Founder of the start-up EwoSmart, which reforests and creates islands of freshness in cities, and co-founder of the digital application Wafhi.com, which makes it easier for companies to implement their CSR strategy. Arlande Joerger - Aroukoun is also a member of the board of directors of the public policy incubator "Je m'engage pour l'Afrique", whose main mission is to bring to light ideas that respond to the major challenges facing Africa, to give visibility to the players behind these ideas and to produce knowledge that can be used for advocacy.
Arlande Joerger-Aroukoun always has a smile on her face when she describes the projects she runs in African countries. And it’s not for the photo or the publicity. “I’m active in three key areas: environmental, social and economic,” she says proudly. The project that catapulted her to fame is the start-up EwoSmart, which offers regional development companies and local authorities a digital decision-support solution for developing green spaces and combating urban heat islands. This digital tool will be based on artificial intelligence and spatial imagery.
“In July 2022, around ten young French people were selected to be part of the delegation that accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron to Cameroon after his re-election. The aim was to exchange ideas and formulate proposals between French and Cameroonian young people on the issue of rebuilding relations between Cameroon and France, and more generally between African countries and France in the context of the NSAF (New Africa-France Summit). In November of the same year, I had the opportunity to accompany the French Head of State to the 27th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt”, says Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun. That’s as much or more than a committed young entrepreneur could have achieved. It shows that even though it is men who more often occupy positions of high responsibility, particularly in government, there really is a female activity.
Through her start-up EwoSmart, Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun is also supporting the development of green cities in Africa and beyond, by integrating citizen participation in order to strengthen the sustainability of programmes and increase the number of forums for exchange between civil society, businesses and local authorities when it comes to environmental planning. It was against this backdrop that the greening programme for Benin’s economic capital Cotonou was launched in March 2023. A few weeks after the launch, a mapping of the players involved is being carried out via a call for applications, with a view to formalising a Directory of Sustainable City Artisans. “This document could be shared at the International Congress of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) in October 2023 in Cotonou”, stresses the entrepreneur.
“CSR is a way of thinking with which I identify”
For Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun, working for sustainable development and environmental protection is second nature. And the young woman, who was born in Benin, has been doing this for 10 years now, including 3 years with companies based in Africa. “I’ve never worked outside this vision, which consists of creating economic models that are as environmentally neutral as possible, that create sustainable jobs and wealth to be distributed as fairly as possible in order to act for the development of populations”, says the entrepreneur.
Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun is also co-founder of the wafhi.com application, with Julie Biron, an expert in the social economy. Wafhi.com helps French-speaking companies and their subsidiaries in Africa and Europe to structure and manage a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach tailored to their specific contexts and challenges, from taking stock of the situation through various improvement plans to support and certification.
It’s a way of working that should encourage companies to ask themselves a few good questions at the outset
“What should my strategy be used for? Firstly, to ensure the company’s sustainability in a context where everything is changing. If in five years’ time this company still wants to exist, what are the three points to which it absolutely must pay attention? Most company directors will talk about human resources. Does the labour market around us offer enough competent profiles that can be employed immediately? This is rarely the case.
Once the areas that will ensure the company’s longevity have been identified, a roadmap is drawn up that is in line with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)“, explains Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun.
“Embodying your ideas in the face of stereotypes
Many young girls have grown up dreaming of making a positive impact on the world like Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun, but traditional norms and stereotypes that relegate the role of women to the background have done nothing but extinguish their hopes. Arlande Joerger’s battle is also about saying that you can be a woman and set up your own business. To go beyond clichés. “We’re always a bit torn between whether I’m doing the right thing by being so committed to what I’m doing, even though I have children? Especially in Western societies, which I find make women feel guilty whether they have children or not. This doesn’t manifest itself so much in a frontal way, but rather in the way they see things. In the end, it’s not a question of doing or not doing, but of finding the balance that allows each woman to do what’s important to her, so that the time she spends with her family and her children is truly quality time”, says Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun.
Arlande Joerger – Aroukoun is also fighting this battle as a member of the board of directors of the public policy incubator “Je m’engage pour l’Afrique” (JMA), launched in January 2021 at the initiative of Ileana Santos and Amina Zakhnouf. “For me, it’s about bringing to the fore ideas that respond to the major challenges facing Africa, giving visibility to the players behind these ideas and producing knowledge that can be used for advocacy”.
Inès Magoum
