Vince Mountaga Diop: Story of a Pioneer
The Ethiopian Fintech industry has witnessed significant growth over the past decades. Entrepreneurs have a huge part to play in this expansion. Loline had a chance to speak to one of the pioneers of Fintech in Ethiopia, Vince Mountaga Diop.
Born in France to a Senegalese father and a Dutch mother, Vince Mountaga spent his childhood in Ethiopia. Vince has a soft spot for Ethiopia, as evidenced by the Ethiopian names he gave to all six of his children. In 1979, he left Ethiopia for Senegal to further his education, enrolling in a military polytechnic school that focused on STEM fields. He then went to Canada to further his IT skills before returning to Senegal to implement Dakar's vital events registration database. Four years later, he became Senegal's head of state's advisor, making him the country's youngest advisor. Speaking about his experience, he says,
At a young age, I had the chance to see how nations were planning their development in the IT space and be a part of it.