Amadou Daffe: An Exclusive Interview with Loline Mag [Part 1]

Amadou Dafffe has three passions in life; Africa, Technology, and Talent. The combination of these passions is who Amadou is right now. His third passion, Talent, is a naturally evolving one. "Maybe ten years from now, I will change the talent side and do something else," Amadou said. Amadou is very passionate about making Africa more globally competitive. He wants to use technology to speed that up because he believes technology to be an equalizer that speeds everything up. Amadou states, "If we don't leverage the people in Africa, which are the resources that we have, we are not going to make it. Thinking of it from the natural resources side, people say Africa is a rich continent, but that is where we have been corrupted. We won't succeed as a continent until we use our resources, the brains of our young people, the youth."

Amadou considers himself a Pan-Africanist, not identifying strongly with one county. But he has origins in Senegal. Amadou grew up in three African countries when he was young. He then migrated to the US as a teenager, where he gained his intellectual and professional maturity. But he says his emotional maturity is still African. Amadou's father was an engineer and entrepreneur who initiated him into engineering by taking him on trips and inspiring him to become a problem solver.