Across West Africa, Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) has been involved in the packaging industry, to help stimulate the local economy by making it easier for locally produced goods to be exported.
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Senegal
For over 50 years, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, operating through Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) has been active in West Africa with the aim of stimulating economic development in the region and improving the quality of life of the local residents. IPS has been active in Senegal since 1988.
Building on the success of the Filtisac factory in Cote d'Ivoire, in Senegal, IPS established Cofisac and Fumoa in Dakar.
Originally producing synthetic fibre sacks, today, these factories have a high-performance blow moulding line, which makes 1 to 20-litre high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) preforms are also blown into bottles for still and carbonated beverages.
Fumoa is developing its core business of metal drum manufacturing. The sheet metal is unwound from the coil and cut in staggered rows to minimise waste. The metal is then pressed and passed through a bender, which forms it into a cylinder prior to welding. It then passes through the flanging machine, which forms the lip to hold the bottom and top pieces in place. After passing through the stiffener, the three parts are seamed together. The drum is tested for water-tightness then painted, dried and marked. These metal drums, Fumoa’s flagship product, are destined for petroleum and edible oil producers.
More recently in 2016, Chimtec, a company producing packaging for various chemical based products, operated by IPS in Abidjan, expanded its activities to have a base in Senegal.
Industrial Promotion Services
In the early 1960s, a group of companies was set up under the corporate name Industrial Promotion Services (IPS). Each company was created to provide venture capital, technical assistance and management support to encourage and expand private enterprise in countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.