Sinergi Niger

Based in Maradi and founded in 1994, UNIFAM specializes in the manufacture of agricultural equipment, equipment and school furniture.

Sinergi Niger made its first investment in 2008 (exit in 2014) and decided in 2016 to reinvest in the company in order to allow it to diversify its activities.

PARTNERSHIP WITH SINERGI NIGER

Sinergi committed alongside with Unifam to:

• Support the extension of Unifam’s activities and develop a building materials activity to answer the needs of the Nigerien housing market

• Structure the firm (accounting, formalisation, bank relationships) and achieve stable profitability

• Support to Business development: market research and procuring process

• Support to tenders for agricultural and school equipment from UNICEF, Plan Niger, Spanish cooperation...

• Implementation of management tools (budget preparation and monitoring, cash flow plan)

KEY IMPACTS OF THE COMPANY

• Provides opportunities for many service providers and subcontractors in the Maradi region, thus contributing to the structuring of a local supply chain

• Equipping about a hundred classrooms with school furniture throughout the country in 2012, in partnership with the NGO Plan Niger

• Contribution to the 2014-2024 National Program for Investment in School Infrastructure

• Innovation in the design of agricultural equipment, ensuring better productivity

• Contributions of the project to sustainable development objectives (project on access to sustainable housing at affordable conditions, project contributing to the improvement of sustainable agriculture).

• 19 employees in 2017

• 96 agricultural machinery and equipment manufactured in 2017

• 3095 round tubes and 719 square tubes distributed in 2017

La Sahélienne des Semences is a company dedicated to the production, packaging and marketing of improved seeds of rainfed and market gardening species. To date, it produces improved seeds of millet, sorghum, cowpea, groundnuts and maize.

Its objectives are to increase its production capacity in quality seeds and to improve the accessibility of seeds to small producers in the Maradi region.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Mr Abdou MAGAGAGI holds a Master's degree in plant breeding from Ghana, and has attended several national and international training courses and seminars in the field. He has more than 34 years of experience in hybrid seed research and plant breeding as an agent of INRAN. He has a perfect knowledge of local varieties and improved seeds developed by INRAN for Producers. He trained them in production techniques with improved seeds and accompanied them throughout his career. He has succeeded in building strong commercial and technical relationships with producers in the region and with project and NGO clients.

PARTNERSHIP WITH SINERGI NIGER

• Implementation of management tools (budget monitoring, cash flow plan, journals, inventory management)

• Operational follow-up at the technical, organisational, commercial and financial levels

• Competitive intelligence (search for customers and technical partners)

• Identification and support for the development of tendering contracts.

MAIN IMPACTS

• Agro-business project contributing to food security, improved nutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture

• Implementation of a support program for producers

• Recovery and treatment of residues

• 134 tonnes of improved seeds distributed in 2018

• Structuring a network of 191 small agricultural producers

SAHEL-LAB is a Nigerien laboratory that prepares mining samples for exploration actors in the country (uranium, gold) and conducts chemical, hydrologic and environmental analyses for other actors including large NGOs.

Sahel-Lab was co-founded by SINERGI in 2009, after the entrepreneur M. Takoubakoye Daouda applied for a business plan competition organized by SINERGI in 2008. SINERGI invested €67,000 in Sahel Lab, taking a minority equity position and providing a long-term shareholder’s loan.

Sahel-Lab has grown its activity exponentially since 2011. Today, Sahel-Lab is the leading mining laboratory in Niger, accredited ISO 17 025 and realizing 100% of the samples preparation needs of the main players in mining exploration (Gazprom, Global Uranium, etc.). Sahel-Lab has created 18 trained jobs so far and plans to grow additional mining services in the years to come.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Mr. Djibo Takoubakoye DAOUDA holds a PhD in Nuclear Instrumentation from the University of Sherbrooke (Quebec-Canada), a DESS in Nuclear Security from Joseph Fourrier University (Grenoble-France) and a Master's degree in Physics from Abdou Moumouni University (Niamey-Niger).

Prior to founding Sahel-Lab, he was responsible for the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Service, in charge of the gamma-ray spectrometric analysis of environmental samples (water, soil, vegetables, etc.) from the mining regions and the analysis annual balance sheets provided by the companies. He is also Consultant in cartography and surface radiometry.

PARTNERSHIP WITH SINERGI NIGER

• Support to get ISO 17025 certification

• Strategic support to become a market leader

IMPACTS

• a leading position on the local market