Burkina Faso

PALOBDE is a company specializing since 2018 in the production and marketing of washable sanitary towels. In addition to meeting a hygienic need where Burkinabé teenage girls cannot afford disposable pads, PALOBDE promotes a local raw material (cotton) while respecting ecological standards.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

The initiative was led by Emilie Palobde KYENDREBEOGO, also involved with the NGO Helen Keller International in Burkina Faso. Previously, she held the positions of accountant and finance administrator at IFDC Burkina Faso.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF I&P AND SINERGI BURKINA

The company has been supported by Sinergi Burkina through private equity.

The objectives are to :

- Increase of the production capacity by the construction of a larger and more adapted production site on the one hand, and on the other hand through the acquisition of new machines and the control of the supply chain
- Implementation of an effective commercial strategy to develop the B2C positioning and strengthen the B2B

MORE INFORMATION

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ABOUT SINERGI BURKINA

Created in 2014, Sinergi Burkina is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting SMEs and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Headed by Job Zongo, Sinergi Burkina is the second investment fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Développement 2 fund. The fund network currently includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital), Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Madagascar (Miarakap). → To learn more about Sinergi Burkina

Created in the 2000s on the initiative of Mr Compaoré, the Institut Supérieur de Technologies (IST) is a private secular technical and vocational higher education institution. With more than 2,000 students spread over its 24 training courses, including 11 in management sciences, the institution currently has six sites, including three franchises.

IST prepares its students for BTS, Bachelor's and Master's degrees. It currently delivers 32 diplomas including 23 recognized by CAMES, thus placing the institution in 3rd place among the institutions with the highest number of recognized diplomas.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Company manager with more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and consultant, Issa Compaoré was trained as a State Engineer in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in Production Engineering at the Mohammedia School of Engineering (EMI in Rabat).

In 1995, back in Burkina Faso, he started teaching. He was then professor of physics, management and corporate culture at the National School of Telecommunications between 1997 and 2000. Parallel to his teaching duties, he also provides consulting services through his company called DEMAIN SARL (Développement et Management Industrie), created in January 1997. 

In 2000, driven by a strong entrepreneurial spirit, he decided to create IST (Institut Supérieur des Technologies).

PARTNERSHIP WITH SINERGI BURKINA

The objectives of partnerships include :

• The establishment of a reliable accounting information system
• Consolidation of contracts with franchises
• Trademark protection

The Institut Supérieur de Technologies also benefits from financial support and technical assistance within the framework of the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program, in partnership with the European Union. To cope with the unprecedented situation of covid-19, some fifteen companies benefit from technical and financial support to maintain their activities and overcome the crisis.

IMPACTS

⇒ Consolidation of more than 150 full and part-time jobs

⇒ Reflection on a scholarship program for students in difficult circumstances

⇒ Establishing good governance 

ABOUT SINERGI BURKINA

Created in 2014, Sinergi Burkina is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting SMEs and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Headed by Job Zongo, Sinergi Burkina is the second investment fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Développement 2 fund. The fund network currently includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital), Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Madagascar (Miarakap). → Sinergi Burkina website

A family business created in 1999 at the initiative of Mrs TOURÉ, Rose Eclat is a company that operates in the agricultural field, more specifically in the processing of fruit and vegetables. Today, the company puts on the national and international market processed and/or dried fruits and vegetables certified BIO and HACCP such as mango (flagship product), banana, okra, strawberry, or onion. 

Rose Eclat works in partnership with more than 500 small producers, which she supports technically, organizationally and financially.
 

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Rosemonde Rita Evelyne TOURÉ has a postgraduate degree in law (DEA) and more than 20 years of experience in mango drying. She relies on her experience and a young and dynamic team to manage the company.

Her commitment and dynamism have earned her many distinctions such as :

• Knight of the Order of Merit of Commerce and Industry
• Green Africa" Quality Award, 2010
• UEMOA Quality Award 2017 awarded by ABNORMES
• Award of Excellence for the Best Exporter of the Year 2017

CONTRIBUTIONS BY SINERGI BURKINA

Rose Eclat is the first company run by a woman in the SINERGI BURKINA portfolio. The objectives of the partnerships are among others :

• The structuring and establishment of a management body
• Increasing annual production capacity 
• Customer and product diversification 
• Obtaining the British Retail Consortium (BRC) certificate

Rose Eclat also benefits from financial support and technical assistance within the framework of the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program, in partnership with the European Union. To cope with the unprecedented situation of covid-19, some fifteen companies benefit from technical and financial support to maintain their activities and overcome the crisis.

