Invited to the Economist Club
Roland Riboux presents the results of the CIPB and the prospects
The President of the Council of Private Investors in Benin (CIPB), Roland Riboux was the guest of the Economist’s Club on Thursday, May 6, 2021. On this occasion, the CEO of Fludor Benin presented to media professionals the results of the CIPB and its prospects for boosting the development of the private sector in Benin.
THE ECONOMIST: Tell us about the CIPB and what led to its creation?
CIPB President Roland Riboux: I came to Benin in 1996 to found Fludor Benin. The start of the company was a bit slow and I felt that it was necessary to create a body with a global view of the problems of companies in Benin, to speak with the government. In the year 2000 I was the first president and among the founders of AIFO UEMOA (Association des Industriels de la Filière Oléagineuse de l’UEMOA) which was created in Abidjan. When I left the post of president of AIFO-UEMOA, I created the CIPB with 6 other members. Little by little, we have grown to about fifty members today. The goal was not to turn it into an employers’ union; it was really to dialogue with the State on the difficulties encountered by companies.
Do you think the goals are being achieved?
The dialogue is there since we have a consultation framework with the Ministry of Finance where the tax working group that the CIPB leads represents the private sector. We have a collaboration with the Ministry of Justice with also a consultation framework. Finally, we are in the process of negotiating a new consultation framework with the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ARE). The objective, which was to dialogue with the State, has been achieved.
How does the CIPB work in advocating for private investors in Benin?
As we are only about fifty members, we have a coordination office of 5 people who work continuously. There is a tax working group, a justice working group and soon an energy working group. From there, we put forward ideas that we retransmit to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Benin, to the employers’ association of Benin and to the Coneb. We have a very close relationship with the Commercial Court of Cotonou without forgetting the media.
What are the flagship activities that marked 2020?
We are interested in the Covid-19 crisis. There was a program on Canal3, Ca Bouge, on which we published about fifteen capsules to try to understand everything surrounding Covid-19. Then we participated in a seminar on digital, with the participation of the University of Oxford and the African School of Economics. The biggest activity of the year was to support the Commercial Court of Cotonou with a three-day seminar held in Grand-Popo on the recovery of bank debts, with the assistance of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions and TFPs such as France, the European Union and the World Bank.
How is Fludor Benin SA?
The activities of Fludor Benin are the production of edible oil, food-grade shea butter and the processing of cashew nuts. On the oil mill, the raw material is available, since now there is an abundant production of seed cotton, namely more than 700,000 tons, which has never been seen before. Also, the price on the oil market has improved due to the difficulties that there are now in transporting the goods between South Asia and Benin, or the reverse, because there is a shortage of containers. With regard to Shea, we have processed around 15,000 tonnes and we have placed the shea butter without any problem. The cashew nut processing business is a bit tricky and we need state support. Apiex is currently working on a Beninese model to support the cashew sector.
What do you see as the challenges?
We are in the process of revising our oil mill production capacity upwards. We expect to process 150,000 tons of cottonseed next year. It is a challenge and we hope that SODECO will be able to respond to this request. On shea, the difficulty is that the trees are in danger. But there are programs for replanting shea. But there really has to be a follow-up. On cashew, we need a policy on the part of the State so that we can secure our productions at a reasonable price.
What has been the CIPB’s approach to the 2021 budget?
We went to the National Assembly as usual and presented our platform. The truth is that there was no flagship measure on which we could dwell. We just made small adjustments especially compared to the old g
