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Akuna is a joint venture between Akuna Ltd, a British impact investment fund created by British-Ghanaian-Sierra Leonean actor Idris Elba, and Cocoasource, a Swiss trading company. The company sources cocoa, coffee and cashews from local cooperatives and resells the raw materials for export.
Akuna was created with a common goal shared by both shareholders: to structure the cocoa, coffee and cashew value chains in Sierra Leone and ensure reliable, fair and sustainable outlets for local cooperatives and their members. This approach is particularly relevant given that agricultural value chains in the country are very poorly structured.
Sierra Leone is a very poor country, ranking 181st out of 191 countries in terms of HDI, with few international donors operating there.
As is often the case, poverty is particularly pronounced in rural areas: 81% of the 4.7 million people living in rural areas are in a situation of multidimensional poverty, compared to 27% in urban areas. Agriculture officially accounts for more than 50% of GDP and employs two-thirds of the working population; nevertheless, the sector is underdeveloped: 80% of the food consumed in the country is imported (fruit and vegetables from Burkina Faso, rice, chicken/eggs). Of 4 million hectares of fertile arable land, 75% remains uncultivated. These tensions highlight the importance of Akuna’s approach: boosting agricultural sectors to reduce the current deficit and make agricultural activities more attractive.
Akuna est une entreprise qui a pour raison d’être le développement d’activités économiques en zones rurales et la structuration des filières cacao et cajou, précisément pour réduire la vulnérabilité des producteurs.
En ce sens, Cocoasource et Akuna mettent en place deux programmes de structuration de filière (Trust Cocoa et Trust Cashew). Ces programmes vont aussi bien intervenir pour amener plus de transparence sur les prix pratiqués dans la filière, pour améliorer la résilience des producteurs (notamment avec un volet climat) et pour créer des coopératives et/ou les renforcer.
Ces initiatives sont particulièrement importantes dans le contexte économique très compliqué de la Sierra Leone et différencie Akuna des autres acteurs du marché qui ont une approche essentiellement commerciale.
