He is an expert in digitization, business strategy and development, and digital banking. With AgroSfer, he digitizes agriculture, providing appropriate solutions to the needs of cooperatives, agribusinesses, and governments. 

Francis Dossou Sognon (photo) is a Beninese entrepreneur set on revolutionizing agriculture across Africa. In 2019, the industrial and systems engineering graduate founded AgroSfer for that purpose. 

Through the agritech company, he designs and implements data-driven strategies to improve the agricultural value chain on the continent. He supports agricultural cooperatives, collects data in the field, and provides tailor-made support to small-scale farmers to help build sustainable supply chains for food industry players.

Currently, AgroSfer operates in Benin, France and Côte d’Ivoire. To help at least three million farmers easily sell their products to manufacturers by 2025, it developed a digital marketplace to connect farmers with international buyers. For the time being, it has reached some 20,000 farmers. 

Francis Dossou Sognon is also one of the co-founders of Acumen Network, an African digitization company that aims to help businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations effectively address the challenges they face in transforming their activities. 

His professional career began in 2006 at Valeo, an automotive supplier, where he was a lean engineer. He worked at Mastercard Advisors in the information services sales office in 2015 and as business development support between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, he joined Illicado, a forerunner in the French voucher market in France, as a digital program manager.

Melchior Koba