By Ben Bangoura
On May 31st, the Chairman and CEO of Classic Vintage, Brian Stridel, met with the Ivory Coast Ambassador to the United States Ibrahima Toure, at country’s chancery in northwest Washington, DC. Discussions centered on investment opportunities in Ivory Coast.
The meeting was cordial and came as Mr. Stridel, businessman and philanthropist at the helm of a third-generation family own recycling company based in Maryland, aimed to expand opportunities to Africa. And he believes Ivory Coast, second economic powerhouse in West Africa after Nigeria, is a good place to start.
Stridel praised stability and economic progress of Ivory Coast, a onetime war-torn country, and expressed interest in investing there beyond Recyling, which is essentially based on products collected from the Northeast part of the United States.
« Classic Vintage produces Bales (Bundles) of 100 to 1000 Lbs in all classifications. In addition to construction materials, we export clothing, shoes and household items to the satisfaction of our clients to places like Central America, Western and Eastern Europ for competitive prices and humanitarian operations », Brian said.
« Recycling is just an iceberg in term of what we do », he told Ambassador Toure as he enumerates additional number of sectors in which Classic Vintage is involved.
« These are the real estate, the renewable energy and the agriculture developments just to name a few, » he added.
After nearly 2 hours of discussion, Ambassador Toure thanked Mr. Streidel for overture to his country. He indicated that Ivory Coast is open for business. In addition to Agriculture and Renewable energy, the diplomat also stressed the importance of education and healthcare for his government.
As they agree to meet again, Mr. Stridel was invited to identify areas of interests in short, medium and long term for consideration in Abidjan.
The Ivory Coast’s economy is largely market-based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. Almost 70% of the Ivorian people are engaged in some form of agricultural activity, according to World Bank. AlloAfricaNews
