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Em Lubumbashi, República Democrática do Congo (RDC), Akhenaton Kayembe, fundador de Deliver Express Logistics (DEL), está a desenvolver um negócio com base numa abordagem diferente: reunir serviços essenciais de gestão de instalações num único prestador.

Com base na sua experiência em aquisições e logística mineira, Kayembe identificou uma oportunidade para ajudar as organizações a coordenar os serviços operacionais através de um modelo mais integrado. A DEL oferece agora uma gama de serviços de gestão de instalações e serviços conexos, concebidos para ajudar os clientes a gerir as suas instalações e as suas necessidades quotidianas de forma mais eficiente.

Um desafio operacional transforma-se numa oportunidade de negócio

A ideia da DEL surgiu em 2015, durante uma conversa ao pequeno-almoço na África do Sul. Uma discussão sobre os desafios operacionais levou Kayembe a refletir sobre a forma como as empresas poderiam gerir os serviços de instalações de forma mais eficaz.

A sua experiência em aquisições e logística no setor mineiro proporcionou-lhe uma visão aprofundada das exigências das operações complexas. As organizações precisavam frequentemente de diferentes prestadores de serviços para limpeza, trabalhos elétricos, manutenção e outros serviços. A coordenação destes prestadores de serviços podia tornar a prestação dos serviços mais difícil de gerir.

Kayembe viu uma oportunidade de dar resposta a estas necessidades. A DEL foi criada em Lubumbashi com o objetivo de proporcionar às empresas um único ponto de coordenação para serviços de gestão de instalações e logística.

A proposta comercial era simples: em vez de gerirem vários prestadores de serviços de forma independente, os clientes podiam contratar uma única empresa para coordenar um leque mais alargado de necessidades operacionais.

Como a Deliver Express Logistics integra os seus serviços

A DEL presta serviços de gestão de instalações, tanto de natureza física como administrativa. A sua oferta inclui limpeza, manutenção de sistemas de aquecimento, ventilação e ar condicionado (AVAC), manutenção de sistemas elétricos, serviços de segurança contra incêndios e apoio à comercialização.

O modelo da empresa recorre a um único Acordo de Nível de Serviço (SLA) para reunir os serviços acordados num único quadro. Isto pode proporcionar aos clientes uma base mais clara para coordenar o trabalho, definir responsabilidades e gerir a prestação de serviços.

Para as organizações que operam em ambientes industriais e comerciais exigentes, uma coordenação eficaz é fundamental. Problemas de manutenção, prestação de serviços pouco fiável e responsabilidades pouco claras por parte dos prestadores de serviços podem perturbar as operações de rotina. Um prestador integrado pode ajudar a reduzir a carga administrativa associada à gestão de prestadores de serviços distintos, embora os resultados dependam do âmbito e da qualidade dos serviços prestados.

Para a DEL, a oportunidade vai além de oferecer uma lista de serviços. Reside na coordenação desses serviços em função das necessidades operacionais do cliente e na criação dos sistemas e da capacidade técnica necessários para garantir um desempenho consistente.

A Fundação Tony Elumelu e a próxima fase de crescimento

Antes de participar no Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, segundo consta, a DEL gerava aproximadamente US$5 000 em receitas anuais e empregava cinco pessoas. A sua oferta de serviços era também mais limitada.

Em 2022, Kayembe integrou o Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, tendo recebido US$5,000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedores da Fundação.

O programa ajudou-o a reforçar o seu planeamento empresarial e a desenvolver uma abordagem mais clara em relação ao crescimento. O capital inicial permitiu a aquisição de equipamento essencial, a formalização de contratos de prestação de serviços e o aumento do número de colaboradores.

Estas etapas abordaram os requisitos práticos para uma empresa de serviços que pretende alargar a sua oferta: o equipamento necessário para realizar o trabalho, os acordos que definem as expectativas e uma equipa capaz de dar resposta às necessidades dos clientes.

A receita anual declarada pela DEL aumentou posteriormente de aproximadamente US$5 000 para US$100 000, enquanto o seu quadro de pessoal cresceu de cinco para dez colaboradores.

A responder às necessidades dos clientes do setor mineiro

O trabalho da DEL para a Services Machinery Trucks RDC Sarl (SMT RDC Sarl) constitui um exemplo prático da sua execução de projetos.

Em 2025, a empresa concluiu a construção de um escritório em contentor no local para a SMT RDC Sarl em menos de três semanas. Além disso, ficou responsável pela gestão dos stands da empresa na feira Katanga DRC Mining.

Os projetos demonstram o envolvimento da DEL em trabalhos que exigem coordenação, execução atempada e atenção às necessidades dos clientes. Além disso, oferecem uma visão mais concreta do trabalho da empresa do que uma descrição geral da sua oferta de serviços.

Para uma empresa de gestão de instalações em expansão, trabalhos deste tipo podem ajudar a demonstrar as suas capacidades a potenciais clientes. O crescimento contínuo, no entanto, dependerá da capacidade da empresa de cumprir os compromissos de forma fiável, manter as relações com os clientes e demonstrar que é capaz de satisfazer os requisitos de contratos de maior dimensão ou mais complexos.

Desenvolver um negócio de gestão de instalações a longo prazo

A ambição de Kayembe é transformar a Deliver Express Logistics numa das principais empresas de gestão integrada de instalações da África Central. A empresa pretende reforçar os seus serviços, alargar as suas relações estratégicas e prestar serviços a setores que dependem de um apoio operacional fiável.

Para concretizar essa ambição, a DEL terá de aproveitar o crescimento registado nas receitas e no número de colaboradores, mantendo simultaneamente padrões de serviço consistentes. Acordos de serviço claros, pessoal qualificado, equipamento adequado e provas da satisfação dos clientes continuarão a ser importantes à medida que a empresa procura novas oportunidades.

A trajetória de Kayembe ilustra como a experiência num setor consolidado pode ajudar a identificar uma necessidade empresarial concreta. Através da DEL, ele procura facilitar a coordenação da gestão de instalações por parte dos clientes, reunindo vários serviços num único modelo operacional.

O próximo indicador do progresso da empresa será a sua capacidade de sustentar o crescimento, fidelizar os clientes e demonstrar o valor da prestação integrada de serviços em todas as organizações a que presta serviços.

The post Akhenaton Kayembe Is Building a More Integrated Approach to Facility Management in the DRC appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

A promising business can struggle to grow even when a market opportunity exists. Financing, regulatory requirements, financial management and investment risk can all stand between an entrepreneur’s plans and the next stage of development.

Para Marc Gono, these challenges represent a business opportunity of their own.

Based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Marc is the founder of Aziel Consulting, an advisory firm supporting businesses, entrepreneurs and investors through agribusiness consulting, financial and tax advisory, business development and political risk assessment.

His work centres on a question that extends beyond agriculture: what capabilities do businesses need to navigate complex markets, make informed decisions and pursue sustainable growth?

Through Aziel Consulting and his involvement in YAFRICA INVEST, Marc is building a career at the intersection of business advisory, investment facilitation and regional economic engagement.

From geopolitical risk consulting to entrepreneurship

Marc Gono began his professional career as a geopolitical and political risk consultant. This experience gave him a foundation for understanding how political conditions, regulatory environments and economic uncertainty can influence commercial decisions.

In 2019, he transitioned into entrepreneurship, with an ambition to support businesses operating in Côte d’Ivoire’s agribusiness sector.

The move presented challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his early business plans and created financial difficulties, requiring him to reconsider his approach.

Rather than abandoning the venture, Marc refined his business model around the practical needs of entrepreneurs and investors. His focus shifted towards providing advisory services that could help businesses navigate financial, operational and market-related challenges.

That direction led to the development of Aziel Consulting, a firm designed to help clients assess opportunities, strengthen business operations and make better-informed decisions.

His experience illustrates a significant transition: applying expertise developed in consulting to the task of building an enterprise that provides professional services to other businesses.

