The outgoing French Ambassador to Ghana, Anne Sophie Ave, has disclosed it was never her intention to become an ambassador nor come to the West African country, Ghana. 

“No, I didn’t choose [to come to Ghana]. I didn’t even choose to be an ambassador,” she replied, when she was asked if she chose to come to Ghana or it was a position given to her.  

She revealed this in an interview she granted to Ghanaian YouTube vlogger Zion Felix.

Prior to being in the office she’s exiting, she was the Director for Human Resources in the Defence Ministry for the French government. 

“I was running my 300,000 people. It was already a handful. One day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called me and said, ‘How about being an ambassador to Ghana?’” she recalled.

Upon hearing this, a stunned Anne spat out her coffee, and “wondered why and what made them think I could do the job properly?”

The lively, sociable and hands-on ambassador who has exhausted her four-year tenure, during which she sort to be the opposite of the so called uptight, serious and distant diplomat, cited a 2017 speech by French president Emmanuel Macron as the inspiration behind her style of leadership while she served in Ghana.

“I realised that in 2017, president Macron had been to Ouagadougou [Burkina Faso's capital], and had given a speech in a university where he said we’ve got to change the way we do diplomacy. We’ve got to address the public opinion, we’ve got to address the civil society, we’ve got to come out of our offices, and talk to the people explain what we’re doing, explain why we’re here and make diplomacy more human and readable for the people. After all, we’re guests in these countries. People are entitled to understand what we’re doing here. 

“We also need to change the way we cooperate and be partners more than donors, have cooperation projects that are more bottom-up than top-down, move from what we call ‘aid to trade’ and really change the way we were operating.”

The 54-year-old believes it’s this very speech that made her the right fit for the job in Ghana.

“I think he [president Macron] wanted to try an experience of having someone who would address the things differently, because I had not been groomed in the diplomatic service, so I didn’t have any kind of frame or preconceived way of what an ambassador should be because I had never served in an embassy before.”

Upon assuming office as French ambassador to Ghana since September 2018, Anne Sophie Ave has had a TV show interviewing various Ghanaian personalities, appeared in a Ghanaian movie she wrote titled 'Visa Fraud', organised musical concerts, attended entertainment events, engaged and made multiple friends and acquaintances with many creative arts notables in Ghana, hosting many in her home, and even became a Queen Mother in three communities across Ghana. 

At the 2022 Golden Age Creative Arts Awards (GACAA) Awards in Ghana, she was awarded as the Woman of the Year for her contributions to the Arts industry in Ghana.

She’s called her brainchild, the Akosua Fund, which supports children and youth in Hani, Bonobutu and Osu, her legacy for Ghanaians as she leaves office to become the French government’s ambassador for public diplomacy in Africa.