The start-up Green Agro Valley CI wins the Ivorian stage of the EDF Pulse Africa Tour

(EDF) - The Ivorian start -up Green Agro Valley CI (SARL) won the Ivory Coast stage of the EDF Pulse Africa Tour, which is part of the more global framework of the EDF Pulse Africa innovation competition.Twelve candidates will participate in the grand final which will take place on December 2 in Paris.Embodying EDF's commitment to Africa, the EDF Pulse Africa competition supports the most promising innovative start-ups on the continent to meet the current energy challenges in Africa and contribute to its economic development.

The EDF Pulse Africa Tour, launched in 2019, is carried out in partnership with African incubators and other institutional partners of EDF, with the aim of meeting innovative start-ups on the ground.The Ivorian Tour stage was rich in exchanges: EDF and energy world experts presented innovative initiatives to EDF in Côte d'Ivoire to participants, before the 8 finalist start-upspresent their great diversity of innovative and disruptive projects, offering solutions with a strong positive impact on the environment and the Ivorian socioeconomic fabric.

Placed under the high patronage of the Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and Energy, the award ceremony, awarded by a jury of experts impressed by the quality of the projects and composed of M.Benoit Ledjou member of the cabinet of the Ministry of Energy, M.Claude Koua, economic attaché of the French Embassy in Côte d'Ivoire, M.Moussa Kader Diaby, Managing Director of INPHB, Ms. Nabou Fall, Director General of Vizeo, Ms. Rym Moulaye, vice-president of Black Pearl, Ms. Johanna Niedzialkowski, investment manager at the Innovation Fund for Development, M.Moulaye Tabouré, co-founder of Afrikrea, M.Raphaël Ruat, Managing Director of Biovéa Energie, M.Eric Lehouelleur, Managing Director of ZECI, M.Christ-Anderson Ahoua Boua, project manager off Grid of EDF and M.Mahamane Sow, Managing Director EDF Côte d'Ivoire and Togo.

At the end of this stage, the jury finally awarded two prizes (a first prize and a "favorite of the jury"), to two Ivorian entrepreneurs:

After a growing success in the past five years, with 79 profiles selected in 2017 against 536 in 2019, spread over more than half of the 54 African countries, this fourth edition of ambition and will award three prizes as well as a "from the heart of the jury ”to African start-ups and SMEs offering innovative solutions in the following areas:

« EDF Pulse Africa reflète la politique de soutien d’EDF envers les start-ups et PME d’Afrique, et plus particulièrement de Côte d’Ivoire, menée avec l’intime conviction que les solutions innovantes de demain en matière énergétique sont déjà à notre portée » a déclaré Mahamane Sow, directeur Côte d’Ivoire & Togo d’EDF.At the end of the grand final, which will take place on December 2, 2021 in Paris, 4 winners will be able to win up to 15,000 euros, and integrate the EDF Pulse Africa Factory, an acceleration program bringing together actors in support and support andsupport for the growth of African "nuggets" in the field of energy access.

This initiative is a continuation of the EDF Pulse prices.Launched in 2014, these prices favored the emergence and support of 80 start-ups in Europe and have been emulated in Africa, China, Brazil, India and Chile, as part of EDF's strategyaimed at identifying potential partners, developing your own ecosystem and giving visibility to young innovative structures, in order to gain agility and respond more adequately to the needs of the.

As a reminder, EDF has been present for 50 years in more than 14 African countries, with more than 500,000 electrified households according to a "low-carbon" model which is focusing on sustainable and accessible energy.This is evidenced by, for example, the recent launch of the "Diaspora Energy by EDF" platform offer aimed at offering "out-of-network" solar kits for rural populations with a first deployment for Côte d'Ivoire.With this in mind, EDF has also associated itself with the Ivorian start-up and subsidiary of EDF ZECI (Zola Edf Côte d'Ivoire), which markets the solar kits sold remotely.

A major player in the energy transition, the EDF group is an integrated energy company, present throughout the trades: production, transport, distribution, trading, energy sale and energy services.Leader of low carbon energy in the world, the group has developed a diversified production mix mainly based on nuclear and renewable energy (including hydraulics) and invests in new technologies to support the energy transition.The raison d'être of EDF is to build a neutral energy future by CO2 reconciling preservation of the planet, well-being and development, thanks to electricity and innovative solutions and services.The group contributes to the supply of energy and services to approximately

37.9 million customers (1), including 28.7 million in France (2).He achieved a consolidated turnover of 69.0 billion euros in 2020.EDF is a listed company on the Paris Stock Exchange.

(1) Customers have been deducted since 2018 by delivery site;A customer can have two delivery points: one for electricity and another for gas.

(2) Including ES (Strasbourg electricity).