News

"Fatou et Kadija Sarl" is the name of the flourishing business run by 33-year-old Guinean Fatoumata Cissoko, which specializes in agri-food processing. 

Located in the Kindia region of Guinea, Fatoumata's fruit-drying unit employs around 15 people.

With a degree in accounting and management, Fatoumata launched a company specializing in the solar drying of exotic fruits in 2013. With her project, she aims to alleviate the post-harvest losses recorded in the pineapple and mango sectors in the Kindia region.

After graduating from university, Fatoumata began working on the family plantation. It was there that she noticed the enormous post-harvest losses in production and decided to start processing the fruit. With only derisory working capital at her disposal, the young woman sought help from the Italian Food Security Program (PISA) to set up a solar fruit drying unit, with a production capacity of 500 kg of fruit per day.

In 2019, it also received a donation of a thermal drying unit from the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (PPAAO), implemented by CORAF.

The WAPP was launched in 2008 under the aegis of the Economic Community of West African States, and financed by the World Bank. 

For the moment, young Fatoumata is working on launching a range of natural fruit juices by the end of the year.

"Through this project, I want to add value to our local processed products, create decent jobs and empower young people and women in the Kindia region in particular," says the 33-year-old Guinean in an interview with dpa.

"Today, we can say that we've reached 60 percent of our objectives," boasts the Guinean, winner in 2020 of the 1st agribusiness prize of the Social EntrepreneurShip program, which initiated the Salon des entrepreneurs de Guinée.

Fatoumata's ambition is to set up the largest processing unit in West Africa, with three production lines (dried fruit, natural fruit juices, syrups and jams), and to export her products to Europe.

The Guinean agripreneur, who currently employs around 15 people, dreams of becoming a leading businesswoman in the agri-food sector within the next few years.

Source: guineesignal.com