FESPACO. [3] [4]
Ivory Coast invested remarkably in its transport system. Transport Infrastructures are much more developed than they are other West African countries despite a crisis that restrained their maintenance and development. Since its independence in 1960, Ivory Coast put an emphasis on increasing and modernizing the transport network for human as well as for goods. Major infrastructures of diverse nature were built including railways, roads, waterways, and airports. In spite of the crisis, neighbor countries still strongly depend on the Ivorian transport network for importing, exporting, and transiting their immigrants to Ivory Coast.
The Rally of the Republicans is a liberal party in Ivory Coast. The party is the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Ivory Coast.
African French is the generic name of the varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 167 million people in Africa in 2023 or 51% of the French-speaking population of the world spread across 34 countries and territories. This includes those who speak French as a first or second language in these 34 African countries and territories, but it does not include French speakers living in other African countries. Africa is thus the continent with the most French speakers in the world, and African French speakers now form a large and integral part of the Francophonie.
Alassane Dramane Ouattara is an Ivorian politician and economist who has been President of Ivory Coast since 2010. An economist by profession, he worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Bank of West African States, and was the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from November 1990 to December 1993, appointed to that post by then-President Félix Houphouët-Boigny. Ouattara became the President of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), an Ivorian political party, in 1999.
Ivory Coast is one of the most pro-United States nations in Africa and the world, with 85% viewing the U.S. favorably in 2002, and rising to a high of 88% in 2007.
Throughout the Cold War, Ivory Coast's foreign policy was generally favorable toward the West. In particular, Félix Houphouët-Boigny kept relations with France that was among the closest between any African country and a former colonial power. The country became a member of the United Nations at independence in 1960 and participates in most of its specialized agencies. It is also an associate member of the European Union. In general, President Bédié initiated and maintained relations with many countries of the European Union and Asia. Ivory Coast maintains a wide variety of diplomatic contacts.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Ivory Coast:
Abidjan is the largest city and the former capital of Côte d'Ivoire. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city proper in Africa, after Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, and Johannesburg. A cultural crossroads of West Africa, Abidjan is characterised by a high level of industrialisation and urbanisation. It is also the most populous Dioula-speaking and French-speaking city in Africa.
Ivory Coast has 660 kilometres of railway. The track gauge is 1,000 mm.
Dominique Claudine Nouvian Ouattara is the current First Lady of Ivory Coast, married to President Alassane Ouattara.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Makoukou Célestine Ouezzin Coulibaly-Traoré was an anti-colonial leader in French West Africa. She helped to set up the women's section of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain in Côte d'Ivoire and Upper Volta, becoming its secretary general in 1948. In 1958, she was appointed Upper Volta's Minister of Social Affairs, probably making her the first woman to join a cabinet in any of the French-speaking West African governments.
Pierre Kipré is a historian and writer from Ivory Coast. He is a former student of the École normale supérieure in Abidjan.
Bétika is a singer and actor from Ivory Coast.
Rolande Kammogne is a Cameroonian entrepreneur and television producer. She is the founder of the pan-African TV channel VoxAfrica and producer of The Voice Afrique Francophone.
Jeanne Goba, known by her pen name Jeanne de Cavally, was an Ivorian children's book writer.
Alexandra Amon, born 27 July 1981 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France is an actress, scriptwriter, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Agnès Kraidy is an Ivorian magazine editor and journalist. Since April 2014, she has been the President of the Network of Women Journalists and Communication in Ivory Coast.
Events in the year 2022 in Ivory Coast.