Scrapyard Anoumabo: An Ivory Coast businessman | Environment

Konaté Massioudou is a scrapyard trader in Ivory Coast, whose deafness neither defines nor deters him.

Konaté Massioudou repairs, rebuilds and sells some of the thousands of household items from Europe that get discarded and dumped every day in Anoumabo, a massive electronic waste scrapyard in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Always on the go, he fixes stoves, hustles for customers, negotiates deals and chats with his assistant – all using sign language. His deafness neither defines nor deters him.

Scrapyard Anoumabo, by filmmaker Joël Akafou, transports us into Konaté’s life as he shares his inspiring story.

Joël Akafou is an Ivorian writer/director, who has directed shorts and feature documentaries which have been screened internationally at film festivals. He has won several awards including at Visions du Réel, Corsica.Doc and Brussels International Film Festival. Traverser, his second documentary film, premiered at the Berlinale and won grand prize at the Belfort Festival.