Highlights: Mossadeck Bally, founder of the Azalaï hotel chain, is on the front line to bring the voice of the private sector to the military junta in power. “We need at least 7% growth and for the moment, we have not achieved it” Crises which are not new and which have multiplied for more than a decade, he recalls. Moroccans, Turks, Brazilians, Chinese and even French companies like Total or Sogea-Satom do business there.

At the head of the National Council of Malian Employers (CNPM) since the end of 2022, Mossadeck Bally, founder of the Azalaï hotel chain, is on the front line to bring the voice of the private sector to…

Mossadeck Bally, boss of bosses in Mali: “A health crisis is more damaging to the economy than a coup d’état”

He is the guest of the show Éco d'ici Éco d'ailleurs this Saturday, March 16.

Excerpts.

54:20

Mossadeck Bally, founder of the Azalaï hotel chain, has been head of the National Council of Malian Employers since the end of 2022. © RFI

By: Julien Clémençot

All nuance and pragmatism.

Mossadeck Bally knows that in these periods of high tension like his country is experiencing, there is no point in going against those in power.

That's good, it's not his habit.

Since his appointment as head of the National Council of Malian Employers at the end of 2022, it is he who has been responsible for bringing the voice of the private sector to the junta led by Assimi Goïta.

His method: maintain trust.

During his appearance on the show

Éco d'ici, Éco d'ailleurs

, the founder of the Azalaï hotel group recalled the advice his father gave him: "

The greatest capital of an entrepreneur is is not money, it is the trust that others place in you and therefore it must be cultivated

Asked about the situation in

Mali

and more broadly in the Sahel countries that have come under the control of putschist soldiers, the boss underlines the resilience of businesses.

“

Of course, it slows them down a little, but for example, my business suffered much more from the three years of the pandemic than from all the political instability that we experienced.
A health crisis is often much more damaging to the economy than a coup d’état

.”

“We need at least 7% growth and for the moment, we have not achieved it”

Crises which are not new and which have multiplied for more than a decade, he recalls: “

It started with the kidnapping of the hostages, which killed leisure tourism.
Then there was the occupation of northern Mali for almost a year.
Ebola.
Then institutional crises with the coups in 2012 and 2020. And after Covid, inflation and ECOWAS sanctions.

While he salutes the courage and imagination of business leaders to face these situations, he recognizes that their capacity for resilience is running out of steam.

“

This is also what we said to Assimi Goïta, the president of the transition, when he received us last week,

” he said during the recording made on March 6.

Growth may have been higher than estimates last year (4.5% of GDP), but Mossadeck Bally notes that it is insufficient in a country whose population growth rate exceeds 3%.

“

The population doubles every 25 years, but economists say that at this rate, we need at least 7% growth.
And for the moment, we are not reaching them

To achieve this, the entrepreneur wants the business environment to be more encouraging.

To questions about the attractiveness of the country, he replied that Mali remains an open country.

Moroccans, Turks, Brazilians, Chinese and even French companies like Total or Sogea-Satom do business there.

As for mining companies, the engine of growth in recent years, they have not disinvested.

Gold production even increased.

But the reality, he concedes, is also the void left in hotels and restaurants by Western NGOs, who left the country at the request of the authorities, the numerous power cuts, which penalize families and businesses or even terrorist groups which prevent farmers from going to the fields.

“Malians cannot accept an endless transition”

Even if overall, Mossadeck Bally judges the security situation to be better than it was when the country was led by Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

“

At the head of state, they are still soldiers.
They know the weaknesses of the security apparatus and they have invested a lot

,” he said before giving his personal opinion: “

Sooner or later, we will have to negotiate peace.

For the boss of bosses, the way out of the crisis also involves a return to constitutional order.

“

Malians cannot put up with an endless transition... We trust those in power to find the right window to organize elections because institutional stability and socio-economic development are consubstantial.
As risk takers, because we entrepreneurs take big risks, we need visibility.
And it is true that the return to a constitutional order would greatly promote investments

But for now, the Malian authorities, along with Burkina Faso and Niger, have chosen to take a leap into the unknown by announcing in January their exit from ECOWAS, in response to the sanctions taken against them by the regional community.

Mossadeck Bally sees this as a lose-lose solution for all states in the region if this decision materializes.

As for the prospect of leaving UEMOA and abandoning the CFA franc, he considers that the latest statements by Malian ministers are reassuring and that it is not on the agenda.

“

This would plunge us into a zone of very strong turbulence

,” judges the boss of bosses, who recalls that his country is struggling to finance itself on the West African market and currently no longer has any financial room for maneuver.

“

There is no more public investment

,” he concedes.

Mossadeck Bally nevertheless maintains faith in the future.

“

A few generations ago, people left school and wanted to be civil servants.
Today, young people know that this is no longer possible and they are launching themselves into entrepreneurship.
As president of employers, I am delighted,

Mossadeck Bally, boss of bosses in Mali: “A health crisis is more damaging to the economy than a coup d’état”

Mossadeck Bally, boss of bosses in Mali: “A health crisis is more damaging to the economy than a coup d’état”

“We need at least 7% growth and for the moment, we have not achieved it”

“Malians cannot accept an endless transition”

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