APA-Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) The businessman Idrissa Nassa will lead the employers’ association for the next five years.
On Tuesday, banker Idrissa Nassa was elected to head Burkina Faso’s employers’ association for a five-year term.
Supported by the ‘Alliance pour un Patronat Nouveau’ (APN), the Chairman and CEO of Coris Holding beat Apollinaire Compaore, of the Planor Afrique Group, by 119 votes to 54.
The election of the ‘Patronat Nouveau’ took place in a tense atmosphere, with the two contenders beating the drum right up to the last moment.
Mr. Nassa expressed his gratitude to his challenger and called on the private sector to unite.
“I am not the winner because, in my opinion, there are no winners or losers in this competition,” said Nassa after the vote.
The CEO of Coris Holding also praised “the political authorities for their willingness to accompany the process without interfering.”
He reassured the transitional authorities that the private sector would continue to play its part in ensuring the smooth running of the economy, increasing the country’s resilience and consolidating its position in the sub-region.
The businessman began trading in 1985, importing and distributing rice, sugar and, above all, spare parts for two-wheelers.
In 2001, he bought ‘Financiere du Burkina’, a credit institution in the midst of a crisis, which he recapitalised and transformed into Coris Bank International in 2008.
Thanks to his mastery of the workings of the local business world and its players, the Burkinabe entrepreneur gradually managed to establish himself in the financial sector as a “banker to SMEs.”
It is a model he is replicating across the continent with more or less the same success.
SD/te/fss/as/APA