He gained visibility with the trade and investment promotion events he organized around the world. He then founded an international trade platform to enable local producers and traders to expand their export reach to the rest of the world.

Vital Sounouvou (photo) is a Beninese entrepreneur and trade and investment advisor. He holds a bachelor's in telecommunications and software engineering from the IUT in Calais, France, and a business management certificate from the University of Texas at Austin. He is renowned as the founder and CEO of Exportunity Group, an event management and trade promotion group. 

Founded in 2012, Exportunity Group built its reputation as an event management and trade promotion company in West Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, South Africa, and many others. The trade promotion activity played a crucial role in building the company's reputation and expanding its professional network.

In 2015, together with his team, Vital Sounouvou launched Exportunity.net with the goal of helping small African businesses expand their customer base and benefit from a secure payment system. The e-commerce platform was available to customers through a network of more than 700 outlets in West Africa until its closure in 2019.

In 2016, the entrepreneur explained that Exportunity came from the realization that despite the fairs he used to organize, he was still not connecting local producers with “big buyers.” “I organized fairs but I still did not solve the problems of these producers. In fact, in most sub-Saharan African countries there is no bridge between big buyers, people who can pay 100 containers of rice per month, and local producers. To observe this gap launched me in this adventure that is today Exportunity and still drives me every day,” he said.

Building on that drive, even when Exportunity was to be shut down, he launched another platform RayOn that has already been tested by over 800 firms across Africa. With its user-friendly interface, the new platform offers SMEs online shops to promote their businesses and a mobile app to manage sales and deliveries in real-time. RayOn also offers training for selected SMEs operating on its platform and funds their marketing campaigns.

In 2017, through Exportunity, he introduced the "XportCARD" Visa card in Benin, in collaboration with the United Bank for Africa. The cards were designed to help small and medium-sized businesses seeking an international payment solution securely conduct financial transactions globally. As of January 2022, XportCARDs was claiming over 6,300 active users and more than $80 million in transactions processed. 

A 2014 Mandela Washington and 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Fellow, Vital Sounouvou is a 2016 Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list honoree.

Melchior Koba