Originally published by Trade Hub Communications

The Ivorian cashew export company, Société Coopérative d’Anacarde du Kafigue avec Conseil d’Administration (SCAK COOP-CA), obtained a $2,916,667 loan in March 2017 to purchase and export raw cashew nuts, and plans to install a processing plant next year, allowing the company to expand its service offerings and increase its revenue.

In September 2016, SCAK COOP-CA attended the Trade Hub’s Business to Business (B2B) workshop on how to “Increase Investment, Reconcile Small and Medium Enterprises with Financial Institutions.” The B2B brought together three financial institutions (Coris Bank, NSIA Banque, Oikocredit), members of the Trade Hub’s network of Financial Advisors, and 23 Ivorian exporting companies. With assistance from Banyan Global’s Finance and Investment Specialist, Charles Adegnandjou, SCAK COOP-CA connected with a Trade Hub Financial Advisor to prepare a bank loan application. Thanks to the Hub’s support, SCAK COOP-CA succeeded in obtaining its first bank loan in March 2017. Before the loan, the company received working capital from Indian buyers, who dictated the price of the nuts.

In 2015, SCAK COOP-CA was the 3 largest exporter of cashew in Côte d’Ivoire and bought and exported around 3.3% of the national cashew production. However, financial constraints led to fewer exports in 2016, with the company only buying and exporting 2.37% of the national production. From 2015-2016, SCAK COOP-CA sales decreased from 26.5 to 16.7 MT for a national production of 700 MT each year.

Now, with the new loan, SCAK CCP-CA expects 2017 to be a good financial year.

“Trade Hub intervention constitutes a turning point in the history of SCAK. Now our project can move from a raw cashew export company to a cashew processing company and become a reality next year. We are confident that additional banks will follow to finance our expansion.” – Mr. Zana Coulibaly, CEO

Banyan Global is a subcontractor to Abt Associates on the West Africa Trade Hub Project.