Aziel Consulting: Supporting business decisions across African markets

Aziel Consulting is a business advisory firm based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Its services include agribusiness consulting, tax advisory, financial advisory, business development support and political and market risk assessments.

These services address different aspects of business development.

An agribusiness may need financial advice as it prepares to expand. A company entering a new market may need to understand regulatory requirements and political risks. An investor assessing a potential opportunity may need a clearer picture of the commercial environment.

In each case, informed decision-making depends on access to relevant expertise.

Aziel Consulting brings these advisory capabilities together to support businesses and investors navigating such decisions. Its work places financial knowledge, commercial planning and risk assessment within a single business proposition.

The firm’s focus on agribusiness is particularly relevant to Marc’s original entrepreneurial ambition. Agricultural enterprises must manage challenges beyond production, including financing, taxation, operational planning and access to markets. Advisory support can help businesses identify these requirements and plan accordingly.

However, advice alone does not guarantee financing or commercial success. The value of an advisory relationship ultimately depends on the quality of the analysis, the suitability of the recommendations and the client’s ability to implement them.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation and the development of Aziel Consulting

Building a professional services firm requires more than technical expertise. It also requires operational structure, client acquisition, financial management and the ability to translate knowledge into a sustainable business.

Em 2024, Marc Gono participated in the Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, recebendo US$5 000 em capital inicial, alongside business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

The support provided an opportunity to strengthen Aziel Consulting’s operations.

According to the supplied business profile, Marc used the seed capital to formalise the company’s operations, establish a professional office in Cocody Angré, Abidjan, and invest in client outreach tools to support business development.

These investments addressed practical requirements for a growing advisory firm: establishing a professional operating base and improving its capacity to reach prospective clients.

The business profile also reports that Aziel Consulting’s annual revenue increased from approximately US$20,000 to more than US$45,000, while its workforce expanded to 10 employees. The team includes specialists in legal services, finance, business development and investment advisory.

These figures indicate growth in the company’s reported revenue and staffing. However, the period covered by the revenue comparison was not specified in the source material, so the pace of growth cannot be established from the available information alone.

The Foundation’s contribution should be understood within this context. Seed capital supported specific operational investments, while training and mentorship formed part of Marc’s entrepreneurial development. The available information does not establish that the programme alone caused the company’s subsequent growth.

Beyond advisory services: Marc Gono and YAFRICA INVEST

Marc’s interests extend beyond the day-to-day requirements of individual businesses.

Em 2022, he co-founded YAFRICA INVEST, described in the supplied profile as a pan-African lobbying and investment platform operating across 25 Sub-Saharan African countries.

The initiative reflects a broader interest in regional investment engagement and economic collaboration.

While Aziel Consulting focuses on advisory services for businesses and investors, YAFRICA INVEST operates at a wider regional level. Together, the two initiatives reflect Marc’s work across enterprise development and investment-related engagement.

Marc has also undertaken investment banking training through the New York Institute of Finance, adding to the financial knowledge relevant to his professional work.

The distinction between these activities matters. Business advisory, investment facilitation and policy advocacy involve different functions, even when they intersect around the same broad objective of improving commercial opportunities. Their effectiveness depends on the services delivered and the outcomes they produce.

For Marc, developing these capabilities offers a way to engage with African business growth at more than one level: through the needs of individual enterprises and through relationships spanning regional markets.

What investment readiness means for African businesses

Access to capital is an important consideration for entrepreneurs, but it is not the only requirement for business growth.

Companies seeking investment may need reliable financial records, clear business plans, appropriate governance arrangements and a credible understanding of their market and operational risks. Investors, in turn, need sufficient information to evaluate opportunities and make informed decisions.

Advisory services can help businesses identify gaps in these areas and prepare more effectively for expansion or financing discussions.

For agribusinesses, the requirements can be especially varied. Businesses may need to plan around production cycles, changing input costs, logistics, taxation and market access. The relevance of each consideration depends on the business model and the market in which it operates.

Aziel Consulting’s services address several of these areas through financial, tax, agribusiness and risk advisory.

Marc’s experience therefore points to a practical lesson for entrepreneurs: building a business capable of attracting investment involves more than presenting an attractive idea. It requires the financial discipline, operational systems and commercial understanding to support that proposition.

The extent to which advisory services improve investment outcomes must ultimately be assessed through evidence, such as financing secured, operational improvements achieved or successful market expansion. The available profile does not provide those client-level outcomes, but it establishes the business focus around which Marc is building his firm.

The next stage for Marc Gono

Marc’s stated ambition is to develop Aziel Consulting and YAFRICA INVEST into influential organisations in agribusiness advisory, investment facilitation and economic policy advocacy across Africa.

For Aziel Consulting, that ambition involves expanding its capacity to support businesses and investors. For YAFRICA INVEST, it centres on strengthening regional engagement and connections across African markets.

Both ambitions will require more than a wider geographic presence. Sustained growth will depend on the quality of the services provided, the expertise available within the organisations and their ability to demonstrate value to clients and partners.

Marc’s entrepreneurial journey also offers a reminder that expertise can itself become the foundation of a business. His transition from geopolitical risk consulting to building an advisory firm shows how professional knowledge can be developed into a commercial service when it responds to identifiable business needs.

Marc Gono is building Aziel Consulting around that proposition: helping businesses understand their operating environment, make more informed decisions and prepare for the opportunities they want to pursue. The next measure of its progress will be how effectively the firm translates those capabilities into demonstrable results for the businesses and investors it serves.

The post Marc Gono Is Building the Expertise Behind African Investment appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The contrast stayed with him.

Rather than treating waste as simply an environmental problem, Haroun Mahamat Adoum saw an opportunity to build a service that could improve urban sanitation while creating employment and laying the groundwork for recycling.

Essa visão tornou-se The First Waste Management, a growing environmental services company providing household waste collection in N’Djamena and working towards a more sustainable approach to waste management in Chad.

Turning an everyday problem into an enterprise

Waste management may not immediately seem like an area for entrepreneurship, but for Haroun, the need was clear.

As cities grow, so does the volume of waste they produce. Without reliable collection systems, rubbish can accumulate in residential communities, affecting the cleanliness of neighbourhoods and creating wider environmental and public health concerns.

Haroun’s experience abroad gave him a practical reference point for what organised waste management could look like.

He returned with the conviction that Chad needed businesses capable of providing structured services rather than relying solely on informal or inconsistent approaches.

The result was The First Waste Management, built around a straightforward proposition: make waste collection more accessible, organised and reliable for households.

From an idea with no equipment to a working waste collection service

The First Waste Management started with little more than Haroun’s vision.

Antes de ingressar na Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, the business had no revenue, equipment or operational infrastructure. Turning the concept into a functioning service therefore required both financial resources and the business knowledge to establish a sustainable operating model.

Today, the company provides door-to-door household waste collection em N’Djamena’s 4th arrondissement.

Residents can subscribe to the service for 500 CFA per household, giving them access to a more structured way of disposing of household waste.

The business has also created its first jobs, growing to a team of five employees, including one woman.

While household collection is the company’s starting point, Haroun’s ambitions extend further. He is working towards introducing recycling initiatives that can recover useful materials from collected waste, reduce environmental pollution and create additional economic value from resources that would otherwise be discarded.

How the Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Haroun Mahamat Adoum move from vision to action

For Haroun, turning an environmental idea into a functioning business required more than identifying a problem. He needed the capital, entrepreneurial knowledge and support network to build the foundations of the company.

Em 2021, he joined the Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, recebendo US$5 000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

The support helped move The First Waste Management from concept to operation.

Haroun used the seed capital to acquire essential equipment, launch household waste collection and recruit his first employees. The Foundation’s training also strengthened his understanding of business planning, operations and growth management.

