Compagnie Africaine d'Expertise Agricole - CAFREX

CAFREX is an Ivorian company founded in 2022 by Mr. Bouaké SANGARÉ. It specializes in the production and sale of locally grown rice in Côte d’Ivoire. The company primarily offers polished rice, packaged in bulk bags for wholesale, as well as in retail sizes sold at its retail location.

In addition to its processing operations, CAFREX also provides mechanized services to rice producers, including mechanized agricultural services designed to improve the productivity of rice farms. CAFREX’s customer base consists, on the one hand, of wholesalers involved in the distribution of milled rice in local and urban markets, and, on the other hand, of agricultural cooperatives and individual producers who benefit from mechanized services. Distribution takes place primarily from the production facility as well as through a retail outlet located in Abidjan, in the Cocody Angré district. 

The Entrepreneur

Mr. Bouaké Sangaré is an agricultural engineer specializing in crop production. He graduated from the Private Institute of Tropical Agriculture (INPRAT) in Adzopé, where he earned an Associate’s degree in tropical agronomy (2013) and later a bachelor’s degree in engineering (2019), after earning a Series D high school diploma from Lycée Antoine Gauzé in Daloa. He has over ten years of experience in the agricultural sector, having started as an intern at SODEFOR (2014) and then at the Société Agro Piscicole de la Mé (2015), before managing the agro-pastoral farm of the Comptoir Ivoirien des Produits Tropicaux (CIPAX) between 2015 and 2017. He then served as Production Manager at GANLOGIS (2018–2019), followed by Technical Director at Africa Agreco from 2019 to 2022. Since 2022, he has been the manager of the Compagnie Africaine d’Expertise Agricole (CAFREX). Thanks to this varied and progressive career path, Mr. Sangaré possesses solid expertise in agricultural management, crop production, and technical support for farms. 

Partnership with I&P and Proparco 

CAFREX is supported by I&P Accélération FARM, a €4 million program backed by Proparco and designed to finance some 20 SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa operating across the entire agricultural value chain (product processing, primary agriculture, livestock farming, aquaculture, distribution, sale of equipment and inputs, agritech, etc.). In Côte d’Ivoire, this program is implemented by Comoé Capital. 

This partnership will enable the SME to finance:  

• The purchase of raw materials (paddy); 
• The acquisition of a truck.