In 1990, Bakayoko started working as a journalist for Radiodiffusion Television Ivoirienne. In 1991, he founded the newspaper "Le Patriote", and interviewed Alassane Ouattara at his wedding. He later worked for Radio Nostalgie and Nostalgie Afrique. He worked as the head of the Ivorian branch of Radio Nostalgie. In the 1990s, he was a founder member of the student branch of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally. Later that decade, he joined the Rassemblement des Républicains. During the First Ivorian Civil War, he worked in mediation.