The programme’s value extended beyond the funding itself. Through mentorship and connection to a wider community of African entrepreneurs, Haroun gained access to perspectives and knowledge that could support him as he navigated the challenges of building an emerging environmental services business.

Building a business around cleaner communities

The significance of The First Waste Management goes beyond the collection of household rubbish.

For communities, reliable waste collection can make everyday life more organised and contribute to cleaner residential environments. For the business itself, the model creates opportunities to build an emerging environmental services industry in Chad.

Employment is another part of that equation.

As the company grows, opportunities can emerge across collection, logistics, administration, recycling and other areas of waste management. Haroun’s early decision to build a formal enterprise around waste services therefore creates a foundation for economic activity alongside its environmental objectives.

His planned move into recycling could take that model further by treating waste not simply as something to remove, but as a resource that can be recovered, processed and reused.

That shift—from waste disposal to resource recovery—is central to the longer-term opportunity Haroun sees for the business.

A bigger vision for waste management in Chad

Haroun Mahamat Adoum’s ambition is not limited to one neighbourhood in N’Djamena.

He plans to expand The First Waste Management into other major cities across Chad while developing recycling facilities and community education programmes around responsible waste disposal and waste segregation.

The objective is to build a more integrated waste management model—one that combines collection, environmental awareness and resource recovery.

For a country where structured waste management remains an emerging area, that represents an opportunity to build the sector alongside the growth of its cities.

Haroun’s journey also illustrates how entrepreneurship can emerge from personal experience. His exposure to organised sanitation systems abroad did not simply change his perspective on waste; it helped him recognise a service gap that could be addressed through a locally built business.

The road ahead for Haroun Mahamat Adoum

The First Waste Management is still at an early stage, but its direction is clear.

Haroun wants to expand household collection, introduce recycling and build systems that can serve communities at a larger scale. His longer-term ambition is to contribute to sustainable urban sanitation across Chad and position the country as a stronger example of environmental entrepreneurship in Central Africa.

For Haroun Mahamat Adoum, cleaner cities are not an abstract environmental goal. They are the result of practical systems, reliable services and people willing to build them.

Through The First Waste Management, he is turning that belief into a business—one household, one employee and one cleaner community at a time.

The post Haroun Mahamat Adoum Is Transforming Waste Management in Chad for a Cleaner Future appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Os Camarões produzem cacau, mas, para Christian, a produção da matéria-prima era apenas uma parte da oportunidade. A questão mais importante era o que poderia acontecer se uma maior quantidade desse cacau fosse transformada localmente em produtos de alta qualidade com uma identidade africana.

Essa pergunta levou-o a criar Chocolate Real, uma empresa de confeitaria dos Camarões que produz chocolates artesanais que combinam ingredientes de inspiração local, técnicas artesanais e uma imagem de marca contemporânea.

Fundada em Yaoundé, em 2018, A Royal Chocolate está a construir uma marca de chocolate de gama alta, ao mesmo tempo que demonstra como os empreendedores africanos podem obter mais valor dos recursos agrícolas do continente.

Da produção de cacau aos artigos de luxo fabricados em África

Para Christian Donfack Djoumessi, o chocolate representa mais do que um produto de prazer. É uma oportunidade para estabelecer uma ligação entre a agricultura, a indústria transformadora, a criatividade e a identidade africana.

Os Camarões são um dos principais países produtores de cacau, mas grande parte do valor associado ao cacau é gerado depois de a matéria-prima sair do continente. Christian viu uma oportunidade de mudar essa situação, desenvolvendo produtos de chocolate acabados mais perto da origem.

Na Royal Chocolate, o cacau é transformado em produtos artesanais concebidos para consumidores que valorizam a qualidade, os sabores distintos e uma apresentação cuidada.

A empresa também incorpora ingredientes de inspiração africana, tais como moringa, criando produtos que conferem às experiências familiares com o chocolate um carácter distintamente local.

Esta abordagem coloca a valorização no centro do negócio. Em vez de se limitar à produção de cacau, a Royal Chocolate leva o produto mais além — desde a matéria-prima agrícola até ao produto de consumo acabado e de marca.

A Royal Chocolate está a desenvolver uma marca de confeitaria de luxo dos Camarões

Chocolate Real começou por ser uma empresa relativamente pequena.

Antes de aderir ao Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, a empresa gerava aproximadamente US$20 000 em receitas anuais, empregado cinco pessoas e atendia principalmente clientes em Yaoundé. Grande parte da sua produção era manual, o que limitava a rapidez com que a empresa conseguia responder à procura crescente.

Christian reconheceu que, para construir uma marca de chocolate mais forte, seria necessário mais do que um bom produto. A capacidade de produção, a embalagem, a imagem de marca e a distribuição teriam todas de evoluir a par do negócio.

Atualmente, o portfólio da Royal Chocolate inclui tabletas de chocolate artesanal, guloseimas revestidas de chocolate e coleções de chocolate de alta qualidade concebido para presentes empresariais, celebrações e ocasiões especiais.

A sua rede de distribuição também se expandiu para além de Yaoundé. A marca conseguiu colocar os seus produtos nos principais supermercados e alargou o seu alcance a Douala, Nigéria e Guiné Equatorial, ao mesmo tempo que colabora com um distribuidor em Marrocos.

Esta expansão reflete uma ambição mais ampla: criar uma empresa de chocolate dos Camarões capaz de competir nos mercados regionais e internacionais, mantendo, ao mesmo tempo, a sua identidade africana.

Como a Fundação Tony Elumelu ajudou a Royal Chocolate a expandir-se

Para uma empresa de fabrico em fase inicial, a transição da produção artesanal para uma operação mais estruturada requer capital, conhecimentos e as redes de negócios adequadas.

Em 2019, Christian Donfack Djoumessi juntou-se ao Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, recebimento US$5 000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

Este apoio proporcionou à Royal Chocolate a oportunidade de reforçar várias áreas do negócio ao mesmo tempo.

O Christian utilizou o capital inicial para investir em equipamento de produção melhorado, embalagens aperfeiçoadas e um modelo de distribuição mais estruturado. A formação ministrada pelo programa também reforçou a sua abordagem em matéria de gestão financeira, imagem de marca e estratégia empresarial, enquanto o programa de mentoria proporcionou orientação adicional à medida que a empresa avançava rumo a uma maior expansão.

Essa mudança refletiu-se no desempenho da empresa.

A receita anual da Royal Chocolate cresceu de aproximadamente US$20 000 a US$45 000, enquanto o seu quadro de pessoal aumentou de de cinco a dez funcionários. As mulheres constituem agora a maioria da equipa da empresa, criando oportunidades de emprego adicionais na economia local.

Para Christian, este crescimento representa mais do que um aumento das vendas. Demonstra o que pode acontecer quando um produto desenvolvido localmente é apoiado com os recursos e as capacidades empresariais necessárias para passar de uma produção em pequena escala para uma operação comercial mais sólida.

Criar valor para além da barra de chocolate

O significado da Royal Chocolate vai além da pastelaria.

O chocolate situa-se na intersecção entre a agricultura e a indústria transformadora, o que o torna um exemplo de como as economias africanas podem criar maior valor a partir das matérias-primas produzidas no continente.

Ao transformar o cacau em produtos acabados nos Camarões, Christian Donfack Djoumessi está a participar numa cadeia de valor que cria oportunidades nas áreas da produção, embalagem, vendas, distribuição e promoção da marca.

A trajetória da empresa também tem suscitado interesse a nível internacional. A Royal Chocolate foi selecionada pela A UNIDO/ITPO como uma das empresas com maior potencial de expansão em África e representou os Camarões no Fórum Mundial do Empreendedorismo no Dubai.

Estes marcos contribuíram para situar a empresa no âmbito de um debate mais alargado sobre as empresas africanas que vão além da produção de matérias-primas e criam marcas de consumo competitivas a nível mundial.

