Hadi Beydoun is a young libanese who grew up in Ivory Coast.
He defined the surfing identity of the Ivory Coast by creating the first pro surfboard factory in West Africa in the Ivorian Coast, a country where the surf was still inexistent few years ago.
This is the inspiring story of The West Factory.
Listen podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Soundcloud.
From Australia to Ivory Coast
After living in Australia for 5 years, Hadi comes back to his homeland in the Ivorian Coast where he grew up with his family that has been living there for 40 years now. The surf culture of Australia in his head and the desire to create a surf factory was finally able to be implemented. The project was to create locally made-boards in a country where all the boards were imported. Challenging.
“Creating was the basis of the project, the idea to implement was very important, thinking about something and doing it was essential”
95% of the made-boards are sold in the Ivorian Coast. Exportation is a market they want to develop further in the future but the reason why they only export 5% of the boards is the financial cost of logistics, which is very high.
Promising young surfers who want to learn how to shaper and design
“Last weekend, when I was in Assinie, a surf spot East of Cote d’Ivoire, a few kilometers away from Ghana, I was approached by Emanuel a young surfer who was very motivated to be part of the team. We surfed together few years back. He asked me if he could join the family and work for The West Factory, be part of the team, how to shape, repare the boards. I said “Of course you’re welcome, come to Abidjan! Spend some time with Paul, and start with learning the basics of ding repairs!”
With boards of unique design, The West Factory allows young Ivoirians to develop their creativity by painting on the surfboards! These young artists usually studying at the university are making sure these boards come out with a fresh identity.
Between locals and expats, a balance market
A lot of expats, especially French people have settled in Ivory Coast, some have even been here for a few generations. They want to surf as much as possible and are willing to pay money to buy professional surfboards. This is the main target of The West Factory.
“We knew ivorians will slowly come to us but this is a long process, we knew that only the kids who grew up around close to the beach were at some point completely interesting by what we’re doing”.
A community can only be created if another community is willing to pay the price, that means buying local surfboards in this case. It works like a balance: the first expatriate community helps to develop the other community, i.e. the locals. The Ivorian aspect of surfing requires investment and time.
“We give back to education by providing books, materials for students when they go to school, anything students will use at school.”
Initially they were working with the Foundation Williams that is owns by a family’s friend of Hadi. For every board sold, The West Factory gives back a percentage to the foundation to invest in the Ivorian education and support kids to stay at school as much as possible.
The challenge of the trust
Trust was the biggest challenge that Hadi faced. He created a factory in a country where people were purchasing boards by importation for a very long time. Coming with this new philosophy and ideas that go against the traditions and convince people to buy a good surfboard that was made locally was the real challenge.
“It was a battle, to convince customers that we are a factory as well”
Hadi brought in some shapers with experience from all over the world at the beginning of the project to help him develop the business. The concept was to create a lively and moving space to shape, make boards and teach how to make boards thanks to these different shapers.
“We’re not reinventing something, we’re doing locally what they’re doing overseas”
For the founder, the long-term success of The West Factory is based on the loyalty of their clients. The fact that a surfer comes to buy a second board is a guarantee of quality for the business. Today, Hadi think about expanding The West Factory, to merge with another brand and even to develop the same concept in other places and countries around in Africa. The West African market has a lot of potential.
If we were to take any advice from him, it would probably be:
“A surfer who trusts your product is a success!”
Want to learn more about this business? Go listen our podcast with Hadi Beydoun!
To follow this business on Instagram: @thewestfactory
More podcast episodes
Podcast and interview by Solene
Addictive traveler who gives a voice to the entrepreneurs who inspire us in the surfing world, Solene is collaborating with Surfpreneurs Club as an intern.
