SONOCO II (IFC-49912)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Guinea
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Daboyah, Massayah, Sanoyah
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Mar 10, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
SONOCO SA
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Construction
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 20.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 20.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 49.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Feb 3, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Jan 28, 2026

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the IFC, the proposed investment is an 8-year IFC A-Loan to Groupe SONOCO, S.A., a client based in Conakry, to support a greenfield poultry project in Guinea. The company is a repeat IFC client since 2019 and is a Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) player and leader in the wheat milling industry. SONOCO has other subsidiaries and Fermav is the subsidiary dedicated to the integrated poultry farm. The ESRS and ESAP for the original project can be found in https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/40276/sonoco.

IFC’s loan will support an integrated poultry operation consisting in three mains components:

(i) the development of poultry facilities in Daboyah (including a breeding facility, several breeding houses and a hatchery with incubators) on the outskirts of Kindia town;
(ii) the construction of a slaughterhouse in Massayah, and
(iii) the construction of the feed mill in Sanoyah.

Construction of all the facilities has commenced with some being nearly completed and others expected by March 2027.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the IFC, Groupe Sonoco is owned by the Diallo family.

As stated on the company's LinkedIn profile (translated with DeepL.com), FERMAV-industries, a subsidiary of the Sonoco Group, aspires to become a key player in Guinea's agricultural and poultry sector. [The company's] mission is to develop integrated, sustainable, and innovative projects to meet the growing needs in animal nutrition and poultry production.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Groupe SONOCO, SA Client Agriculture and Forestry owns FERMAV-industries Subsidiary Agriculture and Forestry

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Client - FERMAV Industries:

Ehab Abu Shaweesh - CEO
Phone: +224 621 001 900
Email: contact@groupesonoco.com 
Address: Immeuble SONOCO Trade Center KAO32- Av. William Tubman Almamya – Commune de Kaloum BP : 1492 Conakry, Republic of Guinea
Website: www.groupesonoco.com  

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

How it works

How it works