Image via Wikipedia

Ivorian entrepreneur Ismael Coulibaly shares his insight on what the future holds for economic agents and investors in Ivory Coast:

“The Government
Since the change of power in Ivory Coast ending the political crisis, new prospects and perspectives are opening up for a country that couple of months ago was heading straight for the abyss. Now more than ever, we are assisting at a real ballet of investors knocking at the doors of the country.

Financial Prospects
To be honest as far as I remember, Commercial Banks in West Africa (French speaking countries at least) has always been very mediocre, crappie just to say the least. The very low level of access to banking services, says a lot about the banking situation in the region.

Private Sector
Projections for Ivory Coast in 2012 seems to indicate that it will be a great year. If you are savvy and spend time doing your homework, there are killer opportunities on the horizon and the cake is BIG enough. Regus, the global leader in office space rental, opened couple months ago.”

Read more

Related articles

• |Diary of An Ivorian Entrepreneur|The Scramble for Ivory Coast Land (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)

Image via Wikipedia

The Seoul based company plans to open 14 stores in the country in 2012 as the plan is to make this West African nation its commercial hub in the region. According to the Bloomberg article The 540 square-meter (5,800 square-foot) Abidjan showroom will cost 850 million CFA francs ($1.7 million) and will open in March 2012,while The other 13 stores, including ones in the port of San Pedro and the capital, Yamoussoukro, will cost 1.3 billion CFA francs and will open next January.|Source:Bloomberg|

Related articles

• The Macro Case For Ivory Coast (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)

It has now become obvious that the Farming Business in Africa is interesting many funds and Agri-Businesses in the Western World. The Economic crisis and more stable and democratic regime, are driving businesses back to Africa. Just visit website such as HowWeMadeItInAfrica, read their recent reports on the business boom in Africa and you will understand why the Black Continent is becoming the solution for the on-going economic and food crisis. From Ethiopia, to Mali, big agri-businesses are making the move and fueling the New Scramble For Africa. It’s now time to think about one of Africa biggest asset, land.

Read more

Related articles

• |Diary Of An Ivorian Entrepreneur |The Car Import & Sale Business In West Africa (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
• |Interview|Olivier de Lavette of Regus Cote d’Ivoire-Part One (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
• The Macro Case For Ivory Coast (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)

News Eco is a soon to be published economic monthly.

Details:

-Free of charge to the final reader

-38 pages

-Competitors include Les Afriques,Cote d’Ivoire Economie et PME Magazine.

Official website

The governement has passed some measures that should allow the private sector to rebound,amid the devastating effect of the military crisis the country has experienced. |Source:Ministere de l’Economie et des Finances |Editor’s note: what it may mean for the Ivorian economy is the following : Reduced fiscal pressure..> lower cost of production….>Deflation…>Increased purchasing power…>Increased consumption…>Increased revenue for the governement.

The West African Development Bank is back financing projects in the Ivory Coast.In All we are talking injecting over 450 billion Francs Cfa over the next 3 years.|Source:August Print Version of Les Afriques|

Related articles

• The Macro Case For Ivory Coast (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
• Embassies in Ivory Coast (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
• Regus returns to profit in first half (telegraph.co.uk)

Image via Wikipedia

A great post by the blog Hotel Ivory makes the case for savvy investors and entrepreneurs to understand and believe that the Ivory Coast is one of the markets to be in when it comes to investing in Africa.

Som key points from the article by Hotel Ivory:

-Young population.

-A growing middle class in the different  urban centers of the country as well in the rural areas where agriculture and mining is taking place.

-Post crisis bounce back syndrome.

- The economy has a good mix of main commodity exports (agricultural products and oil).

- A relatively varied economy

-Good infrastructures ( Seaports of Abidjan and San Pedro,FHB International airport,roads,telecommunication networks .

-A Legal framework that offers protected property rights | See our sister site www.kouassilawfirm.com |.

-An high degree of economic freedom.

The Index of Economic Freedom ranks Cote d’Ivoire higher this year due to increases in trade freedom and fiscal freedom.

Related articles

• National Telecom Fund To Connect Ivory Coast Cities (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
• Embassies in Ivory Coast (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)

Raissa Nebié an alumini of College Jean Mermoz is listed among the new faces of Silicon Valley.

Raissa who has an ecletic professional life,as she went from investment banking to cook  and nowadays silicon valley technologist darling,is  the co-founder of Spoondate.

Image by nova3web via Flickr

The national telecom fund is aiming for the interconnection of all the major cities in Ivory Coast.A  fiber optic network will be built ,starting with the pilotphase ,connecting Abidjan to Bondoukou,that represents about 549 kilometres out of the expected 5000 kilometres of fiber optic to be layed.Total cost is estimated at 67 billions of Fcfa.

Image via Wikipedia

Cauris Management based in Lomé,Togo with offices in Abidjan ,Cote d’Ivoire is along with ECP [Emerging Capital Partners ] and Phoenix Capital are among the top capital provividing entities for the Ivorian economy outside of the Bretton Woods institutions and the AFD,Afreximbank and the BOAD.

ICPS channel on AMN new web TV will be a mix of insightful interviews of the managers,investors owners and consumers of local businesses (large and medium),reports a la Monocle and coverage of annual conferences and business event as well as analysis of the business environment offered to the private sector in Ivory Coast.