Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire's economic capital, hosted an information session on Friday September 13th to raise awareness of the Ivorian entrepreneurial ecosystem to the opportunities offered by IMPULSE and to invite Ivorian entrepreneurs to apply. "We are looking for innovative start-ups with projects that have gone beyond ideas to build relationships and accelerate them. We are open to start-ups but also to Ivorian experts for mentoring," said Adnane Alaoui Soulimani, Impulse Program Director.

Developed by Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) with the support of OCP Group and its subsidiary OCP Africa, IMPULSE will benefit from the MassChallenge mentors network and award a prize of USD 250,000 to the winners. In practice, the program offers access to business opportunities, training, prototyping spaces and experimental laboratories to develop and test their products and services.

To this end, Abdoul Aziz Diallo, Country Manager of OCP Africa Côte d'Ivoire, welcomed the support of OCP Group to the emergence of Ivorian start-ups focusing in AgriTech. "OCP is very proud to help the IMPULSE program to support it and help young entrepreneurs in Côte d'Ivoire get started," he said. For Yves Raulent Brou Kouamé, CEO of GRACI, the IMPULSE program in Côte d'Ivoire is a very good initiative. "This project will allow us to acquire know-how through training and the exchange of technologies but also to get in touch with donors" explained the CEO of the start-up winner of the OCP "Start-up Of The Year 2018" Prize.