Mauritania

Habitat et Développement en Mauritanie (Habidem) is an eco-construction company specialized in the valorization of local geosourced (clay) and biosourced (Typha) materials. The company's aim is to address the issue of access to housing in sub-Saharan Africa, using materials that make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change and, at the same time, create green jobs as a source of local development.

The entrepreneur

Created in 2013, Habidem is headed by Oumar WELE, who has some twenty years' experience in eco-construction in France and Mauritania. He holds two bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie du Havre in 2008 and in Building Energy Efficiency from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie Cherbourg/Caen, as well as a BTS in Sustainable Development Project Management from the CPSA Combourg in Brittany and a Building Quantity Surveyor Technician diploma from the Institut Supérieur de Technologie Appliquées in Taza/Morocco.

Partnership with I&P

Habidem is funded by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel, funded by the European Union. The goal of this partnership is to :  

• contribute to setting up a production unit and purchasing equipment 
• industrialize the production process for compressed earth bricks and insulation panels

Al Baraka is a small company specialized in the production and sale of pastry and food delicacies in Mauritania.

The entrepreneur

Al Baraka was created in 2015 by Ibrahim Amadou Diop is a young Mauritanian entrepreneur with a degree in mathematics and computer science and an application developer and self-taught.

Partnership with I&P

Al Baraka is funded by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel, funded by the European Union. The goal of this partnership is to :  

• support the development of the company's activities
• contribute to the modernization of the production tool, the reinforcement of the distribution chain, and the business capital, contribute to the acquisition and deployment of mobile carts to improve the marketing of Al baraka products, strengthen the production tool, and support the management of the company

Created in 1980, CDS is a Mauritanian company involved in energy and water access for all and especially in the rural zones where the populations are deprived from this access.

Its activity is three-fold:

• Public service delegation : water and electricity distribution in partnership with state and local authorities
• Installment and maintenance for electro-mechanic works: potable water access, hybrid or solar systems, water treatment plants, network extension…
• Distribution of water and electricity equipment working on renewable energies: solar heater, refrigerator, wind turbines, immersed pumps…)

CDS is one of the companies featured in the project Small is Powerful

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Sidi Khalifou is graduated from Sup’Meca Paris where he volunteered at Engineer without Borders. He was a project manager for the GRET and for ECODEV an NGO he co-founded committed to local development and environmental issues in West Africa.

He joined CDS as a shareholder in 2007, then run by his father. He took the lead of the company in 2010.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

I&P committed alongside with CDS

• To accompany the company’s development through additional public service delegations contracts

• To enable the company to sell and distribute equipment in rural areas

EXIT

In partnership with CDS’ promoter, Sidi Khalifou, I&P sold its shares in 2016 to Engie Rassembleurs d’Energies and the Monaco-based impact firm SADEV. Both these partners will continue to support CDS in its development strategy and impact objectives.

KEY IMPACTS

• 20 jobs created (2015 data) 

• 30 800 households given access to drinking water, which represents close to 1,400 irrigation systems set up by CDS

• Water and electricity access equipment sold in 2015: 423 solar kits, 59 solar water heaters and more than 20 pump stations 

• 17 national suppliers 

• Enhancement of renewable energy-powered practices

• Private sector strengthening and Knock-on effect on the economic environment (agriculture, manufacture…)