In the early 1960s, His Highness the Aga Khan launched the very first IPS projects to encourage and expand private enterprise in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia.

Industrial Promotion Services (West Africa) was founded by AKFED in partnership with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire.

IPS(WA) invited third parties to participate in its capital in 1988. At 30 June 2010, the shareholders of IPS(WA) were as follows :

• AKFED : 40,90%
• Government of Côte d’Ivoire : 15,00%
• IFC (International Finance Corporation) : 15,00%
• DEG (German Development Agency) : 9,00%
• BICICI (BNP-PARIBAS) : 8,00%
• SAPRIM : 1,99%
• SGBCI : 1,75%
• Others : 8,36%

With annual revenues of XOF 209 billion (USD 431 million), IPS(WA) now operates in four main sectors :

• Packaging (XOF 49 billion),
• Agribusiness (XOF 36 billion),
• Infrastructure (XOF 118 billion),
• SMEs (XOF 6 billion).