Mamadou Karim Diop

Vice President, Peacock Investments, Dakar, Senegal. Age: 31

Mamadou Karim Diop is vice president of Peacock Investments, a leading financial services company in Dakar, Senegal, founded by his associate, former Citibank executive Magatte Diop, and is responsible for its real estate portfolio. In other roles, he is the chief executive officer of Sagef, a real estate company in Dakar, and a board member of Group Ilico, a life insurance firm also based in Dakar. At present, Diop is coordinating and leading the Peacock/Sagef team in the construction of 5,000 low-cost houses throughout the country, in partnership with Full Spectrum New York, African-American developers of Green, eco-friendly and sustainable community housing and commercial properties; and New York architect Frederic Schwartz. Diop engineered the financial structuring of this $100 million project, which included American individual investors. “There are tons of opportunities in the housing and construction sectors in Africa that U.S. investors, particularly medium and small African-American companies, can take advantage of,” he insists.

Diop is a graduate of Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., and holds a certificate in real estate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a staunch advocate of affordable social housing for the average Senegalese. To date, he has helped 1,600 Senegalese families obtain affordable housing and is currently helping to build a children’s center in his father’s village. As secretary in charge of relations with financial institutions for the Association of Property Developers of West Africa, he sees his role as “creating a model that links the international financial world with the West African real estate world.”

One of his notable accomplishments was meeting with the heads of state of Senegal, Mali, The Comoros, Mauritania and Niger to discuss low-cost housing in West African countries. “People say time is money; I believe money is time. It enables you to buy other people time so you can spend more time with your love ones,” he says.

Fun Facts
Nickname: KD
Favorite food: Lobster
What actor should play you in a movie: Denzel Washington
Facebook or LinkedIn: Both
Favorite sport: Basketball
Favorite artist/group: Bob Marley
Movie theater or home theater: Movie theater
Last movie: Cash
List the languages you speak: English, French, Spanish, Wolof