Dn the industrial zone of Abidjan, in Côte d'Ivoire, an African miracle. A small local company has managed to rise to the level of multinationals Danone and Nestlé. PKL, for Protein Kissèe-La, which manufactures enriched infant flours made from soya and corn, is the first baby food production company south of the Sahara (outside South Africa), number two in the Ivorian market. behind Danone. Behind this success, a woman, one of the first industrialists in Côte d'Ivoire. Without his determination, it is unlikely that the African champion PKL could have endured the Stations of the Cross that the creation of a business in Africa holds.
The African paradox
Marie Diongoye Konaté is a rebel. The absurdities annoy him, especially when they hamper African development. Just graduated, engineer and architect, passionate about football, it was in the 80s that she went to Brazil. Not yet emerging, the country is already the world's largest producer of soybeans, sugar and beef. Above all, it transforms its own agricultural resources locally, which is the complete opposite of the African continent. “The problem in Africa is that we export what we produce and import what we eat”, she protests. A practice that harms the development of local agriculture and employment. “We absolutely have to develop our local resources and produce what we need for our daily consumption,” she insists.
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