Côte d’Ivoire: Laureen Kouassi-Olsson, founder of an investment company for African luxury designers

Laureen Kouassi-Olsson, a financial expert from Ivory Coast, founded Birimian Ventures in 2021, an investment fund for creative industries in Africa, particularly African luxury brands.

A year ago, Laureen Kouassi-Olsson launched Birimian Ventures, an investment fund to support African luxury designers. At the origin of the company, the Ivorian entrepreneur noticed that there were many designers in Africa, but unfortunately due to the absence of an ecosystem dedicated to them, they had difficulty accessing capital, low production capacity and were excluded from international value chains. “After my international career, I was pleased to meet African designers. I was overwhelmed by their ability to attract international support, their ability to carry our story through them. I was also upset by the lack of infrastructure, funding and the difficulties they face,”she said in an interview with bpi France.

By creating Birimian Ventures, the entrepreneur aims to transform African designers into creative entrepreneurs and businesses that can generate long-term value on the continent. The company aims to establish links between the continent’s designers and strategic players in the international fashion and creative industries.

It supports luxury brands of African heritage, in fashion, accessories, cosmetics and beauty, gourmet and offers them support on several levels: development, investment, training, coaching & capacity building.

Thanks to a partnership with the French Fashion Institute, signed in 2021, the company supports each year for 10 months ten young designers, chosen for their talent and specificity, as part of the “IFM-Birimian Accelerator x Africa” program.

To date, Birimian Ventures supports several African brands, including Christie Brown, Simone & Elise, Kente Gentlemen, Mille collines, Post-Imperial, MMusomMaxwell, Rich Mnisi, “This is us”, Shekudo, Umoja…

A career in investment

Laureen Kouassi-Olsson graduated from EM Lyon Business School in 2007 with a Master’s degree in management. She started her career at Lehman Brothers in 2006 as M-Analyst – Industrials. In 2009, she joined Proparco, part of the French Development Agency, as Investment Officer – Financial Institutions & Capital Markets.

In 2012, she joined Amethis, an investment fund manager dedicated to Africa, first as Investment Director, Head of Financial Institutions. In 2016, she moved to Ivory Coast to launch Amethis West Africa. From 2014 to 2019, she was Executive Director of Amethis West Africa. She will also be in charge of investments in Central Africa.

She also held several positions on the boards of several companies and institutions, including the NSIA Group, CIEL Finance in Mauritius, Fidelity Bank Ghana, Orange Abidjan, African Venture Philanthropy Alliance, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Arise IIP…

In 2020, she left Amethis to launch her own projects in the field of investment and fashion which she is passionate about. In 2021, she was ranked among the 100 most influential women in Africa by Avance Media.