Rihanna to give helping hand to French President Emmanuel Macron

President Emmanuel Macron will meet in Dakar on Friday to promote children's education. PHOTO: REUTERS

PARIS (Bloomberg) - France is tapping the Rihanna effect - again.

President Emmanuel Macron is meeting the star in Senegal this week to promote children's education. With Africa one of his biggest foreign policy focuses - this will be his sixth trip to the continent since his 2017 election - he is riding Rihanna's coattails to both push for more money for young girls' education and help him carry his messages on climate, immigration and the fight against terrorism.

It will not be the first time Rihanna has helped a French enterprise.

LVMH's chief executive Bernard Arnault worked with her on ad campaigns and a collection of sunglasses for Christian Dior Couture.

She has also given rival French luxury group Kering a boost by endorsing German sportswear property Puma, helping its turnaround.

Film-maker Luc Besson gave her a featured role in the sci-fi extravaganza Valerian - the most expensive French production ever.

Rihanna and Mr Macron will meet in Dakar on Friday (Feb 2) with schoolchildren, the president's office said.

The interests of the two coincide in the Africa project. The pop star has been looking for backing for her education-geared charity. She reached out to Mr Macron via Twitter last June. He and his wife met Rihanna in July to discuss education.

The image of them laughing in a salon of the presidential palace got "likes" from about 1.6 million people on Instagram.

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