Para Christian, esta oportunidade resume-se, em última análise, a mudar as perceções — tanto sobre o que as empresas africanas são capazes de produzir como sobre a origem dos produtos de alta qualidade.

Uma marca de chocolate que conta uma história africana

A indústria mundial do chocolate tem, tradicionalmente, dado grande importância ao artesanato e às marcas europeias, apesar de o cacau ser cultivado predominantemente em regiões tropicais, incluindo África.

A Royal Chocolate apresenta uma proposta diferente.

A sua identidade tem as raízes nos Camarões, a sua principal matéria-prima é o cacau e os seus produtos incorporam ingredientes e ideias inspirados no contexto africano. O resultado é uma marca que não se limita a participar no mercado global do chocolate, mas que procura trazer uma perspetiva africana para esse mercado.

Essa distinção é importante.

Para os consumidores, isto cria uma oportunidade de descobrir o chocolate através de sabores e histórias ligadas ao continente. Para os empresários africanos, demonstra as possibilidades comerciais de transformar recursos disponíveis localmente em produtos acabados de maior valor.

O que se segue para Christian Donfack Djoumessi e a Royal Chocolate

A ambição de Christian é consolidar a Royal Chocolate como uma das principais marcas de confeitaria de luxo de África.

A empresa tenciona reforçar a automatização, melhorar a eficiência da produção, alargar o abastecimento sustentável de cacau e desenvolver parcerias estratégicas que possam apoiar o crescimento nos mercados africanos e internacionais.

A oportunidade a longo prazo é significativa. À medida que os consumidores procuram cada vez mais produtos com origens distintas, histórias autênticas e cadeias de abastecimento responsáveis, os alimentos de alta qualidade produzidos em África têm a oportunidade de competir para além do preço.

Christian Donfack Djoumessi está a construir a Royal Chocolate com base nessa possibilidade.

A sua trajetória demonstra que a história do cacau em África não tem de terminar quando os grãos saem da quinta. Pode continuar através da transformação, da criatividade, da criação de marcas e do empreendedorismo — criando produtos que transmitem o valor africano desde a quinta até ao produto acabado e, em última análise, aos consumidores de todo o mundo.

Através da Royal Chocolate, Christian não se limita a produzir chocolate nos Camarões. Está a demonstrar como pode ser a valorização africana quando os recursos locais, a ambição empreendedora e uma marca de excelência se unem.

The post Christian Donfack Djoumessi Is Redefining Luxury Chocolate in Cameroon: A 2019 TEF Success Story appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

A moda pode preservar a história sem ficar limitada ao passado.

Em toda a África, os designers estão a inspirar-se em tecidos, silhuetas e técnicas artesanais tradicionais para criar peças de vestuário destinadas aos consumidores contemporâneos. Para Adama Bologo, esse equilíbrio está no cerne da sua obra.

A partir da sua base em Uagadugu, Burquina Faso, Adama construiu Túnica Bologo, uma marca de moda que cria túnicas à medida, camisas contemporâneas, trajes cerimoniais e peças tradicionais reinventadas.

A marca inspira-se no artesanato e nos tecidos africanos, incluindo bogolan, algodão e linho tecidos à mão, conferindo às influências tradicionais uma expressão distintamente moderna.

Para Adama, a moda é, portanto, mais do que um produto comercial.

É uma forma de dar continuidade à cultura.

Adama Bologo encara a moda como uma linguagem de identidade

A roupa sempre transmitiu algo sobre a pessoa que a veste.

Nas sociedades africanas, as vestuárias e os têxteis tradicionais podem evocar associações com a comunidade, a história, ocasiões específicas e o estatuto social. Os padrões, os tecidos e as silhuetas conseguem transmitir identidade sem que seja proferida uma única palavra.

A abordagem de Adama Bologo parte deste significado cultural, mas volta-se para o presente.

Ele fundou Túnica Bologo com o objetivo de criar peças de vestuário que permitam aos clientes relacionarem-se com o património africano, ao mesmo tempo que se vestem de acordo com o estilo de vida contemporâneo.

As coleções da marca incluem peças de vestuário feitas à medida para homem e mulher, peças cerimoniais, camisas modernas e clássicas, fatos tradicionais reinventados e coleções temáticas.

Entre as suas criações mais marcantes destaca-se Dinastia Guerreira, uma coleção que explora a herança africana através de uma perspetiva da moda contemporânea.

O objetivo não é reproduzir a tradição exatamente como era.

Trata-se de reinterpretá-lo.

A Bologo Tunique está a criar uma marca de moda em torno do artesanato africano

No cerne da estética da Bologo Tunique está a valorização dos materiais e do artesanato africanos.

A marca utiliza tecidos como bogolan, juntamente com algodão e linho tecidos à mão, em peças de vestuário contemporâneas.

Essa escolha confere às peças de vestuário uma ligação às tradições têxteis africanas, permitindo simultaneamente a Adama experimentar cortes, estilos e formas de apresentação modernos.

O resultado é uma proposta de moda assente em duas ideias que, por vezes, são consideradas opostas: património e modernidade.

Para Bologo Tunique, podem coexistir.

A inspiração tradicional pode influenciar o design contemporâneo.

A identidade cultural pode tornar-se parte integrante de uma marca moderna.

E o artesanato pode tornar-se uma competência comercial que gera meios de subsistência.

Esse último ponto é particularmente importante para o percurso empreendedor de Adama.

De US$10 por mês a um negócio de moda em expansão

A dimensão da ambição de Adama Bologo torna-se mais evidente quando comparada com os primórdios da Bologo Tunique.

Antes de ingressar na Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, Adama geria o negócio sozinho, com equipamento básico.

A receita mensal foi de aproximadamente US$10.

Os recursos limitados restringiram a capacidade de produção, a consistência e o número de clientes que a empresa podia atender.

No entanto, essa pequena empresa continha os alicerces de um empreendimento de moda de maior dimensão: uma identidade criativa bem definida, um compromisso com o artesanato africano e a ambição de alcançar públicos para além de Ouagadougou.

O desafio de Adama consistia em transformar essas bases num negócio capaz de produzir de forma consistente e de competir num mercado mais vasto.

Isso exigiu investimento.

Também exigia conhecimentos de gestão empresarial.

A Fundação Tony Elumelu ajudou Adama Bologo a reforçar as suas capacidades

Em 2019, Adama Bologo participou no Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, recebendo US$5 000 em capital inicial, formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

O financiamento permitiu-lhe investir diretamente na capacidade produtiva da Bologo Tunique.

Ele comprou equipamento de costura industrial, mesas de corte e tecidos de alta qualidade, reforçando as infraestruturas necessárias para produzir peças de vestuário com um padrão de qualidade superior e em maior volume.

Adama também recrutou dois aprendizes, criando uma oportunidade para os jovens desenvolverem competências práticas de alfaiataria através de formação prática.

A formação empresarial do programa veio complementar esse investimento.

Adama reforçou o seu planeamento financeiro, a gestão empresarial e a abordagem estratégica para o crescimento da marca.

Os resultados foram mensuráveis.

A receita mensal aumentou de aproximadamente US$10 a US$500, enquanto a equipa cresceu de um funcionário para quatro.

Para uma pequena empresa do setor da moda, essa mudança representa mais do que um aumento das vendas.

Representa uma maior capacidade de criação.

Adama Bologo está a transformar o artesanato numa oportunidade

As empresas de moda são frequentemente avaliadas pelas peças de vestuário que produzem.

Mas por trás de cada peça de roupa existe uma cadeia de competências.

Os designers precisam de costureiros. Os costureiros precisam de conhecimentos técnicos. Os aprendizes precisam de oportunidades para aprender. As empresas precisam de pessoas que compreendam os processos de corte, costura, acabamento, design e produção.

Isso faz com que a moda seja uma parte importante da economia criativa em geral.

Através da Bologo Tunique, Adama Bologo está a criar oportunidades para que os jovens desenvolvam competências práticas, ao mesmo tempo que cria uma empresa comercial em torno do design africano.

