On July 5th, Abu Bakarr Karim, Ambassador of Sierra Leone to China, and Cao Meili, Executive President of China Large Energy Storage Ecological Innovation Consortium Group Co., Ltd. and Vice President of the Large Energy Storage Ecological Innovation Consortium, visited IBI. Pan Yong, Director, Senior Vice President, and Board Secretary of IBI, and Wang Fei, Vice President of TDD and Leader of the Titanium Industry Chain, received the delegation. The three parties conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as energy storage technology cooperation, cross-border supply chain services, and industrial digitization.

Sierra Leone is located in West Africa and is rich in mineral resources, with significant reserves of diamonds, rutile, and iron ore. Its agriculture is primarily focused on economic crops such as rice, cocoa, and coffee, with great development potential. However, insufficient power supply has long been a major bottleneck restricting the country's mining operations, agricultural product processing, and improvement of living standards. In recent years, the Sierra Leonean government has prioritized energy structure transformation as a national agenda, actively seeking international cooperation in areas such as new energy infrastructure, mining industry chain extension, and agricultural modernization, with an urgent need for advanced technologies and management experience in energy storage power stations and distributed photovoltaics.

The China Large Energy Storage Ecological Innovation Consortium has successfully implemented several independent energy storage power station projects and achieved breakthroughs in key technology areas such as green lithium extraction, battery recycling, and digital safety diagnostics. It is also actively expanding application scenarios such as zero-carbon parks and intelligent microgrids, forming an integrated comprehensive solution for green energy.

During the meeting, Abu Bakarr Karim stated that Sierra Leone is at a critical stage of energy transition, and the construction of energy storage infrastructure is one of the most urgent needs. He noted that IBI has mature experience in industrial internet and cross-border supply chain fields, and its digital platform can effectively reduce the cost of Sierra Leonean companies in procuring energy storage equipment and related materials while improving supply chain efficiency. He suggested that the two sides could initially cooperate in cross-border trade of advantageous resources such as minerals and agricultural products, as well as the introduction of new energy equipment, and expressed hope that IBI's platform capabilities would inject new momentum into Sierra Leone's economic development.

Cao Meili pointed out in her speech that the consortium has accumulated rich experience in energy storage technology research and development, project implementation, and industrial collaboration. However, the energy storage industry chain involves multiple links such as raw material procurement, capacity allocation, and logistics transportation, which urgently require digital tools to improve overall operational efficiency. IBI's industrial digitization capabilities naturally complement the consortium's industrial resources, and the two sides can jointly build a digital collaborative service platform for the entire energy storage chain, achieving seamless integration from technical solutions to supply chain services.

Pan Yong introduced the company's strategic layout centered on "platform, technology, and data." He stated that IBI has established three clear growth curves, with the third growth curve—industrial belt cross-border expansion—focusing on the Central Asia, Middle East, and Southeast Asia markets, while West Africa is an important area of interest for the company’s next steps. Sierra Leone's geographical advantages and resource endowments align closely with IBI's cross-border strategy. Meanwhile, the second growth curve—industrial digitization—has been applied in multiple vertical industries, providing comprehensive digital services for the energy storage industry chain, from raw material procurement to digital factories and intelligent logistics. The collaboration potential with the consortium is vast. This exchange opens a new window for IBI to deepen collaboration with West African countries and the energy storage industry.

Wang Fei further elaborated on TDD's in-depth practices in the titanium industry chain. He stated that as a core vertical platform under IBI, TDD has continuously delved into the upstream and downstream of the titanium industry chain for many years, accumulating rich industrial resources and digital service experience in areas such as titanium ore, titanium dioxide, sponge titanium, and titanium material processing. Regarding Sierra Leone's abundant mineral resources such as ilmenite and rutile, the TDD platform can help local enterprises connect with China's advanced titanium processing capacity and vast market, assisting Sierra Leone in transforming its resource advantages into industrial advantages. Additionally, leveraging TDD's procurement and collaboration capabilities can reduce procurement costs and improve supply chain efficiency for Sierra Leonean enterprises. Wang Fei expressed his expectation to explore a full-chain cooperation model from titanium resource development to energy storage material application with Sierra Leone and the Large Energy Storage Consortium.

This meeting yielded fruitful results, with all parties reaching broad consensus on cooperation directions. The three parties expressed their intention to use this exchange as a starting point to accelerate specific project research and plan design, jointly injecting new vitality into China-Africa energy cooperation and the digital development of China's energy storage industry.

Participants in this meeting included Yang Zhuo, Commercial Counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Sierra Leone in China, First Secretary Alpha Mohamed Gotoh; Project Manager Gong Jianbin and Secretary Wang Mo from China Large Energy Storage Ecological Innovation Consortium Group Co., Ltd.; and Senior Manager Zheng Bowen from IBI's President's Office, as well as TDD Assistant President Zhang Jianing.