Jean-Louis Billon Minister of Commerce – Côte d’Ivoire

Perfectly at ease
I met him at a private dinner during the Africa-Singapore Business Forum (see page 80). He struck me as a cheerful young man refreshingly without any hang-ups. He seemed perfectly at ease in the international setting and you got the sense that he harboured no doubt whatsoever that Côte d’Ivoire would once again regain its reputation as ‘The Jewel of West Africa’.

He agreed with me that although the country was registering 9% growth figures, most of this related to infrastructure recovery rather than productivity, although this has shown a healthy 2% growth.

While France has never ceased to be the preferred trading partner of Côte d’Ivoire, a new day is dawning because Côte d’Ivoire is one of the cornerstones of a new Africa that will be the theatre of future global economic issues.

“We have been in crisis for the last 20 years,” he said. “It is only now that we are resuming our development process. We’re catching up on infrastructure and reforms. We’re building roads, bridges, water dams, new refineries and working to  more competitive – and become the best economy of the sub-region.”

Although he has been a minister for a very short time, he has gained a reputation for speaking frankly and to believing in meritocracy rather than the bane of many West African countries – a dependence on connections.

He has already instituted policies that are likely to have far-reaching results. “The first item of the agenda was to restore the business framework – rules, regulations, anti-trust laws, competition stipulations and so on. The business environment is now secure and more and more companies are setting up shop. But, of course, we have to set up the infrastructure so businesses can flourish. We are doing that.”

He is convinced that the key to rapid growth and job creation is the SME sector. He initiated the $170m Phoenix programme which will provide credit guarantees, market access and better protection to SMEs, which form about 98% of commercial enterprises in the country.

The new code is based on the US Small Business Act.  He wants larger companies to sub-contract tenders to SMEs and he wants to make sure that invoices are settled in 60 to 90 days. “We would like to double the number of SMEs over the next seven or so years,” he told me.

He also wants to upgrade the status, skills and income levels of artisans and other craft people. Growth will come from increased exports.

“We export a lot into the sub-Saharan region. What we need now is to increase are the exports to Europe, the US and Asia – we are weak in those regions of the world. At the same time, we are improving our mining and we would like to improve our exports of handicrafts and some agricultural products. We are now back in AGOA,” he said, “and this will help us improve our exports.”

Jean-Louis Billon is at the bottom of a steep hill; carrying a heavy load all the way to the summit will need determination, strength, stamina and confidence. From what I saw, this young leader has all that in plenty.