Complicating this undertaking was the country’s mountainous terrain in the west, which requires special expertise in transport and logistics to navigate. Spurred on by the challenge, the AGS Kenya team started planning the operation.

Preparation is the key to success

“The fragile equipment used in cinemas and amphitheatres had to be transported with care. We also alerted our insurance company to ensure that the value of the operation was covered,” says Célia Richard, AGS Kenya’s Sales and Business Development Manager.

Upon arrival at the Port of Nairobi, AGS repacked the equipment, depalletised and grouped it according to its destination. In total, the AGS team would make six deliveries: two in Mombasa, and one each in Lamu, Kisumu, Nairobi and Nakuru.

Put to the test on a paradise island

The delivery to Lamu posed unique challenges. Located off the Kenyan coast, the island is over 500km away from Nairobi and is strictly car free. “The half-hour ferry trip was challenging, but guiding a hand-drawn cart loaded with fragile cargo through the sand was the true test of our skills. Fortunately, the delivery address was not far from the jetty,” says Célia.

Since the 1960s, in the wake of eccentric jet-setters like Mick Jagger, Lamu has become a popular tourist destination. Today, 80% of the island’s economy is based on tourism. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite this, time has left the island largely unchanged. Here, luxury lies in simple pleasures: fresh fish cooked on the grill, mangoes and papayas eaten barefoot on the beach and spectacular sunsets.

“The complex logistics involved make deliveries to Lamu extremely rare,” adds Thibault Malezieux, Director of AGS Kenya. “The team’s coordination was incredible, and we were thrilled to see the outcome!”

Country-wide, the operation only took a few days, and by the 21st of June, everything was delivered. As planned, the Lamu Cultural Centre was inaugurated in July by the ambassador of France to Kenya.

Do you need assistance or advice on your move to Kenya? Contact us!

Located some sixty kilometres from Abidjan, the logistics centre is constructed on an 18,000 m² plot of land acquired by MOBILITAS in 2019. It consists of offices and workspaces for local teams as well as three depots adapted to the group’s core activities: 1,000 m³ are dedicated to removals, 2,000 m² to records management and 3,600 m² to storage facilities. And that’s not all: the new site comes with a 5,000 m² outdoor parking area for shipping containers and trucks and operations and can be expanded onto a 6,000 m² adjacent plot of land if required.

Technology at the service of customers

To serve the best interests of clients, the premises has been designed to be on the cutting edge of technology. The removals division, the historical activity of AGS Côte d’Ivoire, uses specific packaging material appropriate for the protection of its clients’ personal effects, with 35 different products, for example.

The records management division has a storage capacity of nearly one million boxes. Fully racked and equipped storage facilities allow for the secure and confidential management of client data, separate sorting and digitisation rooms optimise the digitisation of client documents, and secure document destruction solutions have also been incorporated. Additionally, the site is ISO 9001 certified, which guarantees the control of business processes and infrastructure security.

Finally, the warehousing division provides AGS clients with a modular space of between 1000 and 3000 m² as well as handling, management and remote-control services for client stocks and flows.

Côte d’Ivoire, the cornerstone of AGS in Africa

In total, 63 employees and more than 20 physical and digital records management trainees work on the new site. For Country Manager Guillaume Dehem, “the exceptional investment that the group has made in Côte d’Ivoire is a continuation of what we have learnt here over the past 30 years”. “The new facilities appear to be the “largest company in the region,” underlined Sylvestre Toppé, representative of the mayor of Yaou. “We are very moved because we never thought that in our commune, and particularly in Yaou, we would celebrate such a great achievement.”

Since 1993, AGS Côte d’Ivoire has been the group’s incubator for the entire African continent. “The country has been, and remains, the base, the foundation on which the group has relied to innovate and develop in all African countries. It has taught us everything,” assured Paul Massardier in his inaugural speech. “We have applied what we have learned here to the whole of the continent.”

Looking to the future with the heritage division

The group’s vice president quoted President Felix Houphouët Boigny: “A miracle, like a gamble, is prepared, planned, measured, decided upon and achieved through willpower and perseverance,” to compare the evolution of the country with that of the AGS Group in Côte d’Ivoire.

With a turnover exceeding 2 billion FCFA in 2021, it is evident that many clients from various sectors (banking, insurance, industry, services, public administration, etc.) have placed their trust in AGS Côte d’Ivoire. In total, the branch has stored more than 200,000 boxes of archives and scanned more than 3 million pages for all its clients.

And AGS Côte d’Ivoire does not intend to stop there. The branch is already positioning itself for the future with the development of the heritage division, which is designed to provide solutions for the preservation and enhancement of heritage.

To take advantage of the state of the art removals, storage and records management service offered by AGS Côte d’Ivoire, contact Country Manager Guillaume Dehem at guillaume.dehem@ags-globalsolutions.com.

Situated in the Kigali Special Economic Zone – a 276-hectare stretch of land reserved for foreign direct investment – the warehouse represents the AGS Group’s first opportunity to own a local facility since beginning operations in the country in 1996.

“This building is a sign of our commitment to our Rwandan clients,” says AGS Group Business Development Director, Samuel Mergui. “It is an expression of our trust in the future development of the country.”

