The rise of EDF Côte d’Ivoire in the wake of EDF Pulse Africa Tour

Publish on 01/10/2019

During EDF Pulse Africa Tour’s 5th step, the atmosphere was about diversity and meeting. The EDF Pulse Africa roadshow is obviously moving with the envy of putting the African entrepreneurship on the foreground. But it also drives through Africa in order to create exchange opportunities between actors belonging with different but complementary ecosystems. To do so, EDF Côte d’Ivoire took advantage of Lifi LED’s coronation and gathered Ivorian energetic and economic landscapes’ stakeholders.

On Monday 30th of October, a wide panel of profiles gathered in Abidjan, under the high patronage of Abdourahmane CISSE, Ivoirian Minister of Oil, Energy and Renewable Energies: energetic companies rooted in the Ivoirian panorama (CI-ENERGIES); innovative and dynamic start-ups challenging main local issues (Akadi, ZECI); incubators – or rather talent scouts – willing to become powerful springboard in revitalizing Ivorian entrepreneurship (Seedstars); and so on… EDF Pulse Africa Tour witnessed an inspiring meeting between people from different sectors, sectors which are sometimes brought into confrontation but are always evolving with the same ambition: having a positive impact on the society. The jury members aspire to make either economic, technologic or even energetic changes, but they all agreed on the fact that entrepreneurship does have a huge role to play in the local system evolution. Thus, the selection of the jury was made for Lifi LED, which will be the Ivorian standard for the Great Finale in Paris.

The start-up Lifi LED has risen above the other thanks to its three-in-one solution that uses an innovative technology and an easy process. On the simple basis of a LED lamp and a digital app, users can have access to lightning, as well as to an Internet connection and to an educational platform. What a revolution in the Ivorian – and more globally African – landscape, which is often scarce in reliable and daily access to Internet. Lifi LED wishes to answer directly to rural areas’ needs in mixing a numeric solution with an energetic one. A promising solution for the future of the continent.

“Tout se transforme” (that can be translated as “Everything can be transformed”) has been appointed as “Coup de Coeur” to complete the Ivorian podium. As EDF Côte d’Ivoire, EDF’s local concession, has initiated the event, it has decided to congratulate an Ivoirian project that is deeply and sustainably rooted in its environment. How to best describe the start-up’s singular project? A mix between electricity, environmental consciousness and artistic dimension. Actually, its ambition is to collect recyclable objects to create unique and handmade lamps.

To complete this dynamic painting of the Ivorian entrepreneurship scene, EDF Pulse Africa Tour managed to gather technic speakers and energy experts within a workshop about “How to insert training and entrepreneurial innovation in the energy sector’s development?”. Among others, Fanta Traoré, founder of Empower, and Caroline Boon, Finergreen manager, have reminded us of the central position of women in the African business world. Afterwards, Abdourahmane CISSE took the floor to let the audience know about the measures taken by the government to support start-ups and other small enterprises. He insists on the fact that launching businesses in Africa allows the creation of stable and local jobs that can boost Ivorian creativity and can directly help the more destitute ones.

EDF Pulse Africa Tour has definitively supported EDF Côte d’Ivoire in its process of becoming a key actor of the entrepreneurship sector in Ivory Coast. Through companies such as ZECI, and soon as Lifi LED, EDF Côte d’Ivoire wishes to make energy more accessible, and it acts on a daily basis to do so. It has one unalterable aim: improving Ivorian living conditions. What a winning bet for this 5th step which augurs success for the remaining halts, including the 6th one in Togo.