After various legal jobs in France, where he gained experience, he returned to Côte d'Ivoire and started his own business. His idea to use technology to offer legal assistance to entrepreneurs seduced many on the continent and even sparked the interest of foreign investors.
Youssouf Ballo (photo) is an Ivorian legal expert and entrepreneur. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Legafrik, a startup offering legal assistance for company creation. The startup he co-founded -with full stack developer Daouda Diallo- in 2017, offers legal and accounting consulting services in OHADA member countries.
Through Legafrik, entrepreneurs receive a 20% discount on all the legal documents, procedures, incorporation, and registration formalities. They also have access to the start-up's network of lawyers with preferential consulting fees when they need assistance from any of those lawyers.
The legaltech was launched to address the lack of legal support and the unavailability of information assisting project owners in the implementation of their ideas and ventures. “When creating their companies, entrepreneurs usually need legal guidance but they don’t necessarily have the adequate financial resources to hire the services of accounting professionals or a notary. [...] Those who complete the formalities themselves do so through the single window platform, which is often time-consuming and complex because they usually don’t have enough information on the documents to prepare or how to fill the required forms. This is why Legafrik was created,” Youssouf explains.
The young entrepreneur has a Master's in international business, trade, and tax law from the University of Abidjan. He also has a Master's in business and property law from Toulouse 1 Capitole University and a Master's in business and tax law from INSEEC Bordeaux.
His brief professional career started in 2015 with the Bordeaux-based law firm COJC where he was a tax adviser. From September 2015 to February 2016, he was the general counsel of tech company Acrelec. Since 2018, concurrently with his work as the CEO of Legafrik, he is also the CEO of Toosign (a startup he founded the same year), a digital trust services provider.
He is a volunteer for the association "Les amis du numérique pour l'Afrique et le développement" whose stated aim is to help boost digital transformation in Africa and France. In 2018, he was one of the awardees of the Francophonie 35 under 35 Youth Awards.
One year after the launch of his inspiring startup, Youssouf Ballo welcomed French platform legalstart.fr into Legafrik’s shareholding. With the support thus provided, he intended to initiate his African expansion. The notable expansion candidates were Benin, Senegal, and Cameroon.
Melchior Koba
