Mamadou Sinsy Coulibaly

Mamadou Sinsy Coulibaly, nicknamed ‘’’Coulou’’’, is a Malian business leader. He was president of the National Council of Employers of Mali (CNPM) from 2015 to 2019 and, following a two year legal dispute, from December 2021 claimed control of the organization.

Early life Born in 1956 in Dakar then part of French West Africa, he attended school in Mopti, and Bamako Mali, and then the University of Jussieu, Paris, the Le Mans School of Automotive Commerce, before receiving an engineering degree in the Soviet Union.

Business career He began his business career forming a private security company in Paris in 1974, then moving to the United States, founding an African funeral services company, expanding to Montreal. Le Monde has called him “one of the richest and most influential men in Mali.” Coulibaly was chosen by Malian business leaders to become the president of the National Council of Employers of Mali (CNPM) in October 2015, Mali's largest and most influential business advocacy group.

Following a public defamation case brought against for accusations of corruption against government officials, Coulibaly was removed as the head of the CNPM Lawsuits eventually ended in a Malian Supreme Court ruling that annulled Diadié's election and that Coulibaly's organizing committee was the legitimate leadership of the CNPM