Success story: Thiam, la restauratrice Sénégalaise de Ouaga

My name is Nianga Thiam

I am Senegalese, living in Burkina Faso

I'm a restaurant owner. I was born here.

After 1998 I started in a restaurant.

After high school I got a degree in computer science.

That's when I realized there aren't any Senegalese restaurants in Burkina Faso.

So I decided to open my restaurant slowly.

I started with 2 kg of rice from the thiéboudienne

that we were preparing at home. I was reselling it.

So that's how I started little by little.

Today we have two restaurants.

After high school, as I said before, I got a degree in computer science.

My father's business went bankrupt.

So it was then that I decided to go into the restaurant business.

I needed to work.

That's when I decided to start, little by little.

That's when I decided to start, little by little.

I prepared small portions

I ran around everywhere looking for customers.

I invited friends to my house to taste my dishes.

They said it was good.

So next we started up the restaurant.

I had to hire couple of people to help prepare the meals

We make Senegalese thiéboudienne and mafe

which is peanut butter and tomato sauce

and we make Arabic couscous, gumbo, salad, spaghetti, as well as tô,

which we make in the evening, with gumbo sauce and sorrel sauce.

That's in the evening.

Dishes cost 700 francs (about $1.12)

Except for tô, which costs 100 francs per ball (about 16¢)

The customers say the restaurant is good, and it's clean.

We received a food hygiene prize three times.

It wasn't my dream to start a restaurant, I wanted to finish my studies.

But after all, my life changed and I decided to do something else.

I want to show people it's not just school

that is the only path to success in life.

Of course it helps us

But if you have something else to do, you can do it

Today we have more than 30 employees

My family is very proud of me.

It's really thanks to this that I have supported my brothers and sisters in their studies

I have one brother who is an entrepreneur

They are proud of me.