Os dois aprendizes contratados à medida que a empresa foi crescendo fazem parte dessa história.

Em vez de encarar o artesanato como algo que existe apenas como património cultural, a Adama está a utilizá-lo como um caminho para o desenvolvimento profissional e o emprego.

O valor do trabalho reside, portanto, não só no que os clientes vestem, mas também nas capacidades que estão a ser desenvolvidas por trás da marca.

Levar a moda africana para além de Uagadugu

Uma marca de moda de sucesso precisa de mais do que apenas boas peças de vestuário.

É preciso ter público.

A Adama tem-se empenhado em aumentar a visibilidade da Bologo Tunique através de fotografia profissional, redes sociais, colaborações com estilistas e interação com membros da diáspora africana.

A marca também tem recorrido a eventos culturais, desfiles de moda e exposições regionais para dar a conhecer o seu trabalho a públicos mais vastos.

O lançamento de Dinastia Guerreira tornou-se um dos momentos mais marcantes da marca, chamando a atenção durante um desfile de moda que contou com a participação de designers do Burquina Faso.

Estes esforços apontam para uma mudança importante na forma como as marcas de moda africanas podem crescer.

A base de clientes não tem de estar limitada pela localização da oficina.

As plataformas digitais podem dar visibilidade às coleções junto de públicos noutros locais, enquanto as exposições e os eventos culturais podem criar ligações físicas entre os designers e novos mercados.

Para a Bologo Tunique, isto abre caminho para a transição de uma empresa de moda local para uma marca regional.

Por que é que o trabalho de Adama Bologo é importante

A indústria da moda africana situa-se numa interessante intersecção entre cultura e comércio.

O continente possui tradições têxteis profundas, uma estética distinta e várias gerações de artesanato. Ao mesmo tempo, uma base de consumidores mais jovem e cada vez mais conectada está a redefinir a forma como a moda africana é concebida, comercializada e consumida.

Empresários como Adama Bologo estão a operar no âmbito dessa transição.

O seu trabalho demonstra que o património cultural não tem de ser preservado mantendo-o inalterado.

Também pode ser preservado através da reinterpretação.

Um tecido tradicional pode integrar-se numa silhueta moderna.

Uma peça de vestuário cerimonial pode influenciar o design contemporâneo.

A habilidade de costura pode tornar-se uma fonte de emprego.

E uma marca de moda local pode aspirar a competir para além do seu mercado interno.

É aí que as dimensões comerciais e culturais da Bologo Tunique se cruzam.

Construir uma marca burquinabê com ambição regional

A próxima ambição de Adama é levar a Bologo Tunique para além do Burquina Faso.

Ele planeia expandir-se para Mali, Costa do Marfim e Benim, alargando a base de clientes da marca na África Ocidental.

A expansão regional trará novos desafios, desde a produção e distribuição até à promoção da marca e à captação de clientes.

Mas a África Ocidental também oferece um ambiente natural para um negócio de moda enraizado em influências culturais partilhadas, mantendo ao mesmo tempo uma identidade burquinabê distinta.

Para a Bologo Tunique, a oportunidade consiste em demonstrar que uma marca pode ter raízes locais e, ao mesmo tempo, ser ambiciosa a nível regional.

As peças de roupa podem transmitir a história da sua origem, ao mesmo tempo que cativam os clientes para além-fronteiras.

O futuro da moda africana não será definido apenas pelo reconhecimento internacional.

Dependerá também da solidez das empresas, das competências e dos ecossistemas criativos que estão a ser construídos em todo o continente.

Adama Bologo está a contribuir para esse ecossistema a partir de Uagadugu.

Através da Bologo Tunique, está a construir um negócio onde os tecidos africanos se cruzam com o design contemporâneo, onde o artesanato gera emprego e onde a identidade cultural se torna parte integrante de uma proposta comercial moderna.

A viagem desde De US$10 a US$500 em receitas mensais mostra o que pode acontecer quando a ambição criativa é aliada ao investimento em equipamento, competências e gestão empresarial.

O seu próximo desafio é a expansão.

Se a Bologo Tunique conseguir levar com sucesso a sua estética e o seu artesanato a novos mercados da África Ocidental, a Adama estará a fazer mais do que apenas expandir uma marca de moda.

Ele irá mostrar como um designer pode pegar em algo profundamente enraizado na herança africana e dar-lhe um lugar no futuro.

Para Adama Bologo, o objetivo não é simplesmente preservar a moda africana. É continuar a fazê-la evoluir.

The post Adama Bologo: Redefining African Fashion Through Heritage appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Every harvest brings a window of opportunity.

For farmers growing mangoes, bananas and pineapples in Benin, that window can also be a race against time. Fresh fruit is highly perishable, and when it cannot be sold, stored or processed quickly enough, its value can disappear.

Para Ivette Biokou, that loss presented a business opportunity.

Instead of allowing surplus fruit to become waste, she began transforming it into products with a longer shelf life and new commercial possibilities.

Através de Ewatomi Market, founded in Parakou, Ivette is processing locally grown fruits into dried snacks and fruit-based products while building a business around sustainability, employment and local agricultural value.

Her approach is simple but consequential: if fresh produce cannot always reach the market in time, the market can find another way to preserve its value.

Ivette Biokou saw opportunity in what others might discard

Benin has a strong agricultural base and produces a variety of tropical fruits.

But producing food is only one part of building a resilient food system.

Farmers also need ways to preserve, process, distribute and sell their harvests. Without those systems, seasonal abundance can become a liability. When supply temporarily exceeds demand or processing capacity, fresh produce can spoil before it generates income.

It was this challenge that caught Ivette Biokou’s attention in Parakou.

She saw that fruit that might otherwise be lost could be transformed into products that remain useful and marketable for longer.

That insight became the foundation of Ewatomi Market.

The business was designed not simply as a food-processing venture, but as a way to create more value from agricultural produce while responding to the environmental and economic costs associated with food waste.

What does Ewatomi Market do?

Ewatomi Market is a Beninese food-processing business that transforms locally grown fruits into value-added products.

Its product range includes dried fruit snacks as well as pineapple and mango fruit liqueurs, giving the company multiple ways to turn locally available produce into products for different consumer markets.

The business supplies products to restaurants, hotels and student communities in Parakou, connecting locally processed food with everyday consumers.

The model has an important advantage.

Instead of relying entirely on the short commercial life of fresh fruit, processing creates products that can remain available for longer and reach customers through different channels.

For farmers and agricultural communities, this creates another potential route to market.

For consumers, it creates access to locally processed fruit products.

And for the business itself, it creates an opportunity to build a brand around an abundant local resource.

From a one-person operation to a growing food business

The scale of Ewatomi Market today is difficult to understand without looking at where it started.

Antes de participar no Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, Ivette operated the business alone with basic equipment.

Monthly revenue stood at approximately US$300.

Limited storage and rudimentary processing methods constrained both production capacity and product consistency, making it difficult to respond to increasing demand.

The challenge was therefore not simply finding more customers.

Ivette needed the capacity to serve them.

That meant investing in better equipment, improving production processes and developing the business systems needed to move from small-scale production towards a more structured enterprise.

The transformation has been significant.

Ewatomi Market’s monthly revenue increased from US$300 to US$4,821, while the business expanded from a one-person operation to a team of five employees.

The growth represents more than a fifteen-fold increase in monthly revenue.

It also illustrates how improving production capacity can change the possibilities available to a small agricultural business.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Ivette Biokou build capacity

Em 2024, Ivette Biokou joined the Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, recebendo US$5 000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

For Ewatomi Market, the capital addressed one of its most immediate constraints: equipment.

Ivette invested in industrial-grade drying and storage equipment, strengthening the company’s production capacity and helping improve consistency across its products.

The business training provided another layer of support.

