Tidjane Thiam 1994 to 1999 he worked in the Ivory Coast first as chief executive of the National Bureau for Technical Studies (BNETD). Following the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état, he resumed a private sector career and rejoined McKinsey in Paris from 2000 to 2002, then worked as a senior executive for Aviva before being recruited by Prudential. Thiam was born in the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) on 29 July 1962. He is a descendant of two prominent families from Senegal and Ivory Coast. On his mother’s side, he is a descendant of Yamousso, after whom the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, Yamoussoukro, is
Tidjane Thiam elected INSEAD Alumnus of the Year by the Insead Alumnus Association. In 2009, he was nominated as one of "50 Alumni who changed the world" as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of INSEAD and its 38,000 graduates. He was ranked number one in both 2010 and 2011 by the annual publication the Powerlist, which ranks the 100 most influential Africans in the UK. In July 2011, Thiam was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by the French government in recognition of his significant contribution to civil life for more than 20 years. In 2013,