Initiated by the photoreporer Joan Bardeletti and Investisseurs & Partenaires, the project "Small is Powerful" aims to propose a new vision of the African continent. Focusing on five Small and Medium Enterprises, the project explores their activities as well as their social and environmental impacts. 

Objectives and Diffusion

Too often Sub-Saharan Africa is pictured in the media under the lens of poverty, corruption, or war. Not much is said about the new initiatives and dynamics at work on the continent. And yet strong and numerous companies are emerging in Africa: they innovate, expand and have a deep impact on their environment. 

The project therefore aims at :

• Challenge the stereotypes and preconceptions about African economy and society
• Support and promote the entrepreneurial dynamism
• Help the public and leaders see the African continent in a new light .

For each SME selected we produce a reportage on site, a film presenting the founder and the company, a photo essay and an impact study. Starting from January 2015, this content will be broadcasted using complementary means: press publications, multimedia content, a book and a touring exhibition. 

Selected SMEs 

Five African SMEs in 5 countries with 5 different business activities were selected. 

CDS, Mauritania (Equipment and Maintenance)

CDS is a Mauritanian company committed to provide energy and water access for all and especially in the rural zones of the North Senegal valley where the populations are deprived from this access.

• Find out more
• Watch the Photo Report

NEST, Sénégal (Health)

NEST is a medical network settled in Senegal, offering a complete monitoring of woman and young child. While local medical offer is shared between private clinics addressed to a wealthy elite and public infrastructures suffering from a cruel lack of technical means and standards, NFA embodies a gap-filling role within this market thanks to three medical platforms with economic as well as social goals.

• Find out more
• Photo report 

IOT, Madagascar (Agriculture)

IOT breeds sea cucumbers in the South of Madagascar. IOT’s growing technique was developed by a team of Malagasy scientists, being the only company in Madagascar to control the process. Sufficiently mature, larvae are ceased to neighboring fishermen who raise them to maturity before re-selling them to IOT to be dried, packed and exported. 

• Find out more
• Photo Report

Agrisatch, Bénin (Agri-business)

Founded in 1988, the CPDA group is a family project operating in the agri-food sector. Agrisatch strictly applies international norms and standards, which makes the company the official supplier to a  wide range of customers (hotels, restaurants…)

• Photo Report  

Wecyclers, Nigeria (Recycling)

Wecyclers give low-income communities in Nigeria a chance to capture value from waste and clean up their neighborhoods through incentive-based recycling. 

Behind the Project

Joan Bardeletti

Joan Bardeletti is a french photographer based in Paris. He is represented byPicturetank agency since 2006. He notably imagined and conducted the “African Middle Classes” project which explore this 220 million people population associating photography, sound, research work and using multimedia diffusion modes: press, exhibition, book, magazine. He received a World Press Photo in 2010, a Getty Grant award in 2011 for an on-going project on Gays in Africa, he received a Bourse du Talent award for Reportage in 2012 for his photo essay Black Snow.

Investisseurs & Partenaires

Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) is an impact investing fund created in 2002. Its goal is to support a new generation of responsible African entrepreneurs and thereby contribute to the emergence of a sustainable and dynamic private sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. I&P is an active partner bringing its skills in management and finance with an entrepreneurial approach. Our model hinges entirely upon the entrepreneur, with whom we wish to establish a long-term relationship. I&P currently supports more than 40 entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa and has developed an extensive knowledge of the continent over the year.

With the Support of:

PROPARCO, the subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) devoted to private sector funding, has been performing a vital function for AFD Group: supporting the emergence of a strong, vibrant and innovative private sector with the aim of supporting growth and sustainability in Southern countries. 

The Agence Française de Développement (French Agency for Development - AFD) is a public development finance institution that has been working to fight poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Provinces for seventy years.

CFAO is a French company engaged in the sale of manufactured goods, especially automobiles and pharmaceutical products. CFAO operates in 34 countries in Africa, seven French overseas territories, as well as Vietnam, Denmark and India.

The project also receives the support of the Monegasque Cooperation. For more than twenty years, the Governement of Monaco has been implementing an international cooperation policy and has made the fight against poverty a priority for intervention.