Ivette developed her knowledge of financial management, business planning and operational growth, while mentorship provided guidance around food safety and market positioning.

The combination was important.

Equipment could increase what the business was capable of producing. Business knowledge could help determine how that increased capacity should be managed.

Together, they helped create the conditions for Ewatomi Market’s next stage of growth.

Why processing matters as much as production

Agricultural development is often measured by how much a farmer can produce.

But there is another question worth asking:

How much of that production becomes economic value?

A kilogram of fresh mango that spoils before reaching a customer creates little or no income.

The same fruit, when processed into a product with a longer shelf life, can potentially reach a different market, at a different time and in a different form.

This is the economic logic behind Ewatomi Market.

By processing fruits locally, Ivette Biokou is adding another layer of value between farm and consumer.

That creates opportunities for activity beyond agriculture itself, including processing, packaging, sales, distribution and employment.

It also demonstrates why agro-processing can be an important part of strengthening local food systems.

The goal is not simply to produce more.

It is to lose less and create more value from what is already produced.

Ivette Biokou is building a business with women at its centre

For Ivette, the impact of entrepreneurship does not stop with her own company.

The expansion of Ewatomi Market has created employment opportunities for women and young people, but she also wants to extend the business’s knowledge beyond its immediate workforce.

Her plans include developing training programmes that teach young women practical food-processing skills alongside the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

That combination matters.

Technical skills can create the ability to produce a product. Business skills can provide the knowledge required to price, market and manage it.

Together, they can create a stronger foundation for people seeking to build their own livelihoods.

For Ivette Biokou, sharing those skills is part of the wider opportunity embedded in Ewatomi Market: turning local resources into businesses while helping more people develop the capacity to create businesses of their own.

From food waste to economic value

There is a tendency to discuss food waste primarily as an environmental problem.

It is one, but it is also an economic problem.

When food is lost, farmers lose potential income, businesses lose potential revenue and the resources used to produce that food generate less value.

Food processing offers one way of changing that equation.

By converting perishable agricultural products into products with different shelf-life and market characteristics, entrepreneurs can create additional opportunities within the food value chain.

That is the space Ewatomi Market occupies.

The company is still growing, but its trajectory illustrates what can happen when an entrepreneur treats a seemingly familiar agricultural challenge as a product and business opportunity.

Perspetivas para o futuro

Ivette Biokou wants Ewatomi Market to become one of Benin’s leading sustainable food brands.

The immediate ambition is to expand distribution across Benin before exploring opportunities in neighbouring West African markets.

The company also plans to invest in eco-friendly packaging, digital marketing and distribution partnerships, with the aim of reaching more consumers and strengthening the brand’s market presence.

That expansion will require more than production.

It will require reliable supply chains, consistent quality, strong branding, efficient distribution and the ability to compete across increasingly sophisticated consumer markets.

But Ewatomi Market has already demonstrated the value of building capacity around a clear problem.

Ivette Biokou is not simply preserving fruit. She is preserving the economic value inside it.

By turning Benin’s seasonal abundance into products that can travel further, last longer and reach new customers, she is building a business that connects sustainability with commercial opportunity.

And her journey points to a wider possibility for African agriculture: the next opportunity may not always be found in growing more—it may be found in making more of what is already grown.

The post Ivette Biokou Is Turning Benin’s Fruit Surplus Into Opportunity appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Every harvest creates a question.

What happens next?

For tomatoes, that question is particularly important. Fresh produce has a limited shelf life, and when markets, storage or processing systems cannot absorb a harvest quickly enough, part of its economic value can disappear through spoilage.

Para Louis Wilfried Yehouessi, the opportunity was therefore not simply to grow more food.

It was to preserve and transform more of what was already being grown.

Drawing on his background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation, Louis established CEVADEL-BENIN, an agro-processing company transforming locally grown tomatoes into tomato purée under the SWEETOUNVI brand.

From its base in Porto-Novo, the company is demonstrating a fundamental principle of agricultural development: sometimes the greatest opportunity is not in producing another crop, but in creating more value from the harvest already available.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi saw value beyond the harvest

Agriculture plays an important role in Benin’s economy, supporting livelihoods and supplying food to communities across the country.

But agricultural production is only the beginning of the value chain.

Between a farmer harvesting a tomato and a consumer buying a finished food product are several opportunities to create additional economic value: aggregation, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution and retail.

When those capabilities are limited, fresh produce can become vulnerable to post-harvest losses.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi saw an opportunity within that gap.

His background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation had given him an appreciation for the value of agricultural resources. Entrepreneurship offered him another way to protect that value—not simply by conserving biodiversity, but by turning locally available raw materials into marketable products.

That thinking became the foundation of CEVADEL-BENIN.

What does CEVADEL-BENIN do?

CEVADEL-BENIN is a food processing company that transforms locally sourced agricultural produce into value-added food products.

Its flagship product, SWEETOUNVI, is a tomato purée produced from locally cultivated tomatoes for consumers in Benin.

The business addresses a simple imbalance.

A fresh tomato has a relatively short commercial life. Processing it into another food product can extend the ways in which that agricultural output reaches consumers while creating additional economic activity around manufacturing, packaging and distribution.

CEVADEL has since expanded its portfolio with SWEETEPICES, a range of spice blends that further diversifies the company’s presence in the processed food market.

Its products are available through retail outlets including Nol Market, La Divine and Le Chariot de Damiaky, giving more consumers access to food products processed within Benin.

For Louis, this is about more than putting another brand on a supermarket shelf.

It is about capturing more of the agricultural value chain locally.

The economics of turning tomatoes into products

A tomato sold immediately after harvest generates value for the farmer.

But when that tomato becomes an input for a locally manufactured product, the economic chain becomes longer.

Someone processes it.

Someone manages quality.

Someone packages it.

Someone distributes it.

Someone sells it.

Each stage represents another point at which skills, employment and commercial activity can be created.

This is what makes agro-processing strategically important for economies seeking to generate more value from agriculture.

Para Louis Wilfried Yehouessi, CEVADEL-BENIN sits within this opportunity.

By sourcing agricultural produce and transforming it locally, the company can contribute to a system in which more of the value associated with food production remains within the domestic economy.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Louis Wilfried Yehouessi scale production

Antes de participar no Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, CEVADEL-BENIN operated on a relatively modest scale.

The business generated approximately US$1,412.92 in monthly revenue and employed two people. Limited processing equipment constrained its production capacity and created barriers to expansion.

Em 2019, Louis Wilfried Yehouessi participated in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving US$5 000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

Louis directed the capital towards one of the company’s most important constraints: production.

CEVADEL invested in modern food-processing equipment to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and improve production consistency.

The company also began product certification processes—an important step for a food business seeking to strengthen consumer confidence and reach wider markets.

The subsequent growth was measurable.

A receita mensal aumentou de aproximadamente US$1,412.92 to US$4,415.36.

At the same time, CEVADEL’s workforce expanded from two employees to nine.

For Louis, the progression illustrates what targeted entrepreneurial capital can unlock when it is applied to a clear operational constraint.

The funding did not create the agricultural opportunity.

It helped the entrepreneur build more capacity to capture it.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi is building beyond a single product

SWEETOUNVI may have provided CEVADEL with an entry point into food processing, but the introduction of SWEETEPICES points towards a broader ambition.

Diversification can be important for an agro-processing company.

A broader product portfolio can allow a business to serve different consumer needs, create additional revenue streams and develop a stronger brand presence.

It can also enable a company to apply existing capabilities in production, packaging and distribution across multiple products.

For CEVADEL, this means the infrastructure being developed around tomato processing can contribute to something larger: a growing locally rooted food-processing company.

That evolution matters because successful African food brands will increasingly need to compete not only on origin, but also on quality, consistency, convenience, packaging and consumer trust.

Being locally made creates an opportunity.

Building a trusted brand turns that opportunity into a business.

Why Louis Wilfried Yehouessi’s work matters for farmers

The success of an agro-processing company can have implications beyond the factory.

Processors need raw materials.

That creates potential demand for agricultural production.

By sourcing tomatoes from local producers, CEVADEL-BENIN participates in a value chain connecting farmers with processing and consumer markets.

Greater processing capacity can create additional channels through which agricultural produce reaches the market, particularly where fresh produce is vulnerable to deterioration.

For farmers, stronger domestic value chains can potentially mean more opportunities to sell what they grow.

For processors, stronger relationships with producers can improve access to raw materials.

For consumers, local processing can increase the range of domestically produced food products available in the market.

This interdependence is why Louis’s work matters beyond CEVADEL itself.

The company is part of a much larger question about how African economies can extract greater value from their agricultural resources.

From biodiversity to enterprise

There is also something distinctive about Louis Wilfried Yehouessi’s professional journey.

His background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation might initially appear separate from entrepreneurship.

In reality, the two are closely connected.

Biodiversity has ecological value, but agricultural resources can also generate economic value when they are sustainably developed into products that people need.

Louis’s journey represents a shift from understanding biological resources to building commercial systems around them.

That combination of scientific knowledge and entrepreneurship can be particularly valuable in agriculture, where questions of crop characteristics, food quality, processing and sustainability frequently intersect.

Through CEVADEL-BENIN, Louis is translating that knowledge into enterprise.

Building stronger local food systems

Across African markets, conversations about food security often begin with production.

How much food can farmers grow?

It is an essential question, but it is not the only one.

Equally important is what happens between harvest and consumption.

Can produce be stored?

Can it be processed?

Can businesses manufacture competitive food products locally?

Can those products reach consumers efficiently?

And can the value created along that journey support farmers, workers and businesses within the same economy?

Empresários como Louis Wilfried Yehouessi operate within this often-overlooked middle of the food system.

By transforming agricultural raw materials into finished consumer products, agro-processors can help bridge the distance between farms and markets.

Perspetivas para o futuro

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi wants CEVADEL-BENIN to grow beyond its current footprint.

His ambition is to build the company into a leading African agro-processing business focused on transforming locally sourced raw materials.

That next phase includes advancing product certification, increasing production capacity, strengthening logistics and pursuing opportunities for wider distribution.

The long-term opportunity extends beyond Benin.

If SWEETOUNVI e SWEETEPICES can establish stronger domestic market positions, regional expansion could open access to consumers across West Africa.

But the larger idea behind CEVADEL remains remarkably simple.

Africa does not only need to grow more.

It also needs to create more economic value from what it already grows.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi is building his business in that space between harvest and consumption—where a locally grown tomato can become a product, a job, a brand and, ultimately, a larger economic opportunity.

The post Louis Wilfried Yehouessi Is Turning Benin’s Tomato Harvests Into Economic Value appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

When a pipe bursts, an electrical fault disrupts a business or a home urgently needs repairs, finding the right technician can be as challenging as fixing the problem itself.

Across Cameroon, households and businesses have long relied on informal artisans for repair, maintenance and construction services. Many of these technicians possess valuable skills, yet customers can still face inconsistent pricing, limited accountability and uncertainty about the quality of work they will receive.

Para Bamai Namata, the problem was not a lack of skilled workers. It was the lack of a trusted system connecting them to customers.

That insight led to Maibeta, a digital marketplace designed to connect customers with verified service providers while bringing greater transparency, efficiency and structure to everyday technical services.

In doing so, Bamai is tackling a deceptively simple question with significant economic implications: how do you make trust easier to access?

Bamai Namata saw the gap behind the informal economy

Across African cities, informal workers provide many of the services that keep homes, businesses and communities running.

Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, builders and maintenance technicians are essential to everyday life. Yet the systems connecting these professionals to customers have often remained informal themselves.

For customers, finding a qualified professional may depend on a recommendation from a neighbour, colleague or friend. For artisans, securing new work can depend heavily on personal networks and word-of-mouth referrals.

That creates a structural gap.

A skilled technician may have the ability to complete a job but lack the digital tools to reach more customers, manage bookings or build a professional track record. Meanwhile, a customer may need a service but have little information with which to assess who to hire.

Bamai Namata recognised that technology could address both sides of the problem.

Maibeta was built around the idea that a more organised marketplace could make skilled services easier to discover, book and manage.

What is Maibeta?

Maibeta is a digital on-demand marketplace connecting customers with verified technicians and service providers in Cameroon.

The platform covers services including:

• Electrical repairs
• Plumbing
• Carpentry
• Construção
• Home maintenance
• Corporate facility management

Rather than leaving the entire transaction to informal networks, Maibeta introduces digital tools into the process.

Customers can book services through the platform, while service providers can access a more structured way to receive and manage jobs.

The platform incorporates features such as technician verification, digital service booking, automated job matching, workflow management and secure payment channels.

Each feature addresses a different part of the trust problem.

Verification can give customers more information about who they are hiring. Digital booking creates a clearer record of the service request. Job matching can help connect demand with available professionals. Workflow tools can make service delivery more organised, while digital payments can reduce friction in the transaction.

The technology is important, but the underlying proposition is straightforward: make it easier for people to trust the service they are paying for.

Bamai Namata is bringing structure to skilled work

The formalisation of informal work is often discussed as a policy challenge.

But it can also be approached as a product and technology challenge.

For millions of skilled workers, the issue is not necessarily the absence of expertise. It is the absence of infrastructure that allows that expertise to become a more predictable business.

A technician who previously depended on referrals can potentially reach customers through a digital marketplace.

A customer who previously relied on a friend’s recommendation can access a structured service platform.

This creates value on both sides.

For artisans, digital platforms can create additional routes to customers and help them organise their work. For customers, they can make professional services more accessible and easier to navigate.

That is the opportunity Bamai Namata is pursuing through Maibeta.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Bamai Namata take the idea further

Turning a marketplace concept into a functioning business requires more than technology.

It requires an understanding of customers, pricing, operations, growth and the realities of building a sustainable company.

Através de Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, Bamai Namata received US$5 000 em capital inicial, a par de formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

The support provided resources to strengthen Maibeta’s development while giving Bamai access to a wider community of African entrepreneurs navigating similar challenges.

For an entrepreneur building at the intersection of technology and the informal economy, that combination matters.

Capital can help build the product. Training can strengthen the business model. Mentorship can challenge assumptions. And networks can create opportunities that are difficult to build alone.

Why Bamai Namata’s model matters beyond Cameroon

The challenge Maibeta is addressing is not unique to Cameroon.

Across Africa, informal businesses and independent service providers account for a significant share of economic activity. Yet many operate outside the digital systems that increasingly shape how customers discover, purchase and evaluate services.

This creates an opportunity for technology companies to build infrastructure around existing economic activity rather than attempting to replace it.

Maibeta does not need skilled artisans to become something entirely different.

It can give them another way to operate.

That distinction is important.

Digital transformation is often framed around sophisticated technologies. But some of its most meaningful applications can be remarkably practical: helping someone find a plumber, schedule an electrician or arrange maintenance for a business.

Para Bamai Namata, technology becomes valuable when it solves those everyday problems.

Trust may be Maibeta’s most important product

Marketplaces succeed when both sides believe the transaction will work.

Customers need confidence that a service provider is capable and accountable. Service providers need confidence that customers are genuine and that the platform can help them access worthwhile opportunities.

This makes trust more than a feature.

It becomes infrastructure.

By combining verification, booking, matching, workflow management and payment tools, Maibeta is attempting to build that infrastructure into the service experience.

The wider implication is significant.

As African cities grow and digital adoption increases, consumers are likely to expect greater convenience from more parts of their lives. The next generation of digital marketplaces will not only sell products. They will help people access the skilled human services that keep urban economies functioning.

That creates room for businesses like Maibeta to play a larger role in the evolution of Africa’s service economy.

Building the future of everyday services

Bamai Namata’s ambition goes beyond putting technicians online.

It is about changing how customers and skilled workers interact with one another.

The traditional model relies heavily on proximity and personal connections. The digital model can make those connections more searchable, structured and scalable.

If Maibeta can continue strengthening its network of verified professionals and improving the customer experience, it could help demonstrate what happens when technology is designed around an existing economic reality rather than imposed on it.

The opportunity is especially relevant as African consumers become increasingly comfortable booking services digitally.

The same person who orders food from a smartphone or transfers money through a mobile application may eventually expect the same convenience when looking for an electrician, plumber or maintenance professional.

Perspetivas para o futuro

Para Bamai Namata, the future of service delivery is one where finding a reliable technician does not depend on who you happen to know.

Maibeta is building towards a marketplace where customers can discover and book skilled professionals through a more structured digital experience, while artisans gain new ways to access work and develop their businesses.

The larger opportunity is to help transform the informal service economy from a collection of disconnected transactions into a more connected marketplace.

Cameroon’s digital economy will not be built only through fintech, e-commerce or software.

It will also be built through the technologies that make everyday economic activity more visible, accessible and efficient.

Bamai Namata is betting that trust can be the starting point.

And through Maibeta, he is building the digital infrastructure to make that trust easier to find.

The post Bamai Namata Is Building Trust Into Cameroon’s Informal Service Economy appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

For a patient waiting for a prosthetic limb or a specialised medical device, time matters. So does fit.

A device that does not adequately reflect a patient’s anatomy can affect comfort, usability and quality of life. Yet across many African healthcare systems, patients and clinicians have historically had to work with medical technologies developed and manufactured far from the communities they serve.

For Nneile Nkholise, that gap represented an opportunity for engineering to become more responsive to patients.

As the Founder of iMed Tech, Nkholise is developing locally manufactured prosthetics, bio-implants and other medical technologies using biomedical engineering, digital design and advanced manufacturing.

Her work sits at the intersection of healthcare and technology—but its starting point is human: how can medical devices be designed to better respond to the people who use them?

Nneile Nkholise is bringing engineering closer to healthcare

Medical innovation is often associated with large research institutions and global manufacturers.

But healthcare challenges are also shaped by local realities.

Availability, cost, production timelines and the ability to customise a device can all influence a patient’s experience. When specialised products have to be sourced internationally, healthcare providers may also face additional logistical and procurement challenges.

With her engineering background, Nneile Nkholise saw an opportunity to approach these challenges differently.

Instead of relying exclusively on technologies developed elsewhere, she founded Tecnologia iMed to develop medical products closer to the healthcare professionals and patients who need them.

The company’s work combines biomedical engineering with digital manufacturing, creating a process in which clinical requirements can be translated into digitally designed and locally produced medical solutions.

What does iMed Tech do?

iMed Tech is a medical technology company focused on biomedical engineering, digital design and the development of customised medical devices.

Its work includes the design and production of:

• Customised prosthetic devices
• Bio-implants and medical devices
• Three-dimensional anatomical models
• Surgical planning and visualisation tools
• Biomedical engineering solutions
• Rapid prototypes for healthcare applications

A key part of the company’s approach is the use of 3D design and digital modelling.

These technologies allow engineers to create and refine digital representations before producing a physical device. For medical applications, that can be particularly useful where anatomy, dimensions and individual patient requirements need to be considered.

The process also creates opportunities for faster iteration: a design can be modified digitally before another physical prototype is manufactured.

For iMed Tech, advanced manufacturing is therefore not simply about producing objects differently. It is about creating a more flexible approach to medical device development.

From digital model to medical solution

The journey from a clinical problem to a finished medical device involves several disciplines.

Doctors and surgeons understand the clinical requirement. Engineers translate that requirement into a technical design. Digital manufacturing technologies then make it possible to produce increasingly customised physical solutions.

Nneile Nkholise operates within that intersection.

Through iMed Tech, she is helping connect clinical knowledge, engineering and manufacturing within a single innovation ecosystem.

Three-dimensional anatomical models, for example, can help clinicians visualise complex structures before procedures. Custom prosthetics can be developed around individual measurements rather than relying entirely on standardised dimensions.

This convergence of medicine and engineering is creating new possibilities for African healthcare systems—particularly as digital manufacturing becomes more accessible.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation strengthened Nneile Nkholise’s entrepreneurial journey

Technical expertise is only one part of building a medical technology company.

Turning engineering capabilities into a sustainable enterprise requires commercial strategy, capital, mentorship and access to networks.

Através de Programa de Empreendedorismo da Fundação Tony Elumelu, Nneile Nkholise received US$5 000 em capital inicial, formação empresarial, orientação e acesso à rede pan-africana de empreendedorismo da Fundação.

The support gave iMed Tech additional resources to strengthen its innovation and business development efforts.

For Nkholise, the experience brought together two sides of her professional journey: her expertise as an engineer and her ambition as an entrepreneur.

That combination is particularly important in medical technology, where successful innovation must ultimately work within real healthcare environments while also developing a viable commercial model.

Nneile Nkholise is also changing who gets to build medical technology

The significance of iMed Tech extends beyond the products it develops.

Biomedical engineering, advanced manufacturing and technology remain fields where women are often underrepresented.

Through iMed Tech, Nkholise is creating opportunities for young professionals to participate in areas including biomedical engineering, digital prototyping, additive manufacturing, research and development and clinical collaboration.

That matters because Africa’s healthcare technology ecosystem will require more than imported equipment.

It will require engineers, designers, scientists, technicians and entrepreneurs capable of developing technologies that respond to local needs.

Nneile’s journey provides an example of what that ecosystem can look like.

Why Nneile Nkholise’s work matters

Assistência médica inovação is ultimately about access to effective solutions.

Hospitals need appropriate equipment. Clinicians need tools that support their work. Patients need medical devices that are available, functional and suited to their circumstances.

Local medical technology companies can contribute to that ecosystem by developing products closer to the markets they serve.

Para Nneile Nkholise, this is the opportunity behind iMed Tech.

The company’s work demonstrates how African engineers can participate in the development of sophisticated medical technologies rather than remaining solely consumers of products manufactured elsewhere.

It also illustrates the potential of digital manufacturing to change how medical devices are designed and produced.

When a patient’s needs can inform a digital design, and that design can then be translated into a physical product locally, the distance between clinical need and engineering response becomes smaller.

Building Africa’s biomedical manufacturing capacity

There is a broader industrial question behind Nkholise’s work.

Africa’s healthcare systems depend on complex global supply chains for medicines, equipment and medical devices. Building stronger local capabilities does not mean eliminating international trade or expertise.

It means developing more capacity within African economies to design, manufacture, maintain and improve the technologies their healthcare systems use.

That is the space iMed Tech occupies.

By combining engineering expertise with entrepreneurship, Nneile Nkholise is contributing to a growing ecosystem of African companies exploring what is possible in medical manufacturing.

The opportunity is significant: local expertise can generate new products, new technical skills and new businesses while creating pathways for African innovators to participate in global health technology markets.

Medical technology is becoming increasingly personalised.

Advances in digital modelling, 3D printing, biomedical engineering and data-driven design are creating new possibilities for devices tailored to individual patients.

Nneile Nkholise believes Africa should be part of that future not simply as a consumer, but as a creator.

Through iMed Tech, she is building a business around that belief—developing medical technologies that connect engineering expertise with real healthcare needs.

The journey will require continued investment in research, manufacturing capabilities, clinical partnerships and regulatory systems.

But the direction is significant.

The future of African healthcare will depend not only on who can provide treatment, but also on who can build the technologies that make better treatment possible.

For Nneile Nkholise, that future is one where innovation begins closer to the patient.

And where Africa’s medical technology is increasingly designed, engineered and built on the continent.

The post Nneile Nkholise Is Building Medical Technology Around African Patients. appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.