Service

Neurotech is an information and technology provider delivering solutions for Senegalese enterprises. Created in 2003, the company has become one of the major IT integrators in Senegal.

The company has progressively extended its activities to include datacenters management, communications platform, management solutions, business intelligence and high-ended services.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Neurotech was created in 2003 by Adboulaye Mbaye, a computer engineer graduated from Tunisia. He has worked more than ten years for major telecommunication and technology companies, such as Orange branch in Senegal, TIGO, CBAO, or Gambia Telecom.

Abdoulaye actively contributed to the launch of the CTIC, the first ICT incubator in francophone Africa. He is deeply involved in the support and mentoring of young people proposing new projects in the ICT sector.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P 

I&P committed alongside with Neurotech to:

• Develop the activities of the company in the sub-region

• Develop the range of services offered by the company, to include Cloud-based solutions

IMPACTS 

Neurotech is involved in the network ‘’CSR Senegal” (RSE Sénégal) and is active on various social issues including education, environment, and the promotion of human capital.

Thanks to this partnership, Neurotech set up a thorough CSR policy to support sustainable projects while keeping the focus on education issues and the promotion of new talents.

ENVAL LABORATOIRE, based in Ivory Coast, is one of the most important laboratory of physico-chemical and microbiological analyses in West Africa.

Officially founded in 2012, ENVAL LABORATOIRE is specialized in microbiological and physico-chemical tests and analyses. The company has recently expanded its activities and conducts soil, foliar and oil analyses, as well as noise-measuring and air quality analyses.

ENVAL aims to expand its activities to the mining sector in new site located in Yamoussoukro and wishes to reinforce its capacity regarding physico-chemical analyses.

The Entrepreneur

Bakary Coulibaly has over 20 years of experience in chemical analysis and company management. He conducted several studies in Ivory-Coast and the sub-region for local entities and multinational companies such as TOTAL, CIPREL and PISA-IMPEX. Bakary has created Enval Laboratoire with 3 Ivorian associates.

Partnership with I&P

I&P is committed alongside ENVAL to:

• Reinforce the microbiological and physico-chemical activity of the company

• Expand is activities to mining analyses by supporting the launch of a new laboratory dedicated to this activity

• Cover the regional market for mining analyses

• Expand the activities to soil and foliar analyses, as well as pesticide analyses

Expected Impact

• Contribute to support an emerging mining sector in the region

• Reinforce the environmental policy of the company

• Create more than 30 skilled jobs

Founded in Gabon in 2012 by Folly Koussawo with the support of Seydou Béyé, Trianon Homes is a real estate development and construction company with three core businesses: third-party construction, turnkey project design and construction, and real estate development.

From the outset, Trianon Homes took the gamble of positioning itself as the missing link in Gabon's construction industry: a company combining the agility of a small-scale structure with the application of a structured group. Trianon quickly demonstrated the viability of its model, winning over public and private clientele.

After a decade of activity and successful experience in real estate development in Gabon, Trianon is now stepping up its real estate development operations aimed at middle-class families in several African countries: Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Benin. The company's ambition is to respond to the problem of access to property ownership, which is becoming increasingly difficult in African cities, where land prices have risen sharply in recent decades as a result of galloping urbanization.

Today, Trianon has 50 employees, over 200 local subcontractors, 85 completed projects and plans to deliver hundreds of new homes every year for real estate development projects.

The entrepreneur

Folly Koussawo is a Franco-Gabonese entrepreneur in his forties, and has been running the company since its creation in 2012. He graduated from the Ecole Supérieur de Commerce IPAG in Nice, and holds a DESS in real estate from the Sorbonne (Paris). After graduating, he began his career as an auditor with Grant Thornton in France, before joining Kaufman & Broad (K&B), one of France's leading property development groups, for a period of 7 years.

Since June 2023, Folly Koussawo has also been President of the Club Africain des Entrepreneurs, a pan-African organization created in 2016 and bringing together women and men invested in the entrepreneurial adventure and united by a shared commitment to sustainable and responsible development in Africa. 

Words from the new president of the Club Africain des Entrepreneurs

Partnership with I&P

The first partnership between Trianon and I&P dates back to 2014, with initial financing provided through the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 1 (IPAE1) fund, which enabled the company to structure itself and increase its production capacity (prefabrication unit, wood and metal joinery, equipment fleet).  

