Africa Business Communities

[Startup Interview] Alfred Loua: Founder, MBCAfrica, Ivory Coast

Alfred Loua is Founder of MBCAfrica, Ivory Coast. A certified sales and negotiation consultant from CEGOS International, he is also currently a candidate within the Financial Analyst Specialist Certification (FASC) and the Certified Financial Modeling Specialist (CFMS) program from Finance Training Society Portland, Oregon.

Africa Business Communities speaks with him.

What is your company?

MBCAfrica is my company and we are located in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. What we do is work with executives to achieve an optimal level of performance, make decisions related to capital acquisition, product launch and project fundings. We created the 2APPEAR™ Business case Framework to demonstrate our methodologies in achieving this.

In what industries do you operate?

Primarily, we operate in the training, consulting and executive coaching industry.

What is your business background?

Before founding MBCAfrica, I held a variety of positions in Sales & Negotiation, Business Analysis and IT Financial Management Project, all in the countries Ivory Coast, Togo and France.

Why did you start MBCAfrica?  

I have the heart of an entrepreneur and I thought it was time to put my education and experience to good use. Also, entrepreneurship is a solid way to reduce unemployment in Africa. So here I am trying to make a difference by providing jobs for the yet unskilled, semi-skilled and highly skilled.

Who (co-)owns your company and how is it financed?

I own it completely and it is financed from the money we generate.

Who are your clients?

My clients are C-levels from private companies, NGOs and government agencies.

What roles do banks, investors and the government in Ivory Coast play towards startups?

Not much for the moment. Access to capital is a real struggle. There is some stammering from the government to promote entrepreneurship, but politics are still crippling the efforts.

Bankers refuse to lose their money in the startup venture, so if you don’t have historic financial data for them, you can forget about getting any credit.

How effective is crowd funding as a startup tool in Ivory Coast?

Crowd funding (financement participatif – as we call it in French) is something totally new here! When we need money, we do not so much as think of it as a means to fund a startup.

What are your ambitions in terms of (international) markets, growth?

We aim to reach 48 new clients per year in Africa out of Cote d’Ivoire starting from 2016. Our 2015 goal is to acquire a minimum of eight clients per month in my country, Ivory Coast.

Who can contact you right now, and for what?

Any African executive:

Who wants to get out of any organic growth initiative the promised net cash flow,

With unsatisfactory results and a desire to deliver more, and

Who wants to involve every employee in the creation of profitability and generation of revenue.

www.linkedin.com/profile

www.mbcafrica.com

 

Africa Business Communities is conducting a series of interviews with startup businesses in Africa. Are you a startup in Africa and interested in an interview? Please send an e-mail to andrea@africabusinesscommunities.com

 

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