A trilingual researcher and operator working from Zinder, Niger building bridges between West African markets and the people who buy from them.
I'm Abdoul Hayyou. I live and work in Zinder, in the south of Niger, a few hours from the Nigerian border. My day-to-day is split between two worlds: I work as a Data & Operations Assistant at an international assistive-mobility company, and I run a parallel practice helping foreign firms understand and operate in Niger and some partial help in Nigeria and Chad. I work in French, English, Djerma and Hausa. I read trade flows the way some people read poetry. I am most useful to clients who need someone they can trust on the ground not someone who summarises the country from a desk in Dakar, Nairobi, or London.
Niger occupies an interesting place in the world. It's among the leading suppliers of sesame to the Chinese market, alongside neighboring Nigeria. It sits within the Sahelian gum arabic belt, a raw material used in many sodas, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical capsules sold across Europe and the United States. It feeds Nigeria's cowpea trade. Its livestock supply markets as far as the Gulf.
Despite all this, very few foreign buyers, researchers, or firms have someone reliable on the ground here. My work fills that gap — verifying suppliers in person, walking the markets, talking to traders, conducting interviews in Hausa or French, and turning what I see and hear into something a procurement committee or research team can actually use.