Nouakchott, Mauritania, February 6, 2017
— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Global Agriculture Food Security Program each committed an investment of €3.5 million to modernize, expand and diversify Tiviski SARL, a family-owned enterprise that is Mauritania’s biggest employer in the dairy sector.
This is IFC’s second investment in Tiviski. IFC’s initial loan in 2002 financed an ultra-high temperature plant for processing milk.
The new IFC and GAFSP financing will be used to support Tiviski’s €11.2 million modernization plan that involves renovating Tiviski’s pasteurized milk plant and improving the efficiency and production capacity of the company’s existing dairy business. Two additional milk collection centers will be set up to double milk collection capacity and modernize the company’s cheese production line. A second phase of the project intends to establish a juice production line from concentrate, a mineral water plant and a camel milk power production line.
Nagy Ichidou, Chief Executive Officer of Tiviski, said, “Tiviski is well-recognized for our high standards and quality dairy products. Modernizing and upgrading our facilities with support from IFC and GAFSP ensures that Tiviski can grow and support the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and their way of life.” Tiviski is Mauritania’s first pasteurized dairy milk company, founded in 1989 to process fresh camel milk.
The company overcame significant traditional prejudice against selling milk in its early days to become the largest employer in the dairy sector.
Today, Tiviski employs 160 staff and has also created an additional 3,000 jobs for livestock owners, their employees and ancillary businesses. The project is promoting and preserving pastoralism, a traditional way of life that faces the pressure of rural urban migration, as young people seek jobs in the city. Notably, the company has promoted opportunities for women-owned milk suppliers.
“Tiviski has persevered in the face of significant challenges to become a commercial supplier of dairy products to the local market,” said Jindong Hua, IFC Vice President and Treasurer. “With IFC support, this pioneering company can improve and grow its operations, providing employment opportunities that are reducing poverty for many local farmers.”
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our six decades of experience to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY16, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $19 billion, leveraging our capital, expertise and influence to help the private sector end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About GAFSP
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a multilateral mechanism to assist in the implementation of pledges made by the G20 in Pittsburgh in September 2009. The objective is to improve incomes and food and nutrition security in low-income countries by boosting agricultural productivity. Approximately 75% of the poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agriculture growth is two to four times more effective at reducing poverty than growth in any other sector. GAFSP addresses the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security strategic investment plans that are already being developed by countries in consultation with donors and other stakeholders at the country-level.
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