YIRI, PARTNERS WITH DIGITAL AFRICA TO BOOST TECH ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA

On the occasion of its very first participation in VivaTech, Europe’s largest innovation fair, AGL through its Yiri Innovation Center announces the signing of a strategic partnership with Digital Africa, a subsidiary of Proparco (AFD Group). Together, these two players in the African entrepreneurial ecosystem are combining their expertise and networks to support the continent’s startups, particularly in the transport, logistics and industry sectors, with the ambition to accelerate the continent’s transformation, through local, innovative and high-impact solutions.

Since its launch in June 2024 in Abidjan, Yiri has established itself as a partner of African innovation. Thus, at the dawn of its second year of existence, AGL’s innovation center reiterates its desire to support startups through strong initiatives such as its flagship program “Accelerate”, the first class of which closed on May 15, 2025. This first edition allowed four African startups to benefit from tailor-made support, targeted training, connections with more than 32 companies, institutions and investors, as well as opportunities for pilot projects within the AGL Group with concrete and visible results such as:

• The deployment of the Alia solution, an intelligent digital legal assistant to simplify the compliance of African companies, which will be deployed to the HR & legal teams of 5 AGL subsidiaries in Côte d’Ivoire.
• Commercial partnerships with Eazy Chain, which has entered into a collaboration with AGL to deploy its digital solution facilitating maritime logistics between secondary and major ports in West Africa.
• A recognized cooperation with Paps in local distribution and last-mile logistics, the solution of which will support AGL’s operations in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
• The extension of the services of Tambour, the mobile laundry for professionals and individuals, which will extend its services to AGL subsidiaries in Côte d’Ivoire to ensure optimal management of employees’ equipment

On the strength of this record, Yiri is now partnering with Digital Africa, whose mission is to support African entrepreneurs with high potential through the Fuzé program, which offers financing and personalized technical support. Together, they are launching an even more ambitious second edition of the Accelerate programme, which will extend to both West and East Africa. Two innovation challenges will be organized in Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda to select ten startups to support in their growth but also to co-invest in the most promising. They will benefit from enhanced support, access to a network of major players in industry and logistics, as well as opportunities for deployment on a pan-African scale.