Akouba Angola Aggré transforms how Ivorian cuisine is served and experienced through Dabali Xpress.
Akouba Angola Aggré is an Ivorian entrepreneur and the co-founder of Dabali Xpress. This growing fast-food restaurant chain specialises in traditional Ivorian dishes in a quick-service format. Aggré holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Mercer University in the United States and an MBA in Business Administration.
Before venturing into the food industry, the businesswoman lived in London and Dubai, where she operated an online clothing business that served clients across West Africa, including Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire. This career phase exposed her to cross-border consumer markets and helped her develop a customer-centric approach that would later influence her venture into food service back home.
Innovating during a pandemic
The idea for Dabali Xpress emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted Aggré’s fashion business. Drawing on her husband Daniel Aggré’s experience working in fast-food restaurants abroad, the couple identified a significant gap in the Ivorian market: the lack of quick-service restaurants offering traditional local meals. Western fast-food chains dominated the formal sector then, while Ivorian dishes were sold in informal settings.
In September 2021, they opened the first Dabali Xpress outlet in Abidjan. The goal was to marry Western fast food’s efficiency with Ivorian cuisine’s authenticity.
“This idea was borne out of my husband’s experience as a student abroad, where he had to work in fast-food restaurants to pay his tuition and bills. We said to ourselves: why not replicate the system back home in Côte d’Ivoire—but with our local dishes?” Aggré told AfricaBrief.
Building a homegrown fast-food chain
“Dabali,” a term from Ivorian slang (Nouchi), loosely translates to “fast food.” The brand has since positioned itself as a local alternative to global chains. Since launching, Dabali Xpress has expanded to six locations—five in Abidjan and one in Bouaké—and now employs over 150 people, including trained chefs specialising in local recipes.
Each outlet reportedly serves an average of 300 customers per day. The company incorporates modern technology to streamline ordering and improve service delivery, introducing consistency and hygiene not commonly found in traditional food outlets.
While its menu remains firmly rooted in Ivorian cuisine, Dabali Xpress competes with international fast-food giants like KFC and Burger King by prioritising customer experience, standardisation, and food safety.
National recognition and funding
The brand has earned recognition from both the public and private sectors. Dabali Xpress was selected to provide catering services during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which was hosted in Côte d’Ivoire, and received public endorsement from the Ivorian Minister of Tourism and Leisure.
In 2024, the company secured a €1.52 million(roughly $1.7 million) investment from Compagnie des Investisseurs Africains (CIA). The funding is expected to drive the brand’s expansion and help formalise its operations at scale.
For Aggré, Dabali Xpress is more than a restaurant business. It’s a platform to promote African culinary heritage, formalise the fast-food sector with local relevance, and create meaningful employment—especially for young people—in a structured, standardised food service industry.
