Founder of Equal Trade Alliance and Director of Africa in Motion

Max Koffi

Founder of Equal Trade Alliance and Director of Africa in Motion

“Africa is the richest continent in natural resources, yet millions of its people remain amongst the poorest.  Resolving that paradox has become my life’s mission.”

Meet Max

• Born in West Africa and raised in Central Africa, Max left home at 12, excelled academically, and studied in Congo (Brazzaville) before relocating to Europe, where a “second awakening” confronted him with the structural roots of African poverty.
• After short stints in education, the private sector, and politics, he founded Africa in Motion in the Netherlands in 2013. After a landmark supply-chain study with Wageningen University revealed that Ghana earned $800 million from its cocoa while the Netherlands generated up to $20 billion from the same commodity, Max launched Equal Trade Alliance.
• Equal Trade Alliance now has teams in 33 African countries and growing chapters in Germany and Italy, with a target of full coverage across all 54 African nations and EU member states by 2028.

Sector

Trade Justice & African Economic Empowerment

• Equal Trade Alliance works to redefine how trade operates on a global scale — advocating a system where economic value is fairly distributed to those who contribute to it, rooted in transparency, justice, and sustainability.
• The core problem that Max addresses is structural: for decades, Western countries have generated billions from African raw materials while the farmers and states who produce them receive only a small fraction of the total value — with the majority captured by manufacturers, retailers, and intermediaries.
• His answer is the Equal Trade Model: rather than selling raw materials at a minimum price and ending the transaction there, African producers become stakeholders within the commodity’s value chain, receiving a share of the financial benefits at every stage of value addition.
• Unlike Fairtrade, which is consumer-driven and raise market prices without tackling root causes, the Equal Trade model is, in Max’s words, “first and foremost an African initiative. Rather than focusing primarily on price premiums, it seeks to give producers a lasting stake in downstream value creation.”

Skills

Want to find out how Max built the movement he leads today?

• Max combined his lived experience growing up in Africa with the analytical lens he developed in Europe — where he saw firsthand how the same raw materials that kept African nations poor were generating billions for Western industries. That gap became both his diagnosis and his blueprint.
• Without a background in economics or law, Max built his expertise through commissioning supply chain research with Wageningen University, applying for EU funding, recruiting across 33 countries, and presenting his model at universities across Europe. He proved that deep conviction, paired with a willingness to learn publicly, can open doors that credentials alone cannot.
• He used the Equal Trade model’s novelty as a strategic asset. Rather than positioning ETA alongside existing fair-trade initiatives, he deliberately set it apart — arguing that consumer-driven models like Fairtrade don’t address structural inequality. Being genuinely different, he found, compels people to listen.
• Beyond developing the concept itself, Max has built international coalitions bringing together universities, producer organizations, businesses and diaspora entrepreneurs around a shared vision of trade reform.

Advice & Tips

“Don’t wait for people to tell you it’s a good idea. You must have that internal conviction. Believe in what you want to do and believe in yourself.” – Max Koffi

• Start with the problem, not the format. Don’t ask “should I start an NGO or a company?” Ask “what do I want to change, and why?” The form follows the mission.
• There is no final plan. Max openly admits he still doesn’t have a finished roadmap. Each EU application, each university visit, each new country chapter is also a test and a refinement. Expect the plan to evolve every day.
• Use Ubuntu philosophy. Instead of pursuing individual donors, think collectively. Build funding models that mirror the values of the work itself.
• Distinguish replication from creation. There are two legitimate paths: seeing something that works and replicating it or envisioning something entirely new. The second requires more courage, but it also creates things people feel compelled to join.
• Don’t be afraid to challenge systems that everyone else accepts as normal. Meaningful innovation often begins by questioning assumptions that others rarely notice.

• Curriculum Vitae

  Founder & Executive Director — Africa In Motion (2011–Present)

  Founder — Equal Trade Alliance (2021–Present)

  Founder & Senior Intercultural Communication Consultant — Belgers & Koffi (2012–Present)

  Coordinator — Equal Trade Academic Alliance (2024–Present)