A Tanager team consisting of Burkina Faso Country Representative, Romain Kenfack, Patrick Coulibaly, and Françoise Congo took part in the International Cotton and Textile Conference (SICOT, after translation) in Koudougou, Burkina Faso. SICOT is the largest exhibition dedicated to the processing of African cotton. By attending, Tanager hoped to build relationships toward co-creating initiatives and programs to improve the productivity of the cotton value chain, particularly for smallholder farmers already involved in local production with the SELEVER project. SICOT’s theme was “the integral transformation of cotton and its role in job creation and wealth,” and served as the foundation of the conference’s rich three-day program focused on the evolution of the cotton-textile sector.
Tanager hosted a booth at the exhibition, featuring a video on cotton production techniques produced for the event. Many conference participants visited the booth to learn about Tanager, including Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso, who was on hand to open the conference and toured the exhibition floor. Tanager also took part in panel discussions and plenary sessions, and was even interviewed by local television.