A nation's economic independence can easily be measured by the composition of its dinner plate. In Guinea, where the poultry market has historically been flooded by frozen, low-grade end-of-cycle hens imported from Europe, one entrepreneur decided to challenge the status quo through mass domestic production. In February 2026, the global media spotlight of Forbes Africa focused on Madina Dansoko, Vice President of the National Chamber of Agriculture of Guinea and co-founder of the Manssah movement. At 39, this farmer's daughter turned public administrator is driving a major industrial transition across the Guinean agribusiness landscape.
From the Fields of Dalaba to Africa's Boardrooms
Madina Dansoko’s story was not built within the comfort of air-conditioned corporate offices in Conakry. It began in the soil of Dalaba, where her father managed a state-owned farm before establishing his own private poultry venture. By age 9, although sent to Conakry for her formal schooling, Madina spent every quarterly vacation back at the farm. Later, while attending high school in Labé, she spent her mornings auditing administrative ledgers meticulously tracking feed consumption, egg output, and chick mortality rates. This early accounting discipline laid the bedrock of her commercial acumen.
The decisive entrepreneurial spark came in 2003. At just 17 years old, as a wedding gift, her father gave her two hectares of land and an agricultural building designed to house 2,000 chicks. Refusing to view this purely as a handout, she and her husband used their corporate salaries to pay back her father, franc by franc, for the upfront cost of the chicks and feed. By 2011, driven by a grander vision, she moved her operations from Labé to Bangouya, near Conakry, to position her business closest to the country's largest urban consumption market.
Lella: Vertical Integration to Defeat the Frozen Import Market
In 2018, noting the total absence of international-grade processing facilities in Guinea, Madina Dansoko and her brother made a major capital investment to build Lella. It became the country's first and only industrial poultry slaughterhouse. The economic strength of Lella relies on complete vertical integration across the value chain: managing its own parent hatchery (with an output of 2 million chicks per year), manufacturing specialized feed, supervising bird rearing, executing high-grade automated slaughtering, and distributing via its own retail boutiques.
This vertical strategy allowed the business to expand its monthly turnover from 250 million GNF in 2019 to over one billion GNF. Facing aggressive pricing from European imports which routinely retail for 5,000 to 10,000 GNF less than local poultry Madina Dansoko delivers an uncompromised counter-argument: absolute freshness, certified halal tracking, and healthy, hormone-free meat.
To meet accelerating domestic demand, Lella is currently executing a major plant expansion to transition from a monthly output of 30,000 birds to a high-velocity industrial scale of 10,000 chickens processed per day. To feed this facility, she has deployed a circular outgrower scheme: providing rigid protocols and inputs to independent young Guinean farmers, guaranteeing the buy-back of their livestock, and processing the volume under the Lella label to supply households, supermarkets, and major hotels across Conakry.
A Diversified Footprint: From Kindia’s Layer Farms to Luxury Real Estate
Madina Dansoko’s corporate leadership spans well beyond the aviculture walls of Lella:
- Agriferme: Established in 2004 alongside her husband, this independent entity manages a flock of 150,000 to 200,000 layer hens. The business is currently rolling out a 3 million USD modernization project in Kindia to scale up egg commercialization and farming equipment distribution, generating autonomous revenues of 3 to 4 billion GNF.
- Dina Groupe: Driven by a personal passion for design, architecture, and fine carpentry, she structured her lifestyle services into a premier construction firm. Dina Groupe has captured a substantial market share in luxury private villas and secured major public contracts including the high-profile renovations of the Cité des Nations, the Agricultural Development Fund, and the Maritime Prefecture generating 10 billion GNF in annual revenue.
From Local Civil Service to the Execution of Simandou 2040
In early 2026, after serving with distinction as the President of the Special Delegation (Mayor) for the municipality of Sonfonia, Madina Dansoko chose not to run for political renewal. This calculated exit reflects a pure economic urgency: dedicating 100% of her focus to the private sector at the dawn of the sovereign Simandou 2040 rollout.
As the elected First Vice President of the National Chamber of Agriculture, she is leading the executive advocacy for a formal, audited "Made in Guinea" label. Her immediate corporate milestone for 2026 is clear: integrating local poultry and egg distribution networks into the massive catering operations of the Simandou mining bases, proving that Guinean champions possess the technical, sanitary, and logistical volume to supply the continent’s largest industrial projects.