Olivier Bonneau
Co-Founder of Supply Logica and Director of OBBOIS
As a child, I remember watching my father and grandfather working with wood for hours, fascinated by how they transformed a few logs into a finished object. To this day, I can still smell the spruce in the frames and Niangon in the shutters they made for the family business. Later on, I became fascinated by the accounts of explorers in Africa and was eager to discover the world and its forests.
I trained as an engineer at the École Supérieure du Bois in Nantes, France. This gave me my first professional experience in Africa and Asia in the timber industry, forest management, and agroforestry. My first experiences abroad include going to Gabon to carry out forest inventories, where I was immersed in the equatorial forest, discovering the cultures of the indigenous peoples, while contributing to the preservation of their natural heritage. I spent ten years fighting against the illegal exploitation of forest resources and improving governance in forest countries.
After that, I realised there was an urgent need for raising awareness among European industrialists of the issues at stake. I started thinking of ways I could support them in implementing systems of due diligence, to limit the impact of their activities on tropical forests while protecting the people who depend on them. It was with that intention that I set up OBBOIS. That was ten years ago now and we’re still going strong today, with plenty of ambitious projects and opportunities. We have the honour of working with the most virtuous entrepreneurs, the most committed international groups and international institutions who share the same values and aspirations as us.
Throughout my career, my goal has always been to continuously seek new challenges and align my activities with my values: to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources and combat illegal practices, by getting involved in the development of innovative products or services that embody ethical values, in an environment that allows me to express my creativity. That journey now continues with Supply Logica. I’m thrilled to be accompanying businesses in their deforestation regulation strategy.