1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,649
My name is Nianga Thiam

2
00:00:01,669 --> 00:00:04,559
I am Senegalese, living in Burkina Faso

3
00:00:05,887 --> 00:00:08,237
I'm a restaurant owner. I was born here.

4
00:00:09,724 --> 00:00:13,724
After 1998 I started in a restaurant.

5
00:00:14,405 --> 00:00:18,235
After high school I got a degree in computer science.

6
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:22,320
That's when I realized there aren't any Senegalese restaurants in Burkina Faso.

7
00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:25,130
So I decided to open my restaurant slowly.

8
00:00:25,138 --> 00:00:28,034
I started with 2 kg of rice from the thiéboudienne

9
00:00:28,053 --> 00:00:32,393
that we were preparing at home. I was reselling it.

10
00:00:32,819 --> 00:00:35,299
So that's how I started little by little.

11
00:00:41,527 --> 00:00:43,986
Today we have two restaurants.

12
00:00:44,547 --> 00:00:49,854
After high school, as I said before, I got a degree in computer science.

13
00:00:50,797 --> 00:00:54,377
My father's business went bankrupt.

14
00:00:55,050 --> 00:00:58,500
So it was then that I decided to go into the restaurant business.

15
00:00:58,501 --> 00:00:59,871
I needed to work.

16
00:00:59,871 --> 00:00:59,871
That's when I decided to start, little by little.

17
00:01:00,775 --> 00:01:04,237
That's when I decided to start, little by little.

18
00:01:04,913 --> 00:01:07,383
I prepared small portions

19
00:01:07,425 --> 00:01:09,235
I ran around everywhere looking for customers.

20
00:01:09,254 --> 00:01:11,544
I invited friends to my house to taste my dishes.

21
00:01:11,559 --> 00:01:13,159
They said it was good.

22
00:01:13,541 --> 00:01:16,931
So next we started up the restaurant.

23
00:01:17,069 --> 00:01:22,069
I had to hire couple of people to help prepare the meals

24
00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:26,320
We make Senegalese thiéboudienne and mafe

25
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:29,580
which is peanut butter and tomato sauce

26
00:01:29,618 --> 00:01:42,208
and we make Arabic couscous, gumbo, salad, spaghetti, as well as tô,

27
00:01:42,208 --> 00:01:49,359
which we make in the evening, with gumbo sauce and sorrel sauce.

28
00:01:50,667 --> 00:01:52,197
That's in the evening.

29
00:01:52,363 --> 00:01:54,614
Dishes cost 700 francs (about $1.12)

30
00:01:55,519 --> 00:01:58,627
Except for tô, which costs 100 francs per ball (about 16¢)

31
00:01:59,933 --> 00:02:04,139
The customers say the restaurant is good, and it's clean.

32
00:02:04,956 --> 00:02:09,166
We received a food hygiene prize three times.

33
00:02:09,172 --> 00:02:11,386
It wasn't my dream to start a restaurant, I wanted to finish my studies.

34
00:02:11,698 --> 00:02:17,247
But after all, my life changed and I decided to do something else.

35
00:02:17,266 --> 00:02:19,686
I want to show people it's not just school

36
00:02:20,365 --> 00:02:22,605
that is the only path to success in life.

37
00:02:22,777 --> 00:02:25,145
Of course it helps us

38
00:02:25,398 --> 00:02:29,398
But if you have something else to do, you can do it

39
00:02:29,914 --> 00:02:32,304
Today we have more than 30 employees

40
00:02:32,898 --> 00:02:34,618
My family is very proud of me.

41
00:02:35,625 --> 00:02:44,690
It's really thanks to this that I have supported my brothers and sisters in their studies

42
00:02:45,776 --> 00:02:49,776
I have one brother who is an entrepreneur

43
00:02:50,277 --> 00:02:52,027
They are proud of me.