InVivo inaugurates Académie du Pain, a bakery training centre in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Last week saw InVivo, one of Europe's leading agricultural groups, inaugurate a bakery training centre overseen by two of its subsidiaries, Soufflet Négoce by InVivo and Episens, in partnership with its Ivorian milling customers: LMCI (Les Moulins de Côte d'Ivoire and MMCI (Les Moulins Modernes de Côte d'Ivoire) — the Centre des Métiers de la Boulangeries de Côte d'Ivoire (Cote d'Ivoire bakery training centre). The Académie du Pain (Bread Academy) and its team of baking and pastry trainers, offers vocational training and professional development workshops.

The baking/pastry/viennoiserie sector is experiencing considerable growth in Côte d'Ivoire, with 2000 bakeries throughout the country and the consumption of wheat flour products rising continuously over the past 20 years.  Episens by InVivo and Soufflet Négoce by InVivo set the creation of this training centre in motion with a view to addressing the need for structuring and professionalisation in the sector, and contributed their expertise to the creation and operational management of the academy.

The Académie du Pain offers four professional training courses, with qualifications and certificates, tailored to the realities and needs of this sector, which is currently in the structuring phase.

There are two basic training courses in baking and pastry/viennoiserie intended mainly for students and people looking for work or who are retraining.

There are also two further training courses on the same specialities for experienced professionals wishing to improve or upgrade their skills.

"With the opening of this academy, InVivo is playing a wholehearted role in the dissemination of French expertise in the highly specialised baking, pastry and viennoiserie sectors. This is a way for us to contribute to the influence that France has internationally, while promoting the modernisation of the baking/pastry/viennoiserie sector in Côte d'Ivoire. Our ambition is to train 250 apprentices each year". Thierry Blandinières, CEO of InVivo