Dora:
First of all, thank you so much for your willingness to connect and speak with us today. And to start off, do you mind briefly introducing yourself? Sijh:
Yes. So my name is Sijh Diagne. I am a Weinberg class of 2010, did Economics and International Studies at Northwestern. Today I work as the advisor to the CFO of the African Development Bank. It's the largest multilateral development bank in Africa. Before that, I used to be in the Senegalese government as a senior advisor to the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation. So the last five years I have found myself being at the intersection of policy and finance in Africa. Really enjoy playing some of my hobbies. I enjoy playing tennis. I enjoy playing a little bit of basketball, love watching tennis as well. Had a chance to travel quite a bit. So I enjoy traveling and trying out some new foods. So that's a little bit in a nutshell about myself. Dora:
Sounds great. I'm actually going to play tennis and basketball later today. Sijh:
Ah, fantastic. Dora:
It's very nice out. Yeah, I'm a big fan of tennis and basketball too. Sijh:
Very good. Dora:
Thank you so much for introducing yourself. So I think my first question is that we're wondering how did you end up working at the African Development Bank Group and being where you are right now? Sijh:
Yes. So my mentor I've had since I graduated from college when I joined Oliver Wyman as a consulting, he was an investment bank at the time in Dubai, Senegalese named Amadou Hott, and he became the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation of Senegal in 2019. So I sent him a text message when he became minister. At the time I was at Harvard Business School. I finished my MBA and I was working at Credit Suisse in New York. And I said, "Congratulations." And he said to me, "You should think about joining the government, you'd be good to come home and serve your country." And I said, "Yeah, yeah, it's okay. No problem. I'm enjoying banking, but I wish you the best." And long story short, he did contact me and came to New York and said, "I need you. I'm building a team. I want you to join the ministry as my advisor. You're going to be in charge of private sector development."
This was at the end of 2019, had decided thinking about everything personally and professionally, that this was going to be a really cool opportunity to serve your country, contribute to policy, especially something that I've always wanted to do since my days at Northwestern. And he took me on board and I became his advisor. We did a lot of interesting things in Senegal, COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery plan, an emergency youth jobs plan, PPP law, and really put Africa on a map, at least Senegal on a map, especially when we were sharing the African Union.
And subsequently, he then moved on from government, went to the African Development Bank as advisor to the president, special envoy. And when the CFO of the bank was looking for somebody, had asked him and he suggested my name as somebody who had the profile, given my investment banking background, coupled with my policy and government background. And that's how I ended up at the African Development Bank. So it's a quite combination of personal interests, luck, but also relationships given the fact that it was a mentor who had recommended me. And this is a lot of times how the world works at a certain level. It's word of mouth, its connection, its relationships. And that's how I ended up where I am today. Dora:
That's really cool. I think it's really cool that you ended up contributing to your own hometown by using your interest and skills and expertise. That sounds very cool to me. And you've also mentioned that you started off as a consultant at Oliver Wyman. What led you to decide that you want to do consulting when you first graduated? Sijh:
So consulting was a little bit by accident, I would say. At the beginning when I was a junior at Northwestern, I had an undergraduate research grant to do studies. I was doing a thesis on China's economic involvement in Africa because I was surprised that when I went on vacation in Senegal, I saw a lot of people from China in Senegal. And Senegal was not a resource-rich country at the time. We did subsequently find oil and gas, but that was much later. And I was just quite interested in that new phenomenon.
And so while I was doing that project, I started talking to merchants and consumers about business, about trade, and I got very interested in maybe the business of giving advice on strategic advice. Instead of maybe going for a master's in international relations and doing diplomacy, I maybe thought maybe I should explore deep field in management consulting, especially in emerging markets because it was one of the fastest growing markets in the world and I wanted to get exposure to that, given my Senegalese background, the fact that I also had chance to spend also a study abroad in Egypt and wanted to also develop my Arabic.
So I looked at opportunities that will place me in the Middle East where I can be focused on at the time Middle East and Africa. And Oliver Wyman was recruiting in their Dubai office, and that was my top choice. Now remind you that this was in 2009. It was at the height of the economic crisis. So it was extremely challenging to find a job, and I just remembered applying to so many jobs at the time and just feeling completely agonized that what if I don't get it? Because a lot of my classmates were not getting jobs, people were getting laid off, were not recruiting as much. And I really thought that this is the only chance I have to differentiate myself because the US market was just quite challenging. And I practiced many, many hours a day. I only took three classes when I [inaudible 00:06:37] Northwestern versus four just to give myself a chance to get to that job. And so by God's grace, I got the job and then I moved to Dubai. And that's what I ended up doing for a few years. Dora:
That sounds really cool. So you've mentioned that it was really hard to find a job back in 2009. And I'm sure it got a lot better now, but it's still a little hard for us because I'm a junior, so I'm also applying for jobs. It's still hard, especially for international students to find jobs. So is there any advice or suggestion you can give to the students seeking for a job in financial service or just seeking for a job in general? Sijh:
Do not underestimate the power of the alumni network and in your relationships. When I was applying for jobs at the time at Oliver Wyman, most of the people who were interviewing me were from the Chicago office, Northwestern alum. And so I really tapped into that network at the beginning. It's the only network really I'd had at the time, frankly. And so in any job you have to look at what is required of the job in terms of skill set. Does it match currently the skill sets that you've been building or working on?
And then number two, just really talk to alumni, talk to your network who work in those fields. Because oftentimes what might make a difference is just a person at the right time saying, "Oh, I know this person. I've worked with this person, I've interacted with this person. I can tell this person's character. I can tell this person's work ethic. I can tell about how assiduous they are. I can tell about how much integrity, how good communicator they are, and how consistent they have been in terms of reaching out, following up, asking the right questions and really putting in the work." Because at the end of the day, that might be what differentiates one or two candidates, what you do well, what you can control, having a good GPA applying for the job, but tailoring your CV, preparing for the interviews. But at the end of the day, sometimes the decisions are being made based on other emotional quotient. What were the interactions like with the people who you've met? Have you been very consistent at reaching out at talking to them? What has been your demeanor?
I found that these interactions really made a difference, and so I made it a point in my career to just continue to reach out to mentors, continue to reach out to people in my different circles. This interview that we're having today would not have been possible if it weren't for a Northwestern alum, my sister Nikki Okrah, who gave a brilliant commencement speech last year and to whom I'm being very, very grateful for to open doors. And these are the ways in which the Northwestern alumni has been used. Nikki and I have been friends for almost 17, 18 years, since freshman year of college. She's back in Ghana building Chaku Foods, which is a startup in the agricultural space. And so my point is just leverage the network, build genuine relationships with people, your colleagues, your peers, and these things will pay dividends over time. Dora:
I definitely agree because I've been doing networking and coffee chats with a lot of alumni as well, and I know that they have also been reaching out and talking to a lot of students. But I don't know if this question might be a little repetitive. Do you have any advice or suggestion for students to maybe stand out in those conversations? Like you mentioned being consistent and always follow up, but is there any more things or specific strategies we could use to... Sijh:
Yeah, and I think these times are very challenging times as you can see given what's happening at the global environment. Quite challenging, quite complex, but it's also a tremendous time of opportunities and growth. One way in which I differentiated myself at the time when I was graduating is that I knew I had a language differentiator. I was fortunate to speak five languages, including Arabic, which was a differentiating factor when I was applying for jobs in the Dubai office. Being from Senegal, having had good quality educ
