Logistics

Based in Senegal, Senfrais is a refrigeration company specialized in the production of solar-powered refrigeration units that can be adapted to various types of vehicle (lorries, tricycles). This young company has added a digital dimension to its model, making it possible to track the temperature of refrigerated boxes in real time, in addition to vehicle tracking.

The entrepreneur

Senfrais was founded in 2023 by Seydina SECK, a Senegalese entrepreneur with experience in creating transport and preservation solutions for products in the cold chain.

Partnership with I&P and Teranga Capital

Senfrais is supported by I&P Digital Energy, a €4.8 million program to finance and support a dozen start-ups and SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa offering digital solutions for access to affordable energy, backed by AFD and the European Union. In Senegal, this program is implemented by Teranga Capital.

This partnership will enable this start-up to:

• Boost production in line with the development of its customer portfolio and the production unit by building up a stock of refrigerated tricycles, which will also enable it to meet the needs of individual and informal players under the cash-on-delivery model
• Boost the sales function by creating a dedicated unit whose mission will be to implement targeted strategies tailored to the profiles of the various prospects in order to achieve good sales traction
• Strengthen its digital component by adding additional functionalities such as remote control/adjustment of the temperature in the refrigerated cases, in order to ultimately achieve a product that is easy to use and adapted to the needs of local customers, and to strengthen its competitive advantage
• Strengthen its differentiation from traditional refrigerated vehicles (trucks) by adapting its offer based on the needs expressed by customers
• Identify the conditions needed to move the product from a niche market to a mainstream market.

Established in Madagascar since 2013, AerialMetric is a company operating aircraft and drones for the delivery of medical goods in landlocked areas of Madagascar, for organic larvicide spraying and for topography.

It also has a cargo aircraft production and maintenance operation, based in Antananarivo, and an R&D center in Maroantsetra in northern Madagascar.  Today, its customers are mainly international NGOs. Eventually, AerialMetric plans to become the benchmark operator of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in French-speaking Africa.

"In this country of almost 600,000 km2, with 28 million inhabitants and a dozen national roads that are more or less passable depending on the season (barely more than a French department), the question of territorial accessibility is a crucial public health issue." Find out more: an article published by Le Monde on AerialMetric

Entrepreneurs

CEO of AerialMetric since January 2021, aeronautical engineer and holder of an MBA from INSEAD in 2006, Pierre-Loup Lesage's career in Madagascar began in 2009 when he was appointed Regional Coordinator for Madagascar and Niger for the William J. Clinton Foundation. He then joined PSI (Population Services International) as Country Representative and then Senior Country Representative between 2012 and 2020.

Stéphane Bihr (Chief of Technology Officer) is a French process engineer (ENSIC) who also studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a trained drone pilot (DGAC license) and the principal founder of AerialMetric. He has an intimate knowledge of Madagascar, having spent over 23 years in different parts of the red island. Stéphane is an expert in the design and conception of aerial imagery solutions and large UAVs (manned aircraft, multicopters and VTOLs).

Agnes Hiere (Chief Financial Officer): After developing technical skills in the financial industry (JPMorgan), Agnes strengthened her managerial skills in developing contexts, leading programs and organizations focused on strengthening health systems, rural socio-economics, agriculture and urban development (UN system, INGOs). Agnes Hiere is also founder and president of Golden Brick Road. Agnes holds an MBA, two masters degrees in law and public affairs, and a bachelor's degree in political science.

Partnership with I&P

AerialMetric is supported by I&P through the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 (IPAE 2) fund. The funds raised are intended for :

• Strengthening AerialMetric's presence in Madagascar;
• Exploration of two other countries in French-speaking Africa, with a view to an effective presence in 2025;
• Strengthening of position in penetrated countries;
• Focus on research and development (R&D) to improve drone flight technology and ergonomics.

Expected impact

• Access to healthcare for people living in remote rural areas of Madagascar and future host countries;  
• Fight against malaria;  
• Reduction of carbon emissions linked to the transport of medical equipment and medicines;  
• Creation of local jobs for young people in an innovative sector, opening up opportunities for technical and specific professions (piloting, engineering) with decent salaries.

Subito International is a young Senegalese company specialized in private transportation (car rental, airport shuttles). Today, the company's client portfolio includes individuals and companies (Air France, French Embassy, etc.), as well as hosting sites (Booking), etc.

