Senegal: a blueprint for West Francophone Africa’s startup ecosystems
In our second issue of the ’empower’ magazine, we dig deeper into Senegal, a country that enpact has long supported with many programs including Program Designers’ Labs (PDLs) and Teach the Mentor (TTM), as well as the collaboration of a new university incubator.
In empower, we work to dive into the lives of the same ecosystem builders we work with in our programs. Through interviews with Joelle Sow, the General Secretary of SenStartup, Fatou Kamara, the Head of Innovation and Student Professional Insertion at Universite Gaston Berger (UGB), Coumba Diop, Head of the operational office of the university business unit at Alioune Diop University in Bambey, and Ahmadou Seck, founder of the startup Insuris, we were able to bring voices to our rich Startup Friendliness Index and paint a complete picture of Senegal’s startup hubs. Dakar, Thiés, Saint-Louis, Bambey, and Ziguinchor are the most prominent sites of startup life in Senegal and hence the foci of empower 2.
Without further ado we present empower 2, here in web and e-book format, in both French and English.
A few words before you read the edition:
- Using entrepreneurship to innovate in Senegal by Joelle Sow
- how to read the SFI by Heather Dannyelle Thompson
- enpact’s work to empower entrepreneurs in Senegal by Will Daoud
- Regional overview of African startup hubs by Tanyi Franç-Martial
Analysis
- Overview and recommendations for Senegal’s startup scene by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- Polices in motion by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- Investment trends in Senegal by João Branco-Castel
- Can startups help lead Senegal out of informality? by Heather Dannyelle Thompson
- Dakar’s growing startup scene by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- How Francophone African countries rely on university incubators by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- Micro-financing startups and empowering universities in Saint-Louis by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- Investment trends in Senegal by João Branco-Castel
- Challenges faced in the agribusiness industry in Ziguinchor by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- Comparing Thiés and Bambey by Tanyi Franç-Martial
- In comparison by Heather Dannyelle Thompson, Tanyi Franç-Martial, and João Branco-Castel
Acknowledgements
Our entire ethos at enpact revolves around the concept and development of community and networks. We believe nothing worth doing can or should be done alone. In our work to create a global network filled with entrepreneurs, mentors, governmental entities, private interests, investors, and organizational partners, we have found a community ready to support our vision, not the least of which in the creation and execution of this report.
With that in mind, we would like to extend gratitude especially to our partners on this project, the PDL and TTM in partnership with the GIZ and SenStartup.
Thank you, as always, to our enpact family for continued support and willingness to lend expertise to the project, including all the authors who contributed to the report: Tanyi Franç Martial, João Castel-Branco, Wail Daoud, