Bintou Keïta

McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management

“Engineer turned MBA using business to expand infrastructure access and opportunity across emerging economies.”

Hometown: Bamako, Mali (West Africa)

Fun fact about yourself: I love art in all its forms. One example: my favorite photographer is Aida Muluneh. Her work often portrays women as symbolic figures. They’re mysterious, vigilant, self-aware, and seemingly on a quest. Aren’t we all?

Undergraduate School and Degree: Polytechnique Montreal – Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? WSP, Project Manager – Geotechnical Engineering

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? I interned at Eranove, a leading pan-African group delivering essential water, sanitation, and electricity services across West Africa. I was based in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and worked as a consultant supporting Water & Sanitation unit and operations in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Benin.

Where will you be working after graduation? I am exploring opportunities in infrastructure finance and development with a focus on emerging countries. Growing up in Bamako, Mali, the lack of essential services and infrastructure instilled in me a strong sense of responsibility to contribute to meaningful change. Every professional decision I have made has been guided by this goal.

My engineering background, MBA training, and internship experience have given me a strong understanding of the institutional, financial, and operational challenges faced by emerging economies, and equipped me with the skills needed to help address them.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

VP Clubs & Academics, Desautels Graduate Student Society (DGSS) – In this role, I did the following:

• Oversaw 12 student clubs, supporting them with event planning, budgeting, and coordination.
• Co-founded the DGSS Spotlight Awards, enabling students to recognize peers whose contributions to the Desautels community extended beyond academic performance, as well as clubs that consistently organized memorable events.
• Worked closely with the MBA Office to develop strategies to strengthen alumni engagement. I also served on the Masters Programs Committee and Faculty Council, where I relayed student concerns, ideas, and feedback to improve the overall student experience.

Thanksgiving 2024: I organized a Thanksgiving potluck at my home for classmates who were newcomers to Canada or unable to travel home that year. During my first year in Canada, I remember how lonely holidays could feel when everyone returned to their families. I wanted to create a different experience for others.

Christmas 2024 & Secret Santa: I organized our class’s first Christmas party with my classmate Liela kindly hosting the event at her home. I secured the budget, organized the food, and coordinated a Secret Santa exchange, which turned out to be a great success and really strengthened the sense of community within our MBA cohort.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Participating to case competitions and traveling across Canada to represent McGill has been a highlight of my MBA.

Engineers are trained to proceed cautiously and avoid committing to conclusions before completing extensive analyses. By pursuing an MBA, I wanted to push myself outside that comfort zone by taking more risks, sharpening the speed of my critical thinking, and communicating confidently even when tackling industries I knew little about. Case competitions helped me build that confidence. I learned to strategize, improved my ability to collaborate effectively under pressure, and to defend our ideas in front of in front of juries that sometimes included CEOs.

After not making the semi-finals in my first competition, my teams and I finished First Runner-Up at the 2025 Canadian Case Series in Vancouver and later won the 2025 Cognizant x Aston Martin Formula One Case Competition in Montreal. I’m proud of my growth, of my teammates, and of how we managed to raise McGill’s colors higher each time.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? My biggest professional accomplishment was leading the digitization initiative for my business line at WSP for Quebec. I wasn’t an expert in digital tools or change management when I started. But I’ve always been good at spotting inefficiencies and solving problems. Most importantly, I care about how people experience their work. When the opportunity came up, I raised my hand. Over five years, I helped strengthen our relationship with our main software provider and position WSP as a key partner in the design of new digital tools.

The most rewarding part, however, was the human side of the transformation. I led the change process, listened to users’ frustrations and ideas, and built a network of super-users who helped champion the new tools. Together, we trained 100+ employees and created training materials including guides and videos to support the transition. Our overall productivity increased by 30%, and offices in France later adopted the same roadmap.

Although I left WSP to pursue my MBA full-time, I still occasionally hear from former colleagues about how much easier their work has become. Knowing that something I helped create continues to make people’s work better, that’s a legacy I’m incredibly proud of.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose McGill because of its global reputation and the strength of its international network. I wanted an MBA experience that was open to the world. The program’s small cohort size also appealed to me because it creates a more personal environment where meaningful relationships can truly flourish.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite professor was Sujata Madan. She’s one of the women who helped me answer a question I have been asking myself since the beginning of my career in engineering, a very male-dominated field: “Is it incompatible to aspire to leadership, break barriers, and drive meaningful change while being a racialized woman and while remaining kind?” Being “kind” is something I have sometimes been criticized for, often because it is mistaken for weakness. I have never experienced it that way though.

Sujata is an expert and a powerful voice in her field, yet she leads with deep compassion and authenticity. She cared about us, bringing food to every class and offering hugs as if it might be the last time she would see us. Seeing someone who is both strong and kind – ambitious and deeply human – reassured me that leadership does not have to come at the expense of who you are.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite class was Managing Globalization, taught by Elena Obukhova. The course felt particularly relevant in the uncertain global context we live in today. Professor Obukhova did an excellent job connecting current events with broader discussions on global strategy, international trade, and the actors shaping the global economy. What I appreciated most was that the class did not focus only on North America. We also explored cases from Europe and Africa, which reinforced why I chose McGill.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? The Montreal MBA Mixer was one of my favorite events. That year, our Desautels Graduate Student Society led the organization of the event, bringing together MBA programs from across Montreal. It was a great opportunity to meet students from other schools, build friendships, and expand our networks. Despite the friendly competition between programs, it reinforced the feeling that we were all going through the same transformative experience together.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? When I entered the program, I wanted to try everything, explore career paths I had preconceived ideas about, and use all the tools and services that were available to grow. Looking back, I realize I was unconsciously trying to avoid any future regrets. I stumbled, got back up, made mistakes, and sometimes changed direction, but I experienced the MBA fully. I wouldn’t change a thing.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? The most impactful case study for me was GlaxoSmithKline and AIDS Drugs in South Africa. It highlighted many of the questions that motivated me to pursue an MBA in the first place, particularly how to reconcile business imperatives with social responsibility, and the roles that governments, NGOs, and corporations play.

The biggest lesson for me was to avoid simplifying the debate by demonizing pharmaceutical companies or businesses in general. Companies operate within incentives and constraints. The real challenge is to be creative and strategic in designing systems that bring greater equity and fairness to people. That’s where I want to intervene.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? I have lived in Montreal for 15 years. It is diverse, inclusive, green, and full of life.

What business leader do you admire most? Michel Lescanne, founder of Nutriset and co-creator of Plumpy’Nut, the first ready-to-use therapeutic food used to treat severe acute malnutrition in children. His work showed me that a company can be both strategic, protecting its IP and ensuring financial sustainability, while remaining deeply committed to a cause as urgent as child malnutrition.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? One way AI was integrated into our coursework was through assignments where we were allowed to use AI tools but also required to submit a memo explaining how we used them, including our prompts and outputs. This approach encouraged us to think critically about AI: not only how it can improve efficiency, but also how it should be used responsibly. It reinforced that professional judgment and accountability remain essential, even when powerful tools are available.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? The MBA classmate I admire most is Pedro Guaraldi. Pedro completed his MBA in 12 months instead of the usual 16–20, while working full-time and excelling professionally, even securing a promotion during the program. Despite his demanding schedule, Pedro remained a reliable friend and teammate on group projects. He supported classmates and participated in case competitions. What impressed me most was how he maintained his priorities. His wife, Kristi, always remained at the center of his life despite the intensity of the program. Pedro embodied discipline, organization, and loyalty to the people he cares about. It was inspiring to watch, and I learned a lot from him.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Work closely with governments and decision-makers to accelerate sustainable infrastructure development in the world’s most underserved regions.

2. Be featured in a recognized publication for my work developing innovative finance mechanisms that expand infrastructure access in underserved communities.

What made Bintou such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“Bintou was an invaluable member of the Class of 2026 thanks to her collaborative spirit, positive energy, and genuine commitment to supporting her peers. Always the first to offer help, she contributed meaningfully to our buddy program and consistently lifted group dynamics with her warm, welcoming smile. Her internship in Côte d’Ivoire as a Water and Sanitation Project Assistant at Eranove in Abidjan enriched classroom discussions and brought an important global perspective to the cohort. Her generosity, global mindset, and team‑oriented approach made her a standout within the class.”

Nathaniel Haeems
MBA Career Coach
Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University

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