Draft:Swaady Martin

Swaady Martin is a French–Ivorian entrepreneur. Previously a senior executive at General Electric, she left the multinational to found the luxury brand Yswara.

Biography
Born in Ivory Coast to a mother of French, Ivorian and Guinean origin and an American father, she spent the first years of her life in Liberia, which her parents left when she was three years old to settle in Senegal. Her parents separated, she returned to Ivory Coast with her brother and her mother who then worked for the African Development Bank. She studied in London then in a business school in Switzerland. She obtained an MBA, delivered jointly by the London School of Economics, the Stern School of Business and HEC Paris (called TRIUM EMBA). She then joined the consulting firm Accenture for a year, then joined General Electric in the United States, then from 2005 in Africa. She worked for 11 years at General Electric, during which time she was notably director of GE Transportation for sub-Saharan Africa and general director of GE Technologies in South Africa until 2010. She then left GE, and resumed studies during which she studies the case of the luxury firm Louis Vuitton.

At the end of 2012, she founded the luxury African brand Yswara, which produces teas, but also chocolate and artisanal jewelry: "I wanted to initiate a luxury brand that is truly African in its origins, its nature and its tradition. All our materials come from Africa and are made locally by artisans who combine traditional knowledge and modern design (...) We call it Luxe Ubuntu because it creates wealth for African society."In 2012, Forbes considered her one of the 20 most influential young African women. The teas are sourced from isolated plantations practicing organic farming on small plots in different countries on the continent. They bear names evocative of African goddesses or legends of the African continent. The company initially experienced problems finding financing before taking off. Once these difficulties have been overcome, she herself supports developing activities, noting that "funders who refused to help me at the start are today partners of young entrepreneurs whom I help myself".

In parallel with Ysawara, based in South Africa, she is developing a mentoring activity ShiftWithin.Me and writing a collection of children's books, Malaika and the Angelo.