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Read about the latest developments across the business, including our global sustainability initiatives.
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Olam opened its first business in Côte d’Ivoire in 1994. Today, some 2 million people across the country earn part, or all, of their livelihoods with Olam as farmers, staff, service providers and their dependents.
We operate throughout the country, sourcing cocoa, coffee, cotton, cashew, and rubber directly from over 185,000 farming families, and via a vast network of local traders. Olam operates 36 offices, runs 11 large processing facilities, several primary processing operations and manages 200,000 square metres of committed warehousing spaces across the country.
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Our major investments include:
- State-of-the-art cocoa processing factories in Abidjan and San Pedro turning cocoa beans into cocoa liquor, butter, and cake;
- Cashew processing plants in Bouaké, Dimbokro and Djekanou, providing jobs to more than 4,000 workers of whom more than 70% are women;
- 2 rubber factories in Aniassué, in the east of Côte d’Ivoire, and PK38 near Abidjan ushering in new development and generating valuable employment in the region;
- Cotton ginning facilities in Ouangolodougou and Ferkessédougou in the north of the country.
Olam as an Employer
Olam is one of the largest employers in the country, with over 5,000 employees, including sub-contracted workers. More than 90% are Ivorian and 45% are women. We partner with top schools and universities and professional associations to attract the best talent and integrate them into meaningful career paths. Through our programmes such as Growing Olam African Leaders Programme, Graduate Engineering Trainee Programme, Finance Leaders Programme and Leadership Development Programme, high-potential employees receive tailored training and coaching, both in Côte d’Ivoire and abroad, to help them to maximise their potential and enter management roles.
We work closely with government bodies and industry associations such as the Conseil Café Cacao (CCC), Conseil Coton Anacarde (CCA), Confederation Générale des Entreprises de Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI), African Cashew Alliance (ACA), APROCOT-CI (cotton ginners association). We are trusted partners of development agencies, NGOs and programmes, including the ComCashew (formerly African Cashew Initiative) and Competitive African Cotton initiative (COMPACI). This enables us to provide full assurance to our customers of our products’ quality and traceability.
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Meet the Team
We have over 6,000 employees making up our team in the Côte d’Ivoire.
Partheeban Theodore
Senior Vice President and Country Head, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal
News, Views and Insights
28th Jan, 2021
Top Employers Institute recognises Olam International for excellence in HR
Company’s operations in Cote d’Ívoire, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and the Netherlands also separately recognised
Africa
Olam International (Olam), the global food and agri-business, has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute for the first time in 2021 for its excellence in HR practices for the Africa region. The Company’s operations in Cote d’Ívoire, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, as well as the Netherlands, have also separately been awarded for their HR best practices.
The auditing survey from the Top Employers Institute highlighted Olam as excelling in each of the assessment categories, which included people strategy, organisation and change, career, digital HR, work environment, employer branding, talent acquisition and onboarding, performance management, learning, wellbeing, rewards and recognition, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability.
Jaideep Biswas, Regional Head of Human Resources, Africa, Olam International Limited, said,
“People are critical to
1st Oct, 2020
Coffee kiosk gives Brazilian smallholders direct access to global markets
Olam is experimenting with technologies that reach remote coffee farmers and empower them to sell to the company directly, thereby giving them access to global market prices.
Its first kiosk in Ibicocara - Brazil's Bahia region, allows farmers to drop off coffee samples and then Olam manages the testing and pricing negotiation via its digital platform, Olam Direct. The company has received more than 50 samples in July, its first month of operation, and farmer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Olam hopes to roll out the kiosks to serve additional farmers in 2021 and the locations may offer other value-add services for farmers and their communities.
Edmilson Rocha Aguiar, who farms 140 miles away from the closest Olam facility in Vitoria da Conquista, was one of the first participants in the kiosk test.
15th Mar, 2021
Olam Healthy Living: Promoting wellness through health and nutrition
It was June 2019 in Côte d’Ivoire. I was in a car with a small team, driving from the economic hub of Abidjan two hours west to a cocoa-farming community. The landscape was a patchwork of different crops, but the rural appearance belied its strong link to global economy. As for many rural communities, agriculture is the lifeblood of the region, providing the primary source of income for smallholders and their families. The country is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans and in fact, the cocoa in any chocolate you’ve eaten recently may very well have come from one of these farms.
But a different food topic prompted our visit that day. Many regions in the country continue to face seasonal food shortages and, coupled with other health-related challenges, experience high levels of malnutrition. We were going to check in on a nutrition training session to understand how to scale it up elsewhere.
Once we arrived, we walked to a pavilion where some 50 women and children were gather
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