No place like home: Africa’s skilled labour returns

Mariam Koné left Canada five years ago to start a business consulting firm in Bamako, the capital of Mali. As her client base grew steadily, earnings from her company, Koné Conseil, also increased. Business has been great, she says. Although her previous job as an industrial engineer at a consulting firm in Montreal, Canada, was stable and the pay was good, Ms Koné wanted a new challenge in her home country. Her return to Mali was risky and audacious, but it has paid off. “I used to work for others, but now I am working for myself and also hiring people,” she says. “And I have no regrets.”