Jeune Afrique: The Red Sea is currently experiencing disruptions in maritime traffic. The giants MSC, Maersk and CMA CGM have had to change their routes. Does this worry you for the future?

Philippe Labonne: In recent years, we have understood that the world is increasingly unpredictable. We have had Covid, we have the war in Ukraine, we also have the situation in the Middle East and this implies that the supply chain adapts.

We were able to demonstrate during the crisis how logistics companies, such as Africa Global Logistics, had managed to continue to supply the world with vaccines. As for the Red Sea, shipping companies now go via the Cape of Good Hope. The journey is longer, round trip, 20 days, and it actually costs more money to shipping companies and therefore to customers in the end.

For a country like Egypt, which draws most of its revenue from the Suez Canal, the change of route is a fatal blow. What is the impact on your local business?

Egypt is a strategic country for Africa. It is a country that is located on the edge of the Red Sea and controls the Suez Canal. It has a lot of energy, great skills and arable land. Its geographical location allows it to serve the part of the Horn of Africa that goes all the way to Kenya, which has arable land.

Egypt will regain its geographical position when the time comes. I think that today, we must stay in Egypt, be patient, lower our sails if necessary and also look carefully at the country's assets and its potential in the emergence of the African continent.

On the other hand, in the west of the continent, we find the same situation of unpredictability, even insecurity in the Sahel. Do European companies, and particularly French ones, still have a place there?

In fact, these are very young countries, in the process of being built, which are going through crises. Indeed, the political situation has an impact on the functioning of business because some players are withdrawing. But this is not our case. We continue to remain in these countries to serve in particular the players in the agro-industrial world.

Our major customers include cotton producers and we ensure the evacuation of almost the entire cotton campaign from Burkina Faso and Mali. People continue to work, to feed themselves. It is also important that our employees continue to be able to work.

Concretely, for a private sector player, what impact can economic sanctions have on your activities?

In these cases, the actors react with a certain inertia, particularly in orders. Then, the shipowners adapt and start to no longer carry out shipments for Niger.

So you do indeed have a declining activity. This was the case for the port of Benin, it is also the case in Niger. We are therefore trying to tighten the sails, while wishing to remain in the country.

Our activities in Benin have not been significantly affected, but we are feeling a significant drop in volumes at the port of Cotonou. As for Niger, the good news is that the ECOWAS states have decided to lift the sanctions and the country should resume its path in the regional economy.

And what about Mali?

We stayed in Mali, where we operate several dry ports and are the logistician of the large cotton companies. We will stay in the country. I think that there are two times, that of the economy and that of politics, and economic actors must understand that politicians must be given time to resolve their equation.

Aren't you afraid of being boycotted or banned, as a French group that is a subsidiary of an Italian-Swiss group?

We have been present in the Sahel for decades. We have customers who count on us, and we will stay. On the continent, from East to West, from North to South, French companies are extremely appreciated.

French companies have this specificity of being humanists: man is at the heart of everything and the attention we pay to communities is very important. Today, there is no question of banishing or withdrawing French players from Africa.

What do you say to those who criticise France and say that it is, like other powers, hoarding raw materials?

I think that France's role in Africa is very honourable. Again, I am not a politician, and I will give politicians time to act. But for our part, we will continue our investments in Africa and we are convinced that economic players on the continent have their role to play in contributing to its prosperity, in creating jobs for young people, in training them and in enabling Africa to develop its intra-African trade. Again, this is a condition for prosperity and peace.

When the business climate is more complicated in one region than another, have you not thought about shifting your activities to the latter? In East Africa for example?

This is the vision of the MSC Group: Africa is a new frontier for development. Today, the African continent represents 3% of world trade. And when we know that its population will represent a quarter of the world population in 2050, we can imagine the development potential of this continent.

It is not a question of choosing between one country and another. Of course, as I said, we must adapt, be agile when a security or political situation leads to a reduction in activities. On the other hand, we will remain in West Africa and we will continue our developments in other regions of Africa.

In a controversial speech on Africa-France relations in February 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a collective awakening of French companies in Africa. As a representative of the employers, how do you react to these remarks?

We must take African states seriously, we must take African citizens seriously, that is what Africa Global Logistics does and that is why states trust us. The French companies that I know are extremely respectful of their African partners and have a good image.

These companies employ half a million people in Africa since I have been at the head of the Medef Africa committee. We are going to map the impact of French companies in Africa to demonstrate how they have a positive impact on the African economy and contribute to prosperity and the development of good practices.

But above all, what is President Macron referring to? Bad students?

What I would say is that I do not recognize myself and I do not recognize us in President Macron's words.

What are your priorities as head of the Africa committee of Medef International?

First, I think we need to measure the impact of French companies. Our position within Medef International is to help French companies develop in Africa, but also to help them build partnerships with African players, to contribute to creating a virtuous ecosystem for the development of local supply chains in Africa that today correspond to the continent's priority.

What are your relations with other employers in Africa?

There are 54 countries in Africa, so there are 54 African employers' associations. I don't know them all, but relations are good and whenever we can, we organize joint missions. Soon, we will organize a business forum with the Moroccan employers' association in May. We will promote partnerships between French and Moroccan companies to contribute to the economic development of Morocco.

Do you welcome the warming of diplomatic relations between France and Morocco?

In Morocco, we have more than 1 companies, 300 employees, subsidiaries of these French groups. It is an important country for French companies and it is an important country for Africa. And it is essential that relations are the best possible.

One of your credos is the Africanization of your group's subsidiaries. Is this felt at the level of the various boards of directors?

The vast majority of our businesses are run by Africans. There are other nationalities. The boss of our terminal in Tema is Palestinian, the boss of our activities in the Guinea and Sierra Leone region is Croatian. I will give you two examples, but the majority of our employees are Africans. Clearly, the majority of our business in Africa is called upon to be run by Africans.

Another of the subjects that you defend at the Medef is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Is this a hope for the French leader that you are?

Of course, it is one of the axes of our strategy, as well as one of the axes of AGL's strategy, to contribute to the development of intra-African trade. This represents today 20% of Africa's trade, or less than 1% of world trade. The margin for progress is immense.

The first market for Africa and African states must be Africa itself. This is a priority issue for us and recently, we were in Ethiopia and met with the African Union Commissioner responsible for AfCFTA to assess the progress of the project and present to him the skills of French companies in transport and trade.

This is a priority issue, but it is clear that it has been stalling since the free trade agreement came into force in 2021. Concretely, how can French employers and their experience with the European Union help?

French companies can provide their expertise but they cannot provide the political will. So it is up to African states to ensure that the political will is applied. We can only share our experience in corridor management, goods transfer and information management along the flows. We can also raise awareness, at our level, on the need to streamline the movement of goods and show how this can contribute to the prosperity of economies and job creation.

To finish on a last topic of recent news, you participated, as a sponsor with AGL, in the last African Cup of Nations (CAN) in Ivory Coast. From an economic point of view, is it beneficial to support a company's image with an event like that?

In fact, what we hope is to promote the image of a winning Africa. I was struck by the opening ceremony of the CAN, which I attended with my wife, and which was of high quality, with extremely well-organized shows and great professionalism. It is this image of Africa that we want to support and it is this image of Africa with which we wish to be associated.