On October 17 and 18, the GROUPE RAGNI participated in and sponsored Ambition Africa, held at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty in Paris.

Jean-Christophe RAGNI, our General Manager & Export Manager, took part in the “African Cities: Towards Sustainable Urban Mobility” round table, alongside Johnson SAKAJA, Governor of Nairobi, Cécile CAMILLI, Société Générale’s Global Head of Development & Structured Export Finance, and Dr Gérémie SOLLE, First Deputy Mayor of Douala.

We’ve been present on the African continent for almost 30 years, notably in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, where we opened two subsidiaries in 2022, and also in Benin and Gabon, where we enjoy an exclusive foothold. Our mindset has always been to pursue a development strategy in collaboration with our local partners.

It is through this strong cooperation that we train and support national employees who are actively working to improve their country’s public lighting services, as Africa today is clearly demonstrating its desire to develop its infrastructures. As designers and integrators of end-to-end solutions, we aim to support this ambition by helping decision-makers implement their national public policy on public lighting, offering them a range of products and services perfectly suited to the challenges facing their region. It is this expertise that has enabled us to carry out major projects in Senegal (36,000 light points for ANER), Benin (Boulevard de la Marina in Cotonou with 1,200 luminaires on the city’s main thoroughfare and more than 1,500 others in various zones), Gabon, where we have installed more than 11,000 light points over the last ten years, as well as in Côte d’Ivoire (Grand Bassam, Boulevard de Marseille and Plateau in Abidjan and Bingerville) and Cameroon.

At the Rebuild Ukraine trade fair held in Warsaw, Poland, on November 14 and 15, 2023, the RAGNI GROUP and its Ukrainian partner EKTA were present, along with an entire French delegation led by Business France, to support Ukraine’s reconstruction project.

Since 2019, the GROUPE RAGNI has undertaken a number of sales and partnership initiatives in the Ukrainian market, identified as a high-potential market for grid-connected and stand-alone solar street lighting subjects. Following a business event organized by Business France in 2019, GROUPE RAGNI collaborated with EST Expansion, a company based in Ukraine and France, and carried out market research in this country. This study has confirmed the necessity of developping a business in the area. In January 2020, the Group carried out a prospecting mission in Kyiv with the aim of establishing a partnership, and initiating the beginnings of discussions on the possibility of local assembly of the Group’s products. These various initiatives have led to a partnership with EKTA, whose aim is to develop its street lighting market. Since then, EKTA and GROUPE RAGNI have been working to analyze product ranges, market needs and costs. RAGNI and EKTA is at the disposal of the Ukrainian and French authorities to provide street lighting solutions in the current context of wartime resilience of Ukrainian territories and future reconstruction.

We were delighted to be able to take part in this event and to exchange ideas with our many European visitors.