Adama Ndiaye is the founder and creative director of an enterprise that consists of Dakar Fashion Week, an event agency, her own brand Adama Paris and the multi-brand retailer Saargale. Through these and other ventures spanning her 20-year career in fashion, Ndiaye has generated or harnessed much of the growing international interest in brands from Senegal and other francophone countries where she has cultivated industry networks across West, North and Central Africa. In 2019, she expanded the footprint of her Dakar store Saargale, opening outlets in Casablanca, Morocco and Paris, France, which gave the African brands she sells access to an international clientele.
The Senegalese businesswoman was born in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (then called Zaire) to diplomat parents. She left a career in economics and banking to launch her brand Adama Paris in 2002 and now lives between Dakar and Paris. She has created or advanced much of the industry infrastructure used by Senegal’s designer community and consulted entrepreneurs from across the region. Ndiaye has also organised a series of Black Fashion Week events which brought brands from Africa and the African diaspora to countries as diverse as Brazil, France and Canada.
