Novembre 24, 2023

SIFCA Group receives a delegation from Michelin Group on its sites in Côte d’Ivoire.

SIPH, through its subsidiary SAPH, welcomed a delegation from Michelin composed of Mr. Yves Chapot, Director of Michelin Group Financial Affairs, Mr. Vincent Rousset Rouvière, Michelin Purchasing Director, Ms Alexia Huet and Mr. Frédéric Lefebvre, directors, as well as Mr. Trai Urkoss Segsarn and Mr. Carlos-Alberto Vasconcelos to its Toupah and Loeth sites in Côte d’Ivoire.

Accompanied by Mr. Alassane Doumbia, SIFCA Group Chairman of the Board, Mr. Pierre Billon, Managing Director of SIFCA, Ms. Lucie Barry Tannous, General Secretary of SIFCA and Ms. Henriette Gomis Billon, Group Director of Communication and Sustainable Development, as well as by Mr. Marc Genot, Managing Director of the Rubber Sector and  Mr. Thierry Serres, Managing Director of SAPH, the delegation visited, Monday, November 20^th, the site of the Integrated Agricultural Unit of Toupah, approximately 50 km from Abidjan for a working session presenting the main rubber figures of the SIFCA Group.

The delegation then headed to the core of Toupah’s plantations to meet an independent supplier farmer, an express, theoretical, and practical course in tapping a rubber tree in a tapping school during which everyone could indulge in this delicate art.

Next stop was the town of Soubré  West of Abidjan, near the Loeth site, which hosts today the recently created rubber factory.

The second stage of the stay into the rubber industry of the SIFCA Group continued with a visit to the factory following which the delegation members lent their names to rubber trees planted to support the Group's commitment to the environment.

The delegation participated in the monitoring visit to a project previously initiated by the SIFCA Foundation to immerse itself in the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility activities. This was an opportunity for its members to learn more about the Foundation, and to discover regional and traditional cultures in Bété country, the region where the site is located.

Back in Abidjan, the delegation was received, for the last day of its visit, Wednesday, November 22, by one of the oilseed subsidiaries of the SIFCA Group, Sania, a refined edible palm oil producer. This was an opportunity to present in more detail the other activities of the SIFCA Group, as well as to show the importance of this product of which Côte d’Ivoire is the second largest African producer (SIFCA participating in more than 50% of this production), as well as to dispel some preconceived ideas.

To end this day and this stay, a visit to the Sania refinery, the largest in Africa, was organized to learn more about the process of manufacturing refined palm oil as well as the production and use of biomass at the origin of renewable energy which is used to power SIFCA's boilers, including several rubber factories.

SIFCA, Let’s cultivate our growth!