Didier Acouetey

Didier Acouetey is the President and Founder since 1996 of the AfricSearch Group, a firm specializing in Talent detection and Human Resources consulting in Africa. Based in Paris with branches in Washington, Dakar, Lome, Abidjan, Cotonou, Douala and Johannesburg, AfricSearch is recognized as one of the first international firms working in human resource development in Africa and the return of skills on the continent. Before founding the AfricSearch Group, Didier Acouetey had worked in the advertising and packaging industry as Strategic, Sales and Marketing Director. As part of its activities with AfricSearch, Didier Acouetey recruited several hundreds of executives and managers for companies operating on the African continent, and directed several corporate reorganization missions and accompanied the privatization processes of enterprises. In parallel, he formulates proposals for African States and international institutions for the improvement of educational structures and capacity building. Business advisor to several managing directors of Africa’s major companies and institutions, Didier Acouetey is also a columnist for Radio France International (RFI) on the issues of employment, training and business creation in Africa. He received several awards including the 2014 ‘African Entrepreneur Award of the Year’ in France. He has been considered as one the 50 most active Africans in the world for the last 50 years by various international publications. Among his other activities, Didier Acouetey chaired the Education-Training commission of the CIAN (French Council of Investors in Africa) until the end of 2014, and is also active in Think tanks such as ASPEN Institute, Africa Initiative Group and Africa 2.0, a network of several thousand young African policymakers to promote new leadership and to make Africa a world economic power. He launched in 2014 the first African SME financing forum, in partnership with several institutions including African Guarantee Fund, IFC, the African Development Bank and Ecobank. Moreover, Didier Acouetey is co-initiator of the project that led to the creation of the first Africa South East Asia Chamber of Commerce in Singapore whose objective is to promote business partnerships and best practices in development and growth between African and South East Asian private sectors. In this context, he contributes to the mobilization of funds for African businesses and States. Didier Acouetey is a graduate from the ‘Arts et Métiers’ school in Paris, and holds a Bachelor degree and a MBA from “ESCP EAP”, one of the top French business schools, and attended high level programs on strategy and management, including in Harvard Business School.