Fruiteq, a grower-exporter based in Bobo-Dioulasso in south-west of Burkina Faso, was established in 2005 and has forged a close working relationship with Eosta since 2009; a relationship that goes beyond the commercial and has seen Eosta establish a Living Wage program for Fruiteq’s seasonal mango workers.
The 2026 season marked the first full season that organic mango volumes were shipped from Fruiteq’s new Ivory Coast operation to Europe through Eosta, following two trial seasons. Fruiteq specialises in Amelie, Kent and Keitt, shipping two-three containers a week to Rotterdam during a mango season the runs from March to late May.
Although Fruiteq’s Founder and Managing Director, Zongo Adama, admitted the first Ivory Coast organic mango season was complicated by the presence of fruit fly, he said the tools were now in place to ramp up production for a more ambitious second full season with Eosta.
He said: “This season has been difficult because we moved our operation to the Ivory Coast, and experienced some problems with fruit fly there for our organic mangos.
“We are expecting to do more volume next season. Our objective is to substantially increase our weekly containers and have a longer season as well. We already have more hectares and the grower base, and Eosta is going to help us to grow the market, so we can grow more volume.”
Adama’s comments were echoed by Eosta Product Manager Joep van Koevorden: “We have high hopes. This is only the first full season we have imported mangos from the Ivory Coast through Fruiteq. They also have conventional fruit, but we are the only receiver of Fruiteq’s organic mangos, and they will be expanding next season.”
Duty of care
With 10 permanent workers and up to 150 seasonal workers in the packing facility during the mango season, both Eosta and Fruiteq take their duty of care seriously, not only to the workers but also to the wider community.
This is especially the case for Fruiteq founder Adama who came from extremely humble beginnings to build a successful mango export business. Orphaned as a child, Adama was reduced to living on the streets until a benefactor offered to sponsor him through the Burkina Faso school system on the condition he was able to pass exams and progress onto the next school year.
As an adult, Adama initially worked as a mathematics teacher in a school, but started focusing on mangos after deciding he wanted to give something back to the community.
Developed in cooperation with Eosta, Fruiteq workers in Burkina Faso now benefit from receiving the Living Wage. According to, for every box of mangos sold, Eosta takes a few cents per kilo and puts them into a savings account. At the end of each season, Eosta deposits the savings into a community fund for Fruiteq workers.
Van Koevorden explained: “People working at Fruiteq, if they have a good business plan, they can borrow money from that fund to start their own business to maintain themselves financially outside of the mango season, which is quite short – it’s only two months a year.”
Adama added: “The Living Wage project has been very successful. After the mango season, together with Eosta, we give the money that has been saved to the workers’ association – some of them are able to use it for their own businesses, which has been very positive. They are able to work for themselves, and don’t need to do seasonal work again. It’s been a very good project with Eosta.”
Although the system is not yet in place in Ivory Coast given that operations are still relatively new in the country, plans are already in motion from Eosta and Fruteq to set it up.
