ABOUT US
Built from Africa. For the world.
BAICI was founded on a simple observation: Africa is shaping global culture, but no one is measuring it. No one is connecting the right people. No one is building the infrastructure for this influence to scale.
We are.
BAICI — Business of African Industry & Creative Influence — is the first integrated platform for brands, institutions, and creators engaging with Africa's creative economy. We provide the intelligence, relationships, execution, and transformation that turn opportunity into results.
Founded by Frédérique Kragbé Leininger, a Franco-Ivorian entrepreneur with 15+ years in fashion, media, and women's leadership, BAICI builds on a proven foundation: the ELLE Afrique license, Think Tank Nanan's network of 1,000+ women, and deep partnerships across African Fashion Weeks.
We are based in Paris and Abidjan. We operate across the continent. We think globally.
What we believe
We believe Africa's creative economy is not an emerging market — it's the market that will define the next century.
We believe data without relationships is useless, and relationships without execution are just conversations.
We believe in intelligence that restores rather than extracts — building ecosystems that thrive, not systems that deplete.
We believe African women are at the center of this transformation, and their leadership must be supported, celebrated, and scaled.
Our story
As the founder of Think Tank Nanan, she built a community of over 1,000 women across Africa, creating programs for health, leadership, and economic empowerment. As the CEO of ELLE Afrique, she holds the Lagardère license to build the first pan-African women's media platform.
BAICI was born from a recognition that these worlds — data, influence, execution, and human transformation — needed to come together. That brands entering Africa needed more than reports. That African creators needed more than exposure. That the continent needed infrastructure, not just attention.
Our foundation
— ELLE Afrique: Pan-African media platform (Lagardère license)
— Think Tank Nanan: 1,000+ women network across 15 countries
— Fashion Week Partnerships: Lagos, Dakar, Johannesburg
— Academic Partnership: Sorbonne/SCAI doctoral research
— In conversation with: Chanel, LVMH, L'Oréal, AfDB
BAICI is more than a company. It's an infrastructure for Africa's creative future.
Trusted by leading brands
For years, leading international brands and public figures have relied on our proven expertise across luxury, champagne, fashion, beauty and hospitality, supported by a deep, on-the-ground understanding of African markets.
