Desnos T Yed

Early life and education

Yed was born in Becede, a small village in the southern Ivorian department of Sikensi. He was the third child in a family of five children born to Atenou Yed Andre and Adele Assa Yed. His father was a teacher and later became a professor. Yed displayed a strong entrepreneurial spirit from a very early age.

Yed began his education in Abidjan and Daloa in west central Cote d’Ivoire, where his father had been transferred for five years. At age of 14, Yed returned to Abidjan after a difficult stint in primary school.

In 1988 Yed graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from a French university. While as a student in France, Yed was running a thriving games arcade and working as a waiter on the Côte d’Azur during the holidays. It was during this time Yed was inspired to become a philanthropist and earned the nickname sobriquet.

Business

After his studies, Yed moved back to Côte d'Ivoire in 1995 after a 10-year stint in France. He founded his first business Imtradex & Partners in 1996, the company exporting tropical fruits to Europe. In 1996 Yed launched Yedcor International, a conglomerate comprising six companies, namely Yedcor Consulting, Yedcor Aviation, Geb& Nut, Yedcor Construction, E-Gazaar and AfriGalleries.

Personal life

Desnos is married to Elize Versie a former South African model. Yed met Elize Versie in 1996 during a brief stop-over in Cairo on a business trip on his way to the Philippines. Desnos and Elize have three sons together.

Real Estate Projects

In July 2015 Yedcor International announced its intention to build Yedcor Valley Center, a residential, trading and tourist real estate complex in Abidjan on an area covering 10 hectares.

On this African Mega Real Estate Project Desnos Yed partnered with Broll Group. The South African subsidiary of the US real estate group C BRE Group, to construct a shopping center with an area of 27,000 square meters estimated to cost $100 million.This project, according to him, is to promote the destination Côte d'Ivoire and to make it a business hub, tourism and entertainment.

According to Desnos Yed, Yedcor Valley Center, is also a Museum of Civilization planned to upgrade the Ivorian culture. This museum will tell the younger generation, through these parts, the story of people who have marked history by their inventions or political actions, cultural and social activities.

Yedcor valley is a city within the city, and intends to create that structure to the Riviera Golf on 10 hectares it has acquired. With 50,000 m2 of office space, a concert center of 5,000 seats. The space for the construction will also accommodate six movie theatres, restaurants and entertainment centers.

Vision for Africa

Desnos Yed believes that Africa’s reserves of natural resources are still vast and even after the colonization of Africa, which was aimed at exploiting Africa’s resources, Africa still holds the largest resources worldwide in many raw materials. His strong belief is that when you know and respect the business culture of the African continent you can still be rich in Africa overnight, Africa has a lot of potential, and this century is the century of Africa.

False Allegations

It is believed they have been some false and malicious allegations levelled against Desnos Toussaint Yed in some sections of the media with regards to the mega Yedcor Valley Real Estate Project in Abidjan. The allegations are viewed by analyst as baseless with no concrete evidence or point of reference. Yed has been involved in successful construction projects before especially in South Africa.