Nicolas Normand, honorary minister plenipotentiary, agricultural engineer and former engineer of Bridges and Water and Forests, is a former student of Agro, ENS, ENGREF and ENA (class of 1985).  After a position as a political advisor to the French embassy in Washington, he devoted most of his career to Africa, where he spent nearly 15 years in South Africa, Mali, Congo, Senegal and Gambia (French ambassador in these last 4 countries) or in Paris (former Africa advisor in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, then diplomatic advisor to the Minister of the Interior). He was also the deputy director of IHEDN.

He published Le grand Livre de l’Afrique, Chaos ou Emergence au sud du Sahara? which contains a preface by Erik Orsenna, Ed. Eyrolles, November 2018, republished (and updated) in June 2022 and numerous articles on African topics.