Elisabeth Moreno. The Franco-Cape Verdean businesswoman, of modest origin, entered the government of Jean Castex.
Little surprise, in the list of French ministers in the “Castex 1” government: Elisabeth Moreno becomes Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, responsible for equality between women and men, diversity and equal opportunities.
Back to Paris, therefore, for the Franco-Cape Verdean, which had been running HP’s Africa subsidiary for more than a year, in Johannesburg, after leaving his chair as CEO of Lenovo, in France.
“For an immigrant like me, to return to the continent through a multinational is a dream”, she said, however, when she took up her post at HP. Elisabeth Moreno comes from a very modest background and looks like example of social success.
Arrived in France!
She arrived in France at the age of six, in 1976, in a dramatic circumstance: she accompanied her little sister, badly burned, who would spend two years in a Paris hospital. The family moves to Belleville, a popular neighborhood in Belleville, her mother is a housekeeper, her father goes from building sites to building sites. Both are illiterate.
Elisabeth Moreno, barely a teenager, takes care of family papers or attends parents’ meetings. She has five cadets! She oversees the signing with the notary for the purchase of the first family home, she’s only 14 years old. “A story like there are thousands of others”, she relativizes.
After studying law, she realized that a career as a lawyer was not for her. She prefers to undertake. She was only 25 when she started a construction company with her first husband. She acquired a sense of teamwork and managerial responsibilities. Then she joined France Telecom (1998-2002) where her leadership qualities were noticed, notably by a “headhunter”.
In 2002, she was recruited by the Dell group, when she said that she knew nothing about computers! She became responsible for sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, but her ambition ran up against her lack of diploma. Never mind, she decides to get an MBA …
Magic encounters!
In 2012, she joined the Chinese group Lenovo, taking over the management of the French subsidiary in 2017. While she claims that “leadership has no gender”, Elisabeth Moreno nevertheless claims her femininity in a world of Tech, often masculine . “Women have different and complementary things to bring to a business”, she tells the daily Les Échos.
In a post to Lenovo teams written when she left, she writes, “The corporate world is not always this unforgiving place that is described to us in novels or the media. We also make magical encounters there, we experience rare emotions there.” Elisabeth Moreno quotes the idea of seeing talents unfold: “I believe in human potential. What I love is getting people to do things they never thought possible.”
Elisabeth Moreno is involved in a number of professional associations, including the Outre Mer Network, where she plays the role of mentor. If we do not know of any political commitment, we know that it is attached to its dual Franco-Cape Verdean culture. In 2005, she founded the Cabo Verde Business Club to promote business relationships between French and Cape Verdean companies. In December 2018, the Cape Verde government presented him with the Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Elisabeth Moreno is also a member of the strategic committee of the French Development Agency, which acts to combat poverty and promote sustainable development. She is a member of the strategic committee of Idinvest Partners, which specializes in the fund management industry.
Mother of two, Elisabeth Moreno is also present alongside associations working in favor of education, inclusion and professional mix.
