Kefil Saka, Director of Cotonou’s Africa Design School

From classic to innovation leader

Kéfil Saka’s career path is that of a passionate individual who combined a classic academic education (banking, finance and management control) with an early passion for couture and creativity. After organizing cultural events in Benin, he felt the need to formalize his skills, leading him to study communications and digital humanities in Paris (Université Paris Seine).

After initial experience in a creative agency (Vice Media), where he trained in art direction and graphic design, Kéfil Saka was asked to join ADS as Head of Education, before becoming its Executive Director. As soon as he arrived, he implemented a strategy aimed at adapting design teaching to the local African context, notably by integrating African art history into the French curriculum. The school, born of a partnership between the Beninese government and the École de Design Nantes Atlantique, already boasts a major asset: it delivers the Diplôme National des Métiers d’Art et du Design (DNMADE), a French state diploma.

Structuring employability programs

One of the major challenges of the Africa Design School is to train profiles that are immediately employable. To achieve this, ADS has established a pedagogical model based on professionalization and close collaboration with the business world. The school is developing Bachelor’s and Master’s programs focusing on several fields:

• Digital Design: Developing applications, websites and user experience (UX/UI).
• Graphic Design: For brand identity and communication.
• Object and Product Design: Including furniture and fashion.

For Kéfil Saka, design is a transversal discipline, essential for solving global problems. The ADS responds to this by working on concrete projects and in partnership with companies who submit real-life case studies to the students. This hands-on approach ensures that graduates find a wide range of outlets, whether in advertising agencies, banking (UX design), architecture, or structures needing creative people to innovate.

International ambitions

Although ADS is based in Cotonou, its ambitions are resolutely pan-African and global. The school attracts students not only from Benin, but also from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, Cameroon, Rwanda and Burundi, as well as students from the diaspora (notably from France), who choose ADS for its program adapted to the African context.

International collaborations are at the heart of this strategy. In addition to the École de Design Nantes Atlantique, ADS is involved in major initiatives such as FLY (Fashion Led by Youth) with Sèmè City and the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) to incubate fashion brands. Kéfil Saka also mentions the organization of major events to promote talent, such as student exhibitions (Solutions Innovantes) and the creation of theAfrican International Design Award (AIDA ) in collaboration with Tereso Awards, aimed at rewarding the continent’s best designers.

Eventually, ADS plans to join the Sèmè City campus to benefit from an even richer training ecosystem and greater influence. It is also working to raise awareness among parents and companies of the importance of these new professions, often perceived as “passion professions” rather than solid economic careers, proving that design is a discipline with concrete socio-cultural and economic stakes.

Read also

• Natasha Bibi-Derenne, Associate Director of International Programs at HEC Paris
• The FLY incubator, an initiative of IFM and Sèmè City in Benin
• The Africa International Design Awards