The entrepreneur

Subito was created in 2018 by Mor Lamotte, a Senegalese entrepreneur with a Master's degree in Port Management and Logistics.

Partnership with Teranga Capital and I&P

Subito is supported by Teranga Capital and I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel with the following objectives

• refine its positioning in the B2B and B2C segments by offering a wider range of services that effectively meet the needs of each customer segment while maintaining high quality standards 
• strengthen and improve the quality of the vehicle fleet 
• structure the company's activities in business development, accounting, finance, labor, tax and regulations 
• better manage operations by improving the reservation management system, implementing an operational monitoring system (monitoring of drivers, vehicles, flow, etc.) and investing in the training and professionalization of drivers

Created in 2017, NIGERcab is a VTC (Vehicle of Transport with Driver) service, the first to have offered a private, secure and comfortable door-to-door individual transportation service in Niamey.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Mr. Amadou Maiga Seydou created NIGERcab in 2017 with three partners. Holder of a Diploma of Professional Aptitude (DAP) in Customs Transit, he received training in transport logistics. Before the creation of the company, he held for 4 years, a position of driver at Babati Automobile where he drove the consultants of ALCATEL LUCIEN. 

ABOUT SINERGI 

SINERGI S.A. is a private investment company created in 2006 and supported by I&P with a group of key individual and institutional shareholders in the Nigerien and international SME support landscape. Headed by Ibrahima Djibo, its objective is to contribute to the economic and social development of Niger through the promotion of entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs. SINERGI S.A. provides the means for entrepreneurs in Niger to achieve their growth projects by providing long-term financing and local support.  → Find out more about Sinergi

A PROPOS PACE PROGRAM  

Investisseurs & Partenaires and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched in 2016 an innovative acceleration program for start-ups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The partnership is designed to support high-potential start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in order to facilitate their access to financing in a region where the ecosystem supporting entrepreneurship is still poorly developed. → Click here to find out more

Teliman is the very first on-demand motorcycle-taxi service in Bamako, Mali. Teliman is co-directed by Hawa Traoré and Abdoulaye Maiga, two young and talented professionals from the Malian diaspora. The company's vision is to revolutionize intra-urban transport in West Africa.

Teliman offers city dwellers a faster, cheaper, safer and door-to-door mode of transport. It provides drivers with attractive working conditions (access to motorcycle ownership via leasing, income above the minimum wage, social security).

Teliman has succeeded in creating and introducing a Motorcycle Taxi offer that was previously non-existent in Bamako.

Partnership with I&P 

The consortium of investors include Yamaha, Mercy Corps and I&P through the program I&P Acceleration Technologies. This financing will mainly allow the acquisition of new motorcycles and the investment in IT and marketing.

 The expansion plan should cover 15 countries with a fleet of more than 20,000 motorcycles.

Expected Impacts

⇒ Improving the drivers' living standards: job creation, remuneration above the minimum wage, social insurance, financial education, etc.

⇒ Improving mobility in large cities: time savings, cost savings, better accessibility

⇒ Tax revenues for cities

About &P Accélération Technologies

Launched in 2019 with the support of the French Development Agency through its iniative Digital Africa, I&P Acceleration Technologies is a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support some fifteen digital startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Western Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar. Cick here to read more →

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

CAT LOGISTICS performs customs clearance and freight transport. The company manages goods and shipping from their arrival in one of the sub-regional ports directly to the client. It has subsidiaries in the three coastal countries of the region: Cotonou in Benin, Tema in Ghana and Lome in Togo.

CAT LOGISTICS has experienced very rapid growth in business volume since 2008, supported by major contracts including AREVA and the World Food Program (WFP). It operates in a particularly buoyant market with oil and mining large-scale investments. It is the only Nigerian-founded company of this size that remains independent from international firms.  In 2013-2014, CAT partnered with the UN for the peace keeping mission in Mali. The company loaded equipment, vehicles and over goods from Abidjan port in Ivory Coast to the Niger River and Gao in Mali.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Ali Djimba holds a master's degree specializing in transit and logistics, and has 30 years of experience in the sector.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P committed alongside CAT Logistics:

• By increasing the equity of the company

• Pressing the structure of governance and management

•By implementing a management control and stable and effective financial procedures to better manage the business

• Providing assistance for the development of the financial policy of the company and obtaining bank financing

KEY IMPACTS

• Development of a local player in the logistics and transit in a landlocked country

• Impacts on HR policy of the company