The pan-African company wants to make Benin a key player in the cotton and cashew nut markets through the development of its industrial sector. This by exporting its model of the special economic zone, which is already present in Gabon.

The Glo-Djigbé industrial zone (GDIZ) takes shape on the interstate road that connects Cotonou to agricultural farms in the north of the country. With the objective of “structurally transforming the Beninese economy”, in the words of President Patrice Talon, Arise IIP (65%) and the State (35%) establish the Société d'et de promotion de l'Industrie (SIPI), which manages the GDIZ. According to Létondji Beheton, director general (CEO) of GDIZ, this means switching from “the income of raw agricultural products to the export of processed products”, Benin, which has, in this sense, decided to ban the export of raw cashew and soybeans from 1 April 1, 2024.

In addition, the industrial zone, located 45 km from Cotonou, enjoys privileged access to the economic capital and to the latter's autonomous port re, as well as at the airport and, soon, to a railway line linked to the existing network. With an area of 1640 hectares, the GDIZ, which will be able to accommodate one hundred businesses, represents an opening to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a vast market of more than 400 million consumers.