Fatoumata Ba

Fatoumata Ba was born in 1986 into a middle-class family in Dakar, Senegal, and developed an early fascination with technology — hacking her father's computer at age nine, creating her first email address at eleven, and building her first website at sixteen. She earned a bachelor's degree from Toulouse Business School and a master's degree in Management, Strategy, Marketing and Finance from TBS Education, including a period studying in China, before later completing a programme on Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Ba began her career in 2007 at Index Multimedia before moving to France Telecom and then Atos Consulting, working as a Senior Consultant in Strategy and Innovation. She joined Jumia — Africa's first tech company to list on the New York Stock Exchange — founding and serving as CEO of Jumia Côte d'Ivoire from 2013 to 2015, before becoming Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria and later a member of Jumia's Africa-level Executive Committee, helping drive performance across more than 130 operations spanning 30-plus countries.

In 2018, Ba founded Janngo, later becoming Executive Chair of Janngo and Managing Partner of Janngo Capital, Africa's largest gender-equal technology venture fund. Janngo invests in pan-African 'tech for good' companies with proven business models, with a particular focus on women's entrepreneurship, SME growth, and health and education technology. She also serves as Chairwoman of the Board of Auchan in Africa and sits on the boards of SouthBridge Investment Bank and Creadev Africa.