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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.”

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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%.

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Ismael Coulibaly breaks down how to launch and run a car import business in Ivory Coast and even West Africa.

Part 1

Part 2

Some of the car sellers in Ivory Coast even go to the extent of buying vehicle only when the value of the dollar is at its lowest. It means their money is worth more. Every idea is welcome as long as it ends up lowering the overall costs of doing business.

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 ..

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.

Afrique du Sud Allemagne Angola Arabie Saoudite Autriche

Belgique Canada Chine Coree Norverge Denmark

Espagne USA Finlande France Ghana Grande Bretagne

Inde Iran Israel Italie Japan Nigeria Norvege

Pays-Bas Portugal Russie Ukraine Suede Suisse Tunisie

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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.

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.

Through this partnership AITEK intends to offer its resellers a product offering even more extensive with a large inventory for the sub-region, which stock will also be delivered directly into Ivory Coast by the manufacturer.

Côte d’Ivoire will therefore be  AITEK’s logistics hub for the delivery of these subsidiaries (Togo, Burkina Faso & Senegal) as well as dealers from other countries covered.

Aitek Website