IMPACTS

• Formalizing and securing jobs
• Establishing good governance
• Payment of taxes and social contributions

ABOUT SINERGI BURKINA

Created in 2014, Sinergi Burkina is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting SMEs and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Headed by Job Zongo, Sinergi Burkina is the second investment fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Développement 2 fund. The fund network currently includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital), Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Madagascar (Miarakap).  → To learn more about Sinergi Burkina

AGROSERV INDUSTRIE is an industrial unit processing maize into gritz and flour. Based in the industrial zone of Kossodo (Ouagadougou), the unit is equipped with two automatic production lines with a production capacity of 50 tons per day each.

The expertise developed by the promoter since the creation of the company in 2008 has allowed to him to conquer a significant portion of the national market.

In order to optimize the supply chain, AGROSERV INDUSTRIE decided to organize and support a network of small producers.

The entrepreneur

M. Siaka SANON holds a degree in IT Management. After graduating, he integrated the family business called EKSF (Establishment SANON Karidia et Fils), specialized in the collect and marking of cereals on local and international markets. This experience enabled him to get a full understanding of the maize supply chain. He managed the company for ten years and let its evolution towards AgroServ Industry, launched as a SARL in 2008.

Read the interview of Siaka Sanon (2022)

Partnership with I&P and Sinergi Burkina

Partnership with I&P and OikoCredit (2022 - now)

In 2022, Oikocredit and I&P (through its fund IPAE), with the support of BIO and EDFI AgriFI, completed the investment of €12.2 million in AgroServ Industrie.

This funding will allow Agroserv Industrie:

⇒ To build a new production unit in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, which will increase Agroserv's processing capacity to 160 tons per day.

⇒ Agroserv also plans to diversify into higher value-added products, including high-energy flour, pre-cooked cornmeal and soy protein, which will be sold to households, the government for school canteens and the World Food Program.

⇒ Smallholder farmers supplying Agroserv are also expected to increase to 12,000 (from 6,000 today) through closer collaboration with local cooperatives, increased direct sourcing, and higher yields, thanks to technical assistance provided by I&P.

Read more about this new investment

Partnership with Sinergi Burkina (2017-2022)

AgroServ Industrie is the second investment of Sinergi Burkina, an impact fund sponsored by I&P and dedicated to small companies in Burkina Faso.

The collaboration between Agroserv Industrie and Sinergi Burkina had considerable impacts on the local economic fabric. It has notably allowed the strengthening of a network of some 6.000 small maize producers and the employees jobs' formalization. 

AgroServ Industrie is the first exit of Sinergi Burkina, after 5 years of successful collaboration.

Read more about the exit

In 2020, AgroServ also benefitted from financial support and technical assistance within the framework of the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program, in partnership with the European Union. To cope with the unprecedented situation of covid-19, some fifteen companies benefit from technical and financial support to maintain their activities and overcome the crisis.

Main Impacts

• Structuring a network of more than 6,000 small maize producers

• Import substitution and sale of essential goods at affordable price

• Wages well above the legal minimum in Burkina Faso

About I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 (IPAE 2)

IPAE 2 is an impact fund promoting the emergence of a new generation of responsible African entrepreneurs. IPAE 2 invests in equity and quasi-equity as a minority shareholder in startups and businesses located in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, for amounts comprised between €300,000 and €5 million.

Read more

About Sinergi Burkina

Created in 2014, Sinergi Burkina is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting SMEs and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Headed by Job Zongo, Sinergi Burkina is the second investment fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Développement 2 fund. The fund network currently includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital), Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Madagascar (Miarakap).  → To learn more about Sinergi Burkina

Siatol is a young soybean processing company founded in 2010 by Marcel Ouédraogo.

Siatol processes soybeans into two high-value products: soya cake, sold to poultry producers, and soya oil, for household consumption. Siatol soya oil is known for its gustatory and nutritional qualities (the oil is made without GMO and is free of cholesterol). Siatol is the only company in Burkina to locally produce soya oil. 

