Survey Mag Africa opens a special section on our contributors, professionals, African or working on the continent, who take their time to show another image of Africa, that of a continent full of talented professionals. Mahamadou Simpara is one of them, here is his journey
My name is Mahamadou SIMPARA (Linkedin profile). I am from Mali and I have lived in France for almost 9 years. I left my country in 2011 to come and continue my university studies in France which I completed in the fall of 2017. Since this period, I have been working as a research manager in an institute of marketing studies in the Paris region . I am passionate about everything related to marketing, new technologies and the media world.
I didn’t have a linear school and university background. I started elementary school a bit late than most of my childhood friends. I started primary school when I was 8 years old while my other friends were between 5 and 7 years old. I then had an education without a hitch until the bac, obtained in 2008. I then obtained in 2010 a DEUG in Socio-anthropology at the University of Bamako. It was during my license year that I obtained the visa for France in September 2011.
For administrative reasons, I had to start again in the first year once in France. After a bachelor’s degree in sociology, I turned to a specialized master in Management of public action and companies that I obtained at the Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse in 2016, followed by another master in Studies in market and marketing decision at the Sorbonne Management School in Paris, obtained in 2017.
In 2016, I moved to the Paris region for a 6-month internship in an institute of marketing studies as part of my master’s degree in Management of public action and companies. The bridge between my training and the internship was survey methodology, sociology and marketing using the same basic methodological tools. It was during this first internship that I really discovered the job of researcher and I decided to make it my job. However, I found it necessary to acquire a theoretical basis in marketing because mastering the methodology alone is not enough. I then obtained a master’s degree in “Market Studies and Marketing Decisions” after which I returned to the same institute for a second internship.
I was then hired on a permanent contract as a junior researcher in November 2017. Since early 2019, I have held the position of senior researcher.
I carry out market studies mainly for large media, transport and mass consumer groups.
We live in a world where data is taking up more and more space, especially in Africa. The connectivity of Africans has grown exponentially and it is growing. In this context, everyone becomes a producer of data. It is now up to data scientists and other data analysts to put these invaluable resources at the service of the continent’s development. My ambition is to use the skills acquired in Europe in order to undertake this in Mali.
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