OUR HISTORY

Where it all starts

Before establishing Teyliom Group, Mr. Yérim Habib SOW, operated in various activities leading him to create in 1988 his first company called « Direct Access », an IT company.

Six years later, he got in the pager market with « BIP access », the very first company in Senegal offering radiopaging services.

Thanks to its fast growth, the service was finally expanded across West Africa specifically in Côte d’Ivoire making the company the first Francophon Africa’s operator.

The establishment of the company in Côte d’Ivoire was not only a natural expansion of the footprint but also the materialization of a compelling vision : being present in the broadest and most active market of West Africa in order to anticipate the upcoming take-off of the Telecom Industry.

Thanks to the launch of the first Telecom licenses, the company became a major player as shareholder of Loteny Telecom, ivorian company that held the first GSM license.

Thanks to the partnership with Telecel International, the other shareholder of Loteny telecom and through the leadership of Mr. SOW, the company called « Telecel CI » quickly became successful with 50% market share representing more than 800k subscribers.
Leveraging on this wave, M. SOW kept strenghening his positing in the Telecom market considering the consistent and fast growth of the industry in late 90’s.
It leads him to create in 2001 a company called PCCI, first teleservice company in Francophon sub-saharan Africa. Its core business interests were related to customer acquisition through telemarketing, Customer service and multicanal contact management.

2005 Teyliom Group’s early days : Expansion of Technology footprint and first foot in the Real Estate Sector

In 2001, Mr Yérim Habib SOW created Teylium Group holding as main investment, the participation in the capital of Telecel supported by a compelling vision geared towards consistently contributing to West Africa’s economic future through a strong investment print in different countries.

Following this momentum, the young group held great ambitions quickly materialized through a partnership with the Group « Atlantique », active in Telecom and financial services in order to prepare the buyback in 2004 of Telecel International’s shares in Telecel Côte d’Ivoire. This operation has been quickly followed by the transfer of 51% of company’s shares to the south african Telecom company MTN.

In that very same year, the group was successfully awarded of a telecom license in Cap-Vert and took a major participation in the capital of Intercel Guinée.

Apart from this positive momentum in the Telecom Industry, the group decided to seize the opportunities offered by the Real Estate sector through the creation of a brand new Properties Business unit that quickly develop high standard residential and office buildings in Senegal (TRILENIUM, RIVONIA, ATRYUM) and in Côte d’Ivoire (Teyliom Building). That represented the first steps of the Group in a sector going to rapidly become its DNA with the ambition to build & manage high-end residential products in the heart of cities.

Late 2010s : Development of the expertise portofolio

Through major and iconic buildings from 2005 to 2010, Teyliom Group had left a strong mark on the senegalese and ivorian markets by developing a « madeinafrica » expertise meeting the expectations of Corporate and individual customers.

This new strong interest of the group in Real Estate sector didn’t stop its well to diversify its expertise portofolio. In 2006, the group took a participation in African Financial Holding that became Bank Of Africa Group and launched right after a bank called « Bridge Bank ». Also the Group made its first step in the Beverage industry through the creation of the Continental Beverage Company to specialize in production and manufacturing of mineral water and fruit juices.

Late 2010s, following various successful projects, the Group decided to get in the hospitality and retail market to meet the growing demand of tourists and local middle-class. That led to the construction and operation of the 5-star hotel Radisson BLU DAKAR and the SEA PLAZA Mall, iconic hospitality and retail infrastructures located at the sea front and designed in a unique way.

In 2013, following the success of Radisson BLU Dakar that became internationally know as the hotel-to-be in Dakar, the Group decided to further invest in the hospitality sector through the creation of Inaugure Hospitality Group and the managing company Mangalis.

That decision radically boosted the development of the hospitality footprint with the creation of 3 hotel brands (3, 4 and 5-star) that are quality, confort, african and iconic design oriented. This journey has led to more than 6 hotels in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea and Niger and the current construction of other hotels in West and Central Africa.

2013 was also a special year because of the change of the Group name from Teylium to Teyliom followed by an iconic logo representing through the colors and the shape the vision of the Group aiming at consolidating its expertise, its diversification strategy and a solid deep-rooted will to develop its staff.

2014 – The strategic shift : Development of the new city of Diamniadio

Following its momentum, the Group got involved in 2014 in the project of development of a mega governmental project consisting in implementing a new urbanization strategy that led to the establishment of a new city named Diamniadio.

The needs in terms of infrastructures for this new city were tremendous (Offices, Residential, Hospitality, Retail, leasure, Industrial) and thanks to its experience, Teyliom was the perfect candidate to be the first real estate developer to get involved in.

Considering this shift, the group decided to create a construction firm called TEYCO that led and managed the construction of the greatest governmental office building ever build in Senegal : SPHEREX. This infrastructure built in less than 24 months embeds 64.000m² hosting 12 ministries and more than 3000 government officers.

This milestone became the foundation stone of the Real Estate Group vision aiming at becoming a major developer of urban centers in Africa in the next 10 years and strenghening the presence all along its value chain from expertise and products/services perspectives.

Following its permanent diversification will, in 2016, the Group also launched a logistic firm leading the construction and operation of a modern infrastructure intended to host an ecosystem going to handle the cargo fret of the new Airport of Dakar. That infrastructure hosts buildings of Customs and Freight forwarders and a 3,600 sqm warehouse dedicated to freight management.

In the finance sector, over the same period, the Group keeps progressing thanks to Bridge bank and the creation of new business units dedicated to Asset Management and MicroFinance.

Today : The Group strenghens its positioning and lay the groundwork of its future

Today, after 15 consistent years of experience in Telecoms, Real Estate, Finance, beverage industry and Logistics, the Group become the one of the greatest ones of West Africa. It embeds 61 companies with a staff of more than 1,300 employees.

The Group is today at a crossroads and is about to make another step forward going to strenghen his positioning as a 360° player from expertise and products/services perspectives in the Real Estate sector, to keep expanding its hospitality footprint in West and Central Africa, to broaden its expertise portofolio in the banking sector and its positioning as a sophisticated investor interested in the new programs and initiatives aiming at building the future of Africa.