OMNIUM MALI, which owns 58.5% of the Company’s shareholding, is a leading industrial player in Mali, producing batteries, since 1996. OMNIUM MALI is a subsidiary of OMNIUM INVEST, an investment vehicle established in Mali, set up by Karim Ghammache, its founder and 90% owner, to own all of his shares in different companies.

SOATAF, which owns 6.5% of the Company’s shareholding, is a Malian company specialized in the export of several commodities including shea nuts, sesame, arabic gum and peanuts. SOATAF’s main sponsor is Mr Modibo Tala, one of the biggest shea traders in Mali, who has developed a collection network of 25,000 women.

ECODEV VENTURE, which owns 35% of the Company’s shareholding, is an investment trust owned by Endeavor mining, a medium-size mining company, established to invest in projects which can provide significant sustainable positive impact in area close to their mining operation in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Total Project cost is estimated at approximately €5.8 million. IFC is proposing to participate with an A Loan of up to €1.25 million on its own account and a GAFSP Loan of up to €1.25 million in its capacity as the implementing entity of GAFSP.

The investments will be made in the district of Bamako, where the Mali Shi’s plant will be built.

This proposed investment is expected to have limited environmental and social impacts, which are expected to be site-specific and none is expected to be significant. Those impacts can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to recognized performance standards, procedures, guidelines and design criteria as described in the following sections. Thus, this is a Category B project in accordance with IFC’s Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy. The project is designed to avoid, minimize and manage E&S risks and impacts of the company’s operations in compliance with Malian legal and regulatory requirements, IFC’s Performance Standards (PSs) and applicable World Bank Group (WBG) General and sector-specific (Food and Beverage Processing) Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines.

Key E&S risks associated with this investment are: (i) the occupational health and safety risks associated with the construction of the greenfield shea butter processing facility; (ii) once operational, capacity and ability of Mali Shi to manage and monitor the EHS risks associated with producing shea butter; (iii) occupational health and safety during operations; (iv) life and fire safety risks related to the chemical extraction process; (v) working conditions and terms of employment; (vi) wastewater and waste management; (vii) road traffic safety associated with transport of shea nuts; and (viii) sustainable supply chain assurance including raw material quality.