Ivory Coast Private Sector [Beta] » Abidjan

Ivory Coast 2012 Perspectives

tape — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:03:44 +0000

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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.”

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

|Interview|Olivier de Lavette of Regus Cote d’Ivoire-Part Two

tape — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:18:42 +0000

ICPS:So far we have not seen any TV radio or newspaper ads is that your usual manner of communicating? Or do you prefer a more direct approach?

Yes, we do. Africa is a growing market for Regus and we strongly believe that it is crucial to explain further in details through this kind of interviews who Regus is, what our business is about and how we can support local and international businesses to grow and rapidly seize growth opportunities in the region and the 91 countries of our network.

With the developed economies of Western Europe and the US producing negative or minimal growth in recent years, businesses need to find growth from new sources – Africa (like in Asia or other regions).

As companies look at these new markets, we’re seeing accelerating demand for our flexible workspaces in Africa, where we’ve doubled our numbers of enquiries in a year.

In response to this, we’ve expanded our network rapidly in recent months – not just into Ivory Coast but also in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and very soon in Madagascar and Zambia, just to name a few.

As the world of work becomes ever more integrated and mobile, and companies more agile, we expect demand for our services in Africa to continue to grow in 2011 and beyond, and we will expand our network accordingly

There’s a quiet mobile revolution already taking place among the elite in Africa and we need to clarify the benefits of more flexible working practices and agility at work to all.

ICPS:Do you expect any competition?

We may have small local competitors, probably more over the coming months and years but none with our global outreach and standards. By far and away our biggest competitor is the traditional way of work and long-lease office space.

We should even reinforce our leadership as we are entering a new stage of our commercially aggressive growth strategy.

As previously commented, Regus is set to make major investments to capitalise on the accelerating global trend toward flexible working. Research data from the last 18 months has shown remarkable strengthening in flexible work policies, not just in mature markets, but also in emerging economies [i].

Over the next three years Regus will invest to increase its global network by at least 75%, equating to over 800 additional business centres. The majority of growth will take place across the USA and emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India. This move will also take the company into an additional 30 new countries – those in the pipeline include Slovenia, Uruguay, Nepal and as previously stated, Madagascar. Even in the current market, Regus is experiencing record levels of enquiries and in its last set of financial reports documented an all-time occupancy high of 86.7%.

[i] Flexible work arrangements, uncommon in Asia in the past, are gaining traction in the region. According to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower the number of firms there with flexible work arrangements has increased 44 percent between 2000 and 2008 (source: CNBC, Once Unheard of in Asia: Flexible Work Practices Gain Traction, 1 November 2010). In Australia, some 90 percent the country’s top 100 companies offer a range of flexible working arrangements (source: ibid). Flexible working practices are also aimed at attracting workforce skills from the most qualified personnel, whatever their circumstances. For instance, the Regus commissioned research shows that 36% of firms are looking to hire more part-time mothers (source: MindMetre Research, Regus Global Survey, Spring 2011). Supporting evidence for this trend comes from all around the world; one major firm in India, for instance, runs a scheme for targets experienced professionals who have been out of the job market for up to eight years to raise children, and eases them back into the workforce (source: Financial Times, Flexible work deals lure mothers in India, 26 May 2011).

|Interview|Olivier de Lavette of Regus Cote d’Ivoire-Part One (ivorycoastprivatesector.com)
Regus returns to profit in first half (telegraph.co.uk)

|Interview|Olivier de Lavette of Regus Cote d’Ivoire-Part One

tape — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:11:07 +0000

ICPS :What were your criteria for entering the Ivorian market?

We had been planning to open a centre in Ivory Coast for a while but the difficult political context in the last year had forced us to delay the actual opening. We believe now is a good time in helping local and international companies seize business opportunities in Abidjan as the country’s economy comeback begins.

A gradual recovery is expected in 2012 (+5.9%) based on the hypothesis of the security situation returning to normal in the second half of 2011, the sanctions being lifted and international co-operation being resumed.

Regus’s own research in West Africa backs this bullish forecast. The Regus Business Confidence Index released earlier this month sees more West African businesses also report increasing revenue (65%) and healthy profit (53%) growth. 59% of West African businesses believe that recovery is advancing strongly in their country with confidence levels were twenty-six points above the global average.

