La puissance de la pensée positive | Maferima KONE KOUNADY | TEDxWassakara

28 Mar 2024 (8 months ago)

Education

Despite facing prejudices and financial difficulties, two twin sisters from Côte d'Ivoire taught themselves French and eventually gained admission to formal schooling.
With their mother's encouragement, they excelled academically, skipped grades, and became top students in their region.
They were admitted to a prestigious high school, where they continued to excel and received support from a tutor.

Despite personal struggles, including failing their baccalaureate exam, they persevered and eventually obtained their BTS in Computer Science.
Unable to pursue their dream of becoming doctors due to financial constraints, they set their sights on working for an international institution.

Through their volunteer work with Amnesty International, they caught the attention of the director who offered them an opportunity to attend a training program in France.
Mariam helped a young man from Niger with a project and later created an NGO for road safety in Côte d'Ivoire with her twin sister.
Mariam was elected Secretary-General of the Global Youth Network for Road Safety and attended a meeting of ministers in Moscow.
Mariam's NGO focuses on improving road safety around schools and has received recognition and support from various partners.

Mariam and her friend Kadi co-founded Kadi Vol, a business venture, after realizing the challenges of finding employment while working for NGOs.
Kadi vol is the leading importer of turkeys in Côte d'Ivoire, with over 80,000 turkeys imported annually.
The company employs 15 young people directly and has partnered with the Animal Training Center in Casablanca, Morocco, to train its employees in poultry farming.
The French Ambassador and the General Manager of the French Development Agency (AFD) visited Kadi vol's farm in Boaké.

Mariam encourages people to dream, think positively, and not listen to naysayers.
She believes in the power of positive thinking and prayer and emphasizes that one should not let negative thoughts or beliefs hold them back from achieving their goals.