Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire, Corus International sign collaboration agreement to boost cooperatives in West Africa
The partnership reflects the shared ambition of both organisations to provide cooperatives with a more robust governance framework, stronger operational foundations, and better conditions for sustainable value creation
ABIDJAN December 20, 2025 — Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire and Corus International recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] aimed at strengthening the development, structuring, and professionalisation of agricultural cooperatives in West Africa.
This initiative comes at a time when cooperatives remain a key pillar of the region’s agricultural value chains.
In Côte d’Ivoire alone, more than 1.2 million smallholder farmers depend on cocoa cooperatives while producer organisations play an increasingly central role in cashew and food crop production.
The partnership reflects the shared ambition of both organisations to provide cooperatives with a more robust governance framework, stronger operational foundations, and better conditions for sustainable value creation.
The agreement establishes an operational mechanism to identify high-potential cooperatives—particularly those with strong women’s participation, given that women represent nearly 60 percent of the agricultural workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ecobank and Corus International, through its agricultural development organisation Lutheran World Relief, will co-tailor solutions, including capacity building, technical assistance, governance improvement, financial structuring, access to management tools, and compliance reinforcement.
A pilot phase will be launched in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, focusing on cocoa, cashew and food crops. The objective is to support approximately 50 cooperatives over the next 12 months, followed by a scale-up to 300 cooperatives, in line with the ambition outlined in the MoU.
On this occasion, Paul-Harry Aithnard, Managing Director of Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire and Regional Executive for the West African Economic and Monetary Union [UEMOA] Zone, stated, “This collaboration establishes a structured framework to help agricultural cooperatives strengthen their professionalism, stability and access to opportunities. By combining the field expertise of Corus International with the operational capacity of Ecobank’s Agribusiness Desk, we aim to build solutions adapted to farmers’ realities, at the heart of the value chains that sustain our territories. Our shared ambition is to reinforce these essential actors and accelerate sustainable local value creation.”
Mahmoud BAH, Chief Operating Officer of Corus International, a social impact organisation, welcomed the initiative, saying, “Agricultural cooperatives are the economic backbone of many communities in West Africa. By joining forces with Ecobank, we can amplify our action, provide greater financial stability to farmer organisations, and help them access tools that strengthen their autonomy. This partnership creates a vital bridge between community-level development and the financial solutions needed to transform agricultural value chains.”
The MOU also formalises a mutual commitment to operate under strict transparency and compliance standards, in line with the non-disclosure agreement [NDA] signed in September 2025. This includes data protection requirements, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing measures, as well as Ecobank’s environmental, social, and governance [ESG] and responsible value-chain principles.
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