In West Africa, the path of the giant Unilever – known for Calvé mayonnaise, Omo washing powder, and Signal toothpaste – is rife with pitfalls. The group’s Ivorian subsidiary, its stronghold in the Francophone zone and its base for supplying other countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), is back in the black.
For 2022, Unilever Côte d’Ivoire (UCI)’s turnover was down by 21% year-on-year to CFA francs 36.1bn (about $59m), with a net loss of 6.3bn CFA francs ($10.5m), according to the provisional activity report recently made public.
Food for thought
“The turnover was strongly impacted by the exit of tea activity and by the disruption of export markets, with the embargo on Mali and the tightening of regulations on triangular trade in the sub-region imposed by the BCEAO,” the subsidiary stated in its report.
Unilever has been present in the country since 1929 via
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