With an average annual GDP growth rate of 7.1% since 2000, Rwanda has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. The new facility will increase the Group’s capacity to absorb the business of the growing local removals market.

In line with international standards, the warehouse will be outfitted with comprehensive security, including full perimeter fencing, CCTV, an on-site security presence and armed response.

The project forms part of the AGS Group’s larger plan to expand its removals operations in Africa. Additional facilities are planned for the Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Zambia in 2021.

There are two types of stories that people like to tell about Africa. One is the tale of the dark continent, a place where potholes pit every road and politicians perpetually extend outstretched palms. The other is a more recent story, that Africa’s time has come. And that if you wait too long, you’ll miss out on the great investment opportunity that is the African continent and its people.

As Director of the African Network for the AGS Group, and with over 16 years of experience living and working in Africa in the logistics and removals industries, Frenchwoman Nathalie Jeanneau has heard both stories often. But in the course of her visits to the Group’s branches – at least one in each of the continent’s 54 countries – she gets many opportunities to see for herself which story rings truer on the ground.

“Africa does pose extra challenges,” she freely admits. “Sometimes our phone calls don’t connect, sometimes a branch has no electricity because there is a power cut and there is a shortage of gas for the generator. But you find a solution. If one way doesn’t work, you try another way. There is no problem so big it cannot be overcome.”

In Africa, a flexible and innovative approach to doing business is key, she stresses – the ability to adapt to unforeseen changes in the political or natural environment. “But,” she quickly adds, “that’s true for business anywhere, not just in Africa.”

Nevertheless, Nathalie knows that these are the challenges that, for many people, make doing business on the continent too much hassle. But she believes that knowledgeable local staff, who are sensitive to the culture and history of their country, play a big role in making business possible and ensuring that clients’ projects run smoothly.

“We have excellent branch managers who run exceedingly tight ships. They have to if we want to stay competitive. We bid against the historic removals companies who have expanded into Africa like we have, but also against newer local companies. They are FIDI-accredited, and their service is as good as anything you can find in Europe. And the customers, they’re savvy and knowledgeable, very business minded.”

These customers form part of an Africa-wide market that, according to the Brookings Institute, constitutes more than one billion consumers who, by 2030, will be spending an estimate of $2.5 trillion every year. Add to that the rapid urbanisation and rising incomes of recent years and it’s little wonder that businesses looking to expand have Africa squarely in their sites.

“What is left to do in Europe? What is left in Asia?” Nathalie asks. “Those markets are saturated, and companies are looking to new horizons for growth. Africa is very attractive. We have an abundance of labour, a wealth of natural resources, and space. Everything still has to be built and developed, there is everything to play for. I do think Africa’s time has come, and I intend for AGS to help make it happen.”

MOFA donated several hundred books to the Senegalese Ministry of Education in order to promote the use of the Spanish language in the West African nation.

The first stage of the operation was handled by AGS Movers Spain in July last year. AGS Spain secured the safe transportation of the books to an airbase in Madrid (see our previous short article on this subject). This second intervention, supported by AGS Senegal, consisted of transporting books from the Ouakam Air Base in Dakar to the offices of the Senegalese Ministry of Education.

A main sponsor of this operation, AGS delivered over seven pallets of dictionaries and encyclopaedias totaling 1759 books.

The official donation ceremony took place on 14 December 2018 at the Senegalese Ministry of Education, in the presence of Mr. Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, Minister of Education, Mr. Alberto Antonio Virella Gomes, Ambassador of Spain in Senegal and Mr Jean-François Philippon-Bue, AGS Senegal Manager (pictured above, from left to right).

AGS Kenya set up a stand and three members of the team including Branch Manager, Gil Recizac, Fridah Mwangi and Steve Maina assisted visitors with their queries and presented the branch’s range of services.

Removals for 2019, animal transfers and expedition processes were some of the topics that were addressed by those who visited the stand. Additionally, contact was also established with the administrative departments of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) and UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). AGS Kenya will meet with them again in the near future to discuss potential business opportunities.

This day was the perfect opportunity for the AGS team to meet representatives of the human resources and procurement departments of UNON, as well as the archiving manager who they presented AGS’s digitization service to.

Antoine started his V.I.E. assignment at AGS Yaoundé in September 2017 as Sales Manager, after completing his studies in international management at the Sorbonne (Paris, France). Sophie Bidau, manager of the Cameroonian branch, is very happy about Antoine’s recruitment:

He has really excelled on all fronts in Yaoundé amid a difficult commercial environment. He managed to take ownership of his position and is valued by all our customers in Yaoundé, which is very precious.

Antoine is involved in many cultural and sporting activities in Yaoundé. As a guitarist he’s also part of a band that occasionally performs in the city and recently acted in an amateur play. Antoine is also an accomplished sportsman who practices football, hiking and, since his arrival at AGS, he has also taken up golf. The business development of the branch was the primary motivation behind the decision to take up golf but he got hooked and progressed quickly in the sport. Antoine can be proud of his achievement to be ranked third in the series in which 24 players participated.