Also, the commitment of development partners to support the Ivorian authorities in their efforts for reconciliation and reconstruction will enable trust to be restored, thus fostering private-sector development.

ICPS: What is your view on the local office space supplying market?

OL:As the utilization of an office today is typically only 45 percent, empty desks no longer make sense in a world where mobility and agility will become accepted by people as the most effective and sustainable way of working.

The IDC predicts that Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA), will see its mobile worker population grow to 153.2 million by 2013 (International Data Corporation). The low penetration of mobile workers in the region (13.5%) signals significant growth potential in this market.

There is already a flexible revolution happening amongst the innovative classes in Sub Saharan Africa, the increasing demand we’ve got for our flexible working solutions is a patent illustration of this. We have opened our first centre in Abidjan, as a response to this considerable demand in the city and will expand accordingly.

ICPS:What are the solutions you offer to this particular market? What are the specific needs you identified?

OL:As a flexible work platform, in Ivory Coast like everywhere else, we provide our clients a new way of working, highly efficient and cost-effective.

In Ivory Coast as more generally in Africa, the biggest challenge for SMEs is to become medium sized and large enterprises, thereby addressing the issue of “the missing middle”. Indeed, a distinction has to be drawn between business owners whose sole objective is to secure subsistence income from their activities (mostly micro/very small enterprises) and entrepreneurs who wish to grow their businesses and extend their financial base (mostly SMEs). Still fewer in number, the latter are playing a key role in any sustainable development strategy.

The “missing middle” is one of the greatest constraints to private sector development in Africa. Addressing their needs to do business more effectively by allowing them to find flexible workspace and, therefore, reduce the costs, is where Regus can best help SMEs to grow in Africa.

PART TWO NEXT WEEK ..

National Telecom Fund To Connect Ivory Coast Cities

tape — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:15:08 +0000

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.

Financiers Of the Ivorian Economy

tape — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 07:22:08 +0000

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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.

Nouvel Hair-A Boutique Hair Salon

tape — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:52:50 +0000

Nouvel Hair from AfricaincorpMN on Vimeo.

In this video the owner of Nouvel Hair gives us a brief description of his business, the services offered and why you should go there when and if you are in Abidjan.

Nouvel Hair is a boutique Hair Salon located on Rue de Jardin in 2 Plateaux,Cocody,Abidjan,Cote d’Ivoire,West Coast of United States of Africa

Georges Khouri @ Archibat 2009

tape — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:48:43 +0000

Drocolor CEO Interview from AfricaincorpMN on Vimeo.

Barcamp Abidjan 09

tape — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:31:02 +0000

It seems that Barcamp Abidjan 09 has been well received by the web and internet community of Ivory Coast as well as the entreprises and the web users in that economic space in that part of the world.

A organization by the name of Akendewa comprised of the entities and individuals behind the first edition are currently working on having the second edition of Barcamp Abidjan taking place during the first quarter of 2010.

Akendewa promotes ,through world tested models of (un)conferences,gatherings and social events,as well as the World Wide Web, the usage by companies,entrepreneurs,students,profesionnal workforce and the general web user , of the web and numerous tools/solutions/Codes that are being made available on a daily basis.

The sphere of influence of Akendewa is primarly the French speaking living space of Africa.

Identification of Receptive Hoteliers, Restaurants and Night Clubs In Abidjan

tape — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:26:14 +0000

[Click on the post title to read article in full]

The identification of receptive hoteliers, restaurants and night clubs in Côte d’Ivoire starts on Monday 20 July.

For 10 days, enumerators will criss-cross the various communes of Abidjan to collect information on the capacity, quality of service, comfort pricing,and accessability of the numerous hotels, restaurants and maquis available in the District of Abidjan.

The outcome ,of what is the first step in executing a clear program put in place by the federation of the hotel industry in Ivory Coast common policy of reservation, marketing, promotion and control.

Professionals in the hospitality industry should wholeheartly to adhere to this massive project that will provide a reliable database on which will comprise the strategy to revive the tourism sector