This new financing, completed in 2023, will help Trianon take another step forward in the development of its activities, notably real estate development in Gabon and Côte d'Ivoire.

Expected impact

• Access to home ownership and sustainable, quality housing for middle-class African families;  
• Creation of formal jobs;  
• Raising local construction standards.

ITG Store is an IT services company offering service and infrastructure integration. The company creates a strong local added value through management information systems, data storage and other services. Relying on a local team of expert engineers, ITG has earned the trust of major clients operating in the region.

Though the African SI market is booming, it still remains overwhelmed by foreign companies. ITG Store has easily overcome this strong competition thanks to same-level quality services at lowest prices. The company creates a strong local added value through SI management, data storage and other services. Its CEOs, computer engineers Gabriel Fopa and Eric Heslot relies on a young team they have trained within the company.

ITG is now the exclusive African computing partner of Bolloré, one of the most powerful financial and industrial French conglomerates.

THE ENTREPRENEURS

Gabriel Fopa and Eric Heslot were both computing engineers at the SSI company SILICOMP. In 2006, they decided to create their own SSII in Douala. The entrepreneurs financed all the equipment and software with their own capital. Then, they trained a team of engineers and technicians recruited locally. Since 2007, the company won a great number of bids and tenders, constituting a thick portfolio of big firms.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P is committed alongside ITG Store to:

• To accompany the strong growth of its activities, particularly with regard to internal infrastructures and working environment

• To bring financings addressed to the creation of a test and training center to fill the structural lack of qualified local human resources in this sector. 

• Construction of green building for the new headquarters and data center

• Ensure basic healthcare cover for employees

KEY IMPACTS

• Number of created jobs: 73, including 11 women and a large majority of high-skilled employees

• Development and promotion of local skills in the computing field

• Recruitment policy toward young degreed and continuous training of employees.

• Company governance structuration

NOVAGO (formerly known as "VRS") is a company with 20 years' experience in the field of full service long-term vehicle rental.

Created in 2004 by two French entrepreneurs, Pierrick Morier and Thomas Crand, NOVAGO has grown to become a key player in the long-term vehicle rental and fleet management sector in West Africa (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana), with a fleet of around 1,000 vehicles in 2023.

The company provides rental services for a wide range of clients, from professionals/SMEs to some of the larget international corporates based in West Africa. NOVAGO's activities include fleet management, vehicle maintenance and servicing, assistance and repairs, driver services and insurance.

NOVAGO plans to expand its activities in Benin and Togo.

The entrepreneurs

The management team consists of Jérôme de Villard, Chief Executive Officer of NOVAGO Africa, and Manuella Sako, Chief Financial Officer of NOVAGO Africa, Romain Pinto, Chief Executive Officer of NOVAGO Ghana, Mohamed Ly (NOVAGO Senegal) and Ramatoulaye Balde (NOVAGO Côte d'Ivoire).

The founders of the company, Pierrick Morier and Thomas Crand, are both members of the Board of Directors.

Partnership with I&P

I&P invested in the company in 2014 through its fund I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs, and reinvested with the fund IPAE 2.

Support by IPAE 1 (2014-2022)

⇒ The fleet managed by NOVAGO has grown from 80 to 800 recent, fuel-efficient vehicles.

⇒ Originally based in Ghana, the company has expanded its activities in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal thanks to the support of IPAE 1.

⇒ I&P supported the implementation of a solid ESG plan for NOVAGO, symbolised by the launch of the first 100% electric vehicle in Côte d'Ivoire in 2023.

Ongoing projects (IPAE 2' investment)

In March 2023, NOVAGO completed a new round of financing with I&P (through IPAE 2) and Adiwale Partners. This new investment aims to :

⇒ Strengthen the company's business in its existing markets

⇒ Support NOVAGO's expansion into other West African countries

Key impacts

⇒ Creation of local standards within a nascent market

⇒ Development of a green cars offer

⇒ Pollution control policy (waste oil recycled) and implementation of a carbon offsetting strategy with the support of I&P and Ecosur Afrique

⇒ Improvement of employees’ social conditions thanks to a healthcare system

Read more

⇒ Company's website