Antoine’s victory has added a positive light on AGS’s operations in Cameroon which was the main focus for the 26-year-old – known to members of the golf fraternity of Yaoundé as the AGS Sales Manager. Since practicing golf, Antoine has created strong relationships that have allowed him to create several business opportunities for the branch. Antoine said:

The V.I.E. opportunity at AGS Yaoundé has been an incredibly rich professional experience. I was quickly integrated into the team and was able to concentrate on networking and the commercial side of the business. I was also able to work on the reputation of AGS in Cameroon.

Congratulations to Antoine on this outstanding accomplishment. We hope that he’ll keep his enthusiasm, and that he will continue to explore his talents while part of the AGS team.

Photo : Antoine de Kervern, 1^st from right

The school, which is a member of the AEFE network (Agency for French teaching abroad), held its annual cross-country running competition.

About ten AGS-branded tents were lent to the international school and marked out the course of the race. Nearly 2000 high school and college students participated in the event.

AGS Morocco partnered with the school for the second year and will take part in many other outdoor high school and college sports events in future.

The CMMB represents IAM members at the executive committee of the organisation. Its mission is to pass on the concerns and possible problems encountered by members in the execution of their profession.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, Thomas joined AGS in 2003 as a VIE (International Volunteer in Enterprise) in Gabon. He later joined the company’s internal training programme and managed several branches including Cape Verde, Egypt, Romania and Urkraine. Thomas was appointed Deputy to the Africa Director in 2008. He travelled intensively all over the continent and took an active part in the opening of new branches including the DRC, South Sudan and Mauritius.

Thomas took over the management of the AGS Africa Desk in July 2012. The Africa Desk offers our customers a single point of contact for the entire African continent, the fifty employees of this division manage an average of 8,000 operations per year and rely on the expertise of our 64 African branches.

Thomas sees this appointment as a recognition of his experience in Africa:

“I am very honoured by this nomination. During my 15 years at AGS, I was able to understand all aspects of the international moving industry. Africa is an exciting continent and I hope to contribute as a core member to provide a better understanding of its logistical aspects and the challenges that our industry may face on the continent.“

Married and father of three little ones, Thomas has been living in Cape Town with his family since 2008. When his very busy schedule allows, this kind-hearted 39-year-old executive enjoys surfing, reading and exploring South Africa with his family and friends.

Planète Urgence visited Madagascar in June this year and Fabris, together with the organisation’s ambassadors – Partnerships and Development Director, Muriel Roy and Executive Director, Thomas Boisserie – visited one of the reforestation projects created in Madagascar, before engaging with local business leaders about the project.

MOBILITAS, Planete Urgence partner since 2009

The MOBILITAS Group is always looking into ways to reduce our carbon footprint and has joined forces with Planète Urgence in 2009 by participating in a tree planting project as trees are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Through its branches, the group has committed to planting a tree for each international move completed, and for every 15 boxes of archives stored in our warehouses.

Reforestation and community development

The “Environment and Development” programme supported by Planète Urgence in Madagascar is used to reforest degraded forests from slash and burn agriculture, illegal logging and the production of fuel for domestic use. In line with reforestation activities, the programme also makes it possible to set up developmental projects for the island’s rural communities (poultry farming, beekeeping and breeding of wild silkworms).

Visit to a nursery in the Itasy region

During their visit to the Itasy region, about two and a half hours’ drive from Antananarivo, Fabris visited a nursery and met with local representatives of the association. The Itasy region is one of the regions where the Planète Urgence programme operates, in partnership with several grassroots community organisations, where they focus on the enrichment of the tapias forest, an endemic tree from Madagascar.

The restoration of this forest goes beyond a purely environmental aspect, it also allows the villagers to find resources that naturally grow in the forest such as fruits, medicinal plants, mushrooms and even silkworms – which is generating a booming farming business. Equally important to growing tapias trees are trees planted to meet some of the basic needs including the need for fuel (eucalyptus, acacias trees) and fruit trees to increase the incomes of local farmers. Fabris was excited to see the result of this action in the field:

“I’ve heard about the operation “a move = a planted tree” when I first started at the company. I thought it was good, but it seemed virtual to me. After witnessing the work completed by Planète Urgence I can testify that there are many trees in nurseries and trees planted, and this operation has a real positive impact on the environment and on the people who live in this region.”

 

Presentation to the French-Malagasy Chamber of Commerce

Later that day, Planète Urgence was invited to present their operations to the member companies of the French-Malagasy Chamber of Commerce (CCIFM), to encourage them to become involved in the financing of the association’s work locally. The presence of the AGS Madagascar Manager was welcomed and Fabris accompanied them on this mission. Fabris presented to 25 company representatives and talked about the MOBILITAS Group’s involvement in this environmental cause and the concrete evidence he had discovered during his visit.

The Planète Urgence project in a few figures

Planète Urgence planted 7,458,847 trees worldwide between 2007 and 2017, including 1,821,609 in Madagascar. MOBILITAS has contributed to the planting of 220,000 trees since its commitment in 2009, including 71,900 in Madagascar.

Read more:

http://www.planete-urgence.org/environnement-et-developpement/environment-and-development-madagascar.htm?langue=en