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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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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 ..

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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.

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Drocolor CEO Interview from AfricaincorpMN on Vimeo.

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.

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

See here the list of approved land surveyors in Ivory Coast.

Via Kouassi Law Firm