She Left the American Dream to Build a Business in Senegal | Aminata Mbaye, Founder & CEO of PYNK
They Lied About AfricaPlay episode
Show notes
Aminata “Ami” Mbaye had a path that looked familiar to many young people in the diaspora: build a life in the United States, find a stable career, and keep moving forward. But after returning to Senegal, she began questioning what success and freedom actually looked like for her—and whether the future she wanted could include building something back home.
In this episode of They Lied About Africa, I sit down with Ami, Founder & CEO of PYNK, a women’s wellness brand being built between New York and Senegal.We talk about what changed when she returned to Senegal after years away, the realities she encountered once she was on the ground, and how those experiences eventually pushed her toward entrepreneurship.
Ami shares how struggling to find menstrual products that met her needs helped inspire PYNK, why she believes women’s wellness deserves greater attention and investment, and how her vision for the brand extends beyond menstrual health.
But we also get into the part of entrepreneurship that often gets left out of the conversation: how do you actually build back home when your life is still in the diaspora? Ami is working a full-time job in New York while building PYNK in Senegal, traveling back and forth and creating a supply chain that doesn’t require her to be physically present every day. We talk about how she manages it, the assumptions the diaspora can have about doing business in Africa, and what she has learned from actually trying to build.If you’ve ever thought about returning, investing, starting a business, or contributing to the continent while still living abroad, this conversation is for you.
Learn more about PYNK:
Website: https://pynk.sn/
Follow PYNK:
Instagram: pynk.sn
TikTok: pynk.sn
Follow Ami:
Instagram: amimeetsworld
TikTok: amimeetsworld
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