Siatol currently works with more than 3,000 smallholders and strengthens the support program set up by APME2A by providing seeds and small equipment to producers, by allowing technical follow-up and setting up evaluation meetings.

The entrepreneur

Marcel Ouédraogo worked ten years in the sector of soy production before devoting himself exclusively to Siatol, with the objective of developing new opportunities for small producers and strengthening the national production of soya oil.

Graduated from the Université Polytechnique of Bobo Dioulasso, Marcel Ouédraogo is an agro-economic engineer, specialized on rural development issues. In December 2004, he joins the CIDR (International Center of Development and Research), a French association implementing development programs in several Sub-Saharan countries. Marcel Ouédraogo notably works on the ESOP program, focused on the Burkinabe soy production sector. In 2008, the CIDR partners with the NGO APME2A, founded in 2004 and dedicated to agricultural SMEs in Burkina.

Alongside his work within the NGO, Marcel Ouédraogo developed an economical model that would be better suited for small producers, while competition in the soya sector becomes stronger in Burkina: “the very small enterprises promoted by the programme could not produce soybean oil, considering the technical constraints and the quality requirements to be satisfied. Our objective with Siatol is to remove entry barriers and ensure outlets to small producers”

Partnership with Sinergi Burkina

Siatol is the first investment of Sinergi Burkina, an investment fund dedicated to small enterprises and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Several objectives have been set:

• Improve the structure of the company

• Reinforce the production chain

• Improve the productivity of the producers

Expected Impacts

• In the medium term, Siatol could work with about 10,000 local producers

About Sinergi Burkina

Created in 2014, Sinergi Burkina is the first impact investment fund dedicated to financing and supporting SMEs and start-ups in Burkina Faso. Headed by Job Zongo, Sinergi Burkina is the second investment fund sponsored by Investisseurs & Partenaires as part of the I&P Développement 2 fund. The fund network currently includes a fund in Niger (Sinergi Niger), Côte d'Ivoire (Comoé Capital), Senegal (Teranga Capital) and Madagascar (Miarakap).  → To learn more about Sinergi Burkina

Bakou Logistics is a freight-by-lorry company settled in Burkina-Faso. Several dozens of trucks freighted by Bakou convey cotton, oil and gas between Burkina-Faso and the Guinea Gulf. The company beats a fierce local competition thanks to its high security and probity standards lately rewarded by the Best Transporter Award from Total Burkina.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Mamadou Traoré’s father also worked in the cargo industry. After he graduated in Finance from HEC Belgium, Mamadou worked for Alstom from 2001 to 2006 as a Commercial Manager in Liège. He then decided to head back to his native country and to start his own business inspired by his family inheritance. Bakou Logistics’ success owns a lot to his father’s experience but Mamadou Traoré quickly took the lead and bred a brand new spirit within the profession

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P committed alongside with Bakou Logistics

• To undertake technical missions in order to improve the GIS

• To bring the capital needed in the fleet expansion

• To enhance financial and auditing offices in the company

KEY IMPACTS

• 35 jobs created including 30 truck drivers with increased social conditions

• Incentives leading to the drivers empowerment through the purchase of their own trucks

• Emergence of a freight local leader, independent from international firms

• Improvement of local standards in terms of environment, social and governance themes

ACEP Burkina is a MFI specialized in the financing of micro companies and very small enterprises existing in towns and close suburbs. Granted credits are mainly used to finance required working capital and investments.

I&P and ACEP International which are old partners have decided to partner in 2008 to try to start a microfinance institution like ACEP in the country. In spite of a preexisting  important mutual fund present in town zone, small entrepreneurs remain hardly linked to microfinance. Besides, it does not exist for the moment in Burkina Faso, a microfinance institution specialized in individual credit with an effective and appropriate technique of credit risk analysis towards very small companies. 

Financings trough subventions have been secured from the French Agency of Development then an agreement has been obtained from the ministry of finances in June 2012. The microfinance institution has started its activities in October 2012. 

PARTNERSHIP WTH I&P

I&P is committed alongside ACEP Burkina to:

• Write the business plan and constitute the round table

• Support ACEP in the research of external funding to extend its portfolio

• Contribute to reinforce the skills of the management team through a technical assistance program

KEY IMPACTS

• ACEP Burkina will bring an offer adapted to the financing of town small entrepreneurs

• Set up a health coverage and a CSR policy, as well as a road safety plan