Souleymane Diarrassouba has served as Minister of Trade, Industry, and SME Promotion since the government reshuffle of April 20, 2022. He was initially appointed Minister of Trade, Handicrafts, and SME Promotion on January 11, 2017. On March 1, 2018, he was additionally entrusted with overseeing the Ministry of Industry and Mines on an interim basis following the appointment of Minister Jean-Claude Brou as President of the ECOWAS Commission.

Prior to his government appointment, Mr. Diarrassouba was the CEO of Atlantic Business International (ABI), a subsidiary of Morocco’s Banque Centrale Populaire Group. ABI is the financial holding company responsible for managing and developing Banque Atlantique and insurance entities across Sub-Saharan Africa, and ranks as the third-largest banking group in the WAEMU region.

He previously held executive positions including CEO of Atlantic Financial Group (Banque Atlantique Group), CEO of Banque Atlantique Côte d’Ivoire (BACI), and senior roles in various financial institutions such as SIB (Crédit Lyonnais), COBACI, ECOBANK, and VERSUS BANK.

His leadership and deep knowledge of the regional banking industry led to his election as President of the Federation of Professional Associations of Banks and Financial Institutions of WAEMU (FAPBEF-UEMOA) and President of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions of Côte d’Ivoire (APBEF-CI). He also served as First Vice President of Côte d’Ivoire’s national employers’ association, CGECI.

In the political arena, Mr. Diarrassouba served as Vice-Governor of the Autonomous District of Yamoussoukro, his hometown, and Deputy Secretary General of the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR), in charge of Trade and Handicrafts. He was later appointed Regional Coordinator of the Rassemblement des Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix (RHDP) for the Yamoussoukro District and was elected Member of Parliament for the municipality of Yamoussoukro in 2021. He also supervised the 2022 electoral roll revision for the RHDP in the same district.

Mr. Diarrassouba holds an Executive PhD from Université Paris Dauphine, a postgraduate diploma in Banking from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) in Paris, a DESS in Audit and Management Control from Université de Côte d’Ivoire in partnership with Université Paris XII Val de Marne, and a Master’s in Management Sciences (Finance) from Université de Côte d’Ivoire. He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of MDE Business School, in partnership with IESE Business School in Barcelona.

Honors and Distinctions:

Commander of the National Order of Côte d’Ivoire
Officer of the Order of Merit of Côte d’Ivoire
Officer of the Order of Solidarity and Social Cohesion of Côte d’Ivoire
Officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit of Côte d’Ivoire
Commander of the Order of Public Service Merit of Côte d’Ivoire
His dynamic leadership at ABI earned the group the title of “Best Bank in West Africa” at the 2016 African Banker Awards. He was named “Best Banker of the Year” in 2015 at the 6th edition of the Builders of the Economy Awards and received the Fadel Award for Best Banking Sector Manager in 2014.