AFRICALLIA

Geraldine CROSSET

Investment officer, Bio development through investment, Belgium

« Bio is the Belgian investment company for developing countries. Our task assigned by the Belgian Government, in the context of the department of development co-operation, is to invest in developing countries and, mostly, to support companies in the private sector in order to stimulate countries and contribute to poverty alleviation. Our participation in any initiative such as Africallia is therefore both a chance and an opportunity to meet companies which have potentially eligible projects for funding by Bio. It is a showcase generally with projects which nicely fit in our objectives, and it is also a showcase for Bio to get known by companies, in Burkina Faso, in particular, and more generally in the sub region. Everything has been so far going on very smoothly. We made a presentation here, and we attended a thematic workshop on financing. I am satisfied with our participation and I believe that we will leave with good financing opportunities for BIO ».

Raymond Gnan

Honorable Chairperson of the board of directors : SODERTOUR-LACS, Ivory Coast

« We have come to attend this great meeting in order to exchange views with companies of UEMOA member countries. We have made useful contacts with European firms since this morning and we will carry-on appointments in the afternoon. These discussions will allow African companies in UEMOA countries to establish fruitful partnership relations with European companies. I am mostly pleased with the Organization and I am going back home with much satisfaction. We will continue and maintain the relations we started this morning ».

William BORDEN

Global Trade Resources, LLC USA

« I have not come here only to promote my country’s manufactured goods, but also to encourage the development of infrastructures in Burkina Faso. We manufacture machines in the USA for the development of infrastructures which Burkina Faso needs. At the same time, we will import goods from Burkina Faso to sell in the USA. It is therefore mutually advantageous.

This is the first time I come to Africa and I am very happy to be here in Burkina to attend this forum. People are friendly marvelous and warmhearted. I can notice it through all the people I meet. The Africallia forum itself was great. There are tremendous opportunities and I am happy with it. I hope to come back to Burkina Faso many times ».

Nadia AKIYO

Manager of EBENE Boutique, Benin

« EBENE is a Benin company involving two (2) partners. We are participating in the Africallia forum with the help of “Office Franco Québécois pour la Jeunesse” which paid for us. We wanted to attend Africallia in order to meet other company owners, and to further develop our sector. We operate in the fashion and food sectors. We could meet other people working in the same sectors; we also want to diversify our activities. We have already made about twenty appointments since yesterday; we met distributors in both the formal and informal sectors from whom we got good commitments to distribute our products. We met industrialists, especially in the sectors of pasta and tinned food; we met Spanish company owners who want us to help them sell their products in Benin. Similarly, we had a very good contact with TOVIO which operates in sportswear. Overall, we already had three (3) sound agreements and many prospects within 48 hours. We are therefore very happy to have participated in Africallia and we hope that there will be something official thereafter ».

David SAAVEDRA ARCS

Manager of Africa Infomarket.org, Spain

« Africa Infomarket is an information platform providing information in Spanish about African markets. It was set-up by the Government of the Canary Islands and the Chamber of commerce. African markets are not well known in Spain; we therefore created this platform so as to persuade Spanish Company owners to go and invest in Africa. We came with a large delegation of Spanish businessmen representing 7o firms; this reflects not only the impact of the work we have performed since the inception of Africa Infomarket, but also shows that Spain is being increasingly interested in business  opportunities in West Africa. We have just organized a similar event in the USA and firms came from all- over Africa to attend; this means great success for our organization. Firms, for the time being, have prepared their Be to Be meeting schedules and they feel very happy ».

Dr André FOFANA

 CEO BELIA Business Support, Allemagne

« Our company works towards the development of the private sector and intervenes at the level of the whole chain. There are some African companies whose conditions at the start are not often very good in terms of internal management, governance and accounting; we therefore help them restructure. We level them and they come to a situation in which they are eligible for bank financing. Once this primary work has been achieved, we try to seek funds for them from donors or local banks; afterwards, we monitor their activities. We may also intervene to avail equipment to them because we have a very sound relations network in Germany; German equipment is believed to be the best in the world. In some cases, we find other equipment for them.

When we heard about the holding of this forum, we deemed it necessary to participate in it because companies from all UEMOA countries will attend and we would be able to collaborate with 8 countries; in addition, companies from the rest of the world will also attend the forum. We were approached by other different parts of the world, especially by Canadian firms and we could score lots of opportunities. We had to meet 12 companies after the 14 we already met. Two others wanted to meet us. It was a successful operation as far as we are concerned. All of the companies we met were interested in the products we offered and they wished contacts to be maintained. As for us, we are very happy as our objective was more than 100 percent achieved; it was largely attained because we had 16 Be to Be meetings instead of 12 ; we may undoubtedly have more in the afternoon. We also made two contacts with non UEMOA companies with which We had discussions. We could therefore work with almost 20 firms. They are reliable companies and we believe that all of them will contact us again. We will then be able to do business with them ».

Bruno LEUTA

Film-maker, Mosaïque Afro, France

« As for Mosaϊque Afro, things have been going on smoothly since the first day. it is true that initially the entire French delegation which I belong to was a little worried, considering that this the first edition. But things quickly became clear and Burkina Faso demonstrated its ability to organize and handle international big events. Mosaϊque Afro has so far succeeded is all contracts and the 12 Be to Be appointments which were scheduled. They were all very successful and this for Mosaϊque Afro is very original. We presented the new concept of Mosaϊque Afro in the course of the forum. This concept consists in developing and making a prestige album which will contribute to increase the value of the picture of corporate communication ».

Docteur Zéphirin DAKUYO

Phytofla / Laboratories, Burkina Faso (Traditional pharmacopeia Medicine)

« Africallia gives me a very good opportunity to meet partners working in the same field as me. During this event I wish to meet people who will give me opportunities to improve the work I have been doing. We have been here for two (2) days and to be honest, I am very pleased as this event allowed me to meet partners in all sectors, to improve my corporate assets and to establish business connections, particularly in the market and equipment area. I really believe that this is a good opportunity to meet people working in the same field as me ».