Magatte Wade is not just a name; she is a force, a voice, and a vision of what Africa becomes when its daughters refuse to be boxed in.
She embodies the roles of builder, creator, and leader, challenging the world’s perceptions of her continent.
Born in Senegal, raised between continents, and grounded in the soul of Africa’s rich traditions, Magatte’s life has been a bold dance between diverse worlds.
Instead of choosing one over the other, she chose to fuse them, to build a bridge between her heritage and the global stage.
She is the founder of Adina World Beat Beverages, promoting health drinks inspired by traditional recipes; Tiossan, a luxury skincare brand rooted in Senegalese culture; and SkinIsSkin, a purpose-driven company fighting racial bias through ethical skincare.
With each venture, Magatte’s mission has remained the same: to prove that Africa can create premium, globally respected brands rooted in its own cultural identity and powered by its own people.
But her impact goes far beyond commerce.
She’s an unapologetic advocate for economic freedom in Africa. Her TED Talk, “Why it’s too hard to start a business in Africa, and how to change it,” is a clarion call to global leaders, entrepreneurs, and everyday citizens.
She reveals the hidden costs of overregulation, the silent killers of enterprise, and how bureaucratic red tape suffocates the dreams of countless young Africans.
Magatte has advised and inspired on stages across the world—from the Aspen Institute to the World Economic Forum, from college classrooms to Capitol Hill.
She’s spoken truth in spaces where few dare, using her lived experience as her microphone and the continent’s future as her cause.
She’s served on the advisory board of the Whole Planet Foundation (Whole Foods Market), the SEVEN Fund, and currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Conscious Capitalism organization.
Her work has been profiled in the New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, and Fast Company.
She is also Director of the Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network, where she leads powerful conversations on how to unleash enterprise-based prosperity throughout Africa.
Her accolades speak for themselves, and yet, she wears them with the humility of someone who sees the work as bigger than herself.
Magatte has been recognized with several prestigious awards and honors for her contributions to entrepreneurship and African prosperity.
Notably, in 2011, she was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum at Davos and was also listed among Forbes’ “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa.”
In 2014, she received the “Leading Woman in Wellness” award from the Global Wellness Summit, acknowledging her influence in the global wellness industry.
Additionally, she was recognized as a TED Global Africa Fellow, highlighting her impactful ideas and leadership.
These awards are not just titles; they are echoes of her influence, markers of a woman who has refused to let others tell her what’s possible.
What makes Magatte extraordinary isn’t just her résumé. It’s her fire, her faith in Africa’s youth, and her relentless optimism in the face of systems built to stifle.
It’s the way she stands on global stages and says, “We deserve more, and we can build it ourselves.”
Magatte Wade is not just changing the narrative about Africa; she’s writing a new one, one enterprise, one voice, one bold step at a time.
