• Yohann Behi founded Blok in 2023 to secure construction-material supply and delivery across African markets.
• Blok operates as a marketplace serving hardware retailers and construction firms with negotiated prices and scheduled delivery.
• Behi also leads IODCI West Africa, a regional construction-material trading and distribution company.

Yohann Behi tackles logistics inefficiencies in Africa’s construction sector by deploying a technology-driven approach designed to secure material supply. His initiative targets a central challenge for African construction sites: the reliability of delivery timelines and material flows.

Yohann Behi is an Ivorian entrepreneur and serves as chief executive officer of Blok, a construction-material procurement marketplace built for African industry players. He co-founded the platform in 2023 with Waly K. N’Diaye, who serves as chief operating officer.

Blok positions itself as a solution for ordering and delivering construction materials that allows hardware retailers and builders to receive supplies on time without logistical disruptions. The platform aggregates a wide range of products and enables hardware store owners to source materials from a single interface at prices the company presents as competitive relative to the market.

The solution also targets construction firms, for which precise delivery windows determine project execution. Blok delivers materials either directly to hardware stores or to construction sites, depending on client needs.

The start-up said most listed products benefit from negotiated pricing that undercuts prevailing market rates. Clients can settle payments in cash upon delivery or through mobile money platforms, including Wave, Orange Money and MTN Money.

Alongside his role at Blok, Yohann Behi serves as chief executive officer of IODCI West Africa, an Ivorian-owned company that specializes in construction-material trading across West Africa and in the distribution of paints and coatings. The company operates franchises in Abidjan and in Cotonou, Benin.

On the academic front, Behi graduated from the École internationale du management responsable 3A in Lyon. He earned a master’s degree in climate change and sustainable trade in 2010 and later obtained a master’s degree in international trade and project management from ISC Paris in 2012.

He launched his professional career in 2010 at Virtual Expo, a French start-up that supports business-to-business project developers, where he worked as a marketing project assistant. In 2012, he joined Bolloré Africa Logistics as account manager for West Africa.

In 2013, he joined PPG, the paints and coatings group, where he held successive roles as business developer, head of commercial sales and exports for West Africa, and key accounts and specifications manager. Between 2020 and 2023, he served as commercial director for sub-Saharan Africa at AGC Glass Europe, a company specializing in the production, processing and distribution of flat glass for the construction sector.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum