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 Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada.

Biography

Diawara was born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, Ivory Coast. She is known in the world of advertising in

Francophone Africa African French () is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the French language spoken throughout Francophone Africa. Used mainly as a secondary language or ''lingua franca'', it is spoken by an estimated 320 million people across 34 coun ...

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. 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 West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. 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 Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

since 2000 and has Canadian citizenship. She is the initiator of the Prix Afrikenous, which rewards the best image of Africa in the

FESPACO The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (, or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It accepts for competition only films by African filmmakers and chief ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diawara, Mariam Sy Living people People from Abidjan Businesspeople from Montreal Museum founders Canadian women philanthropists Canadian women business executives Canadian people of Ivorian descent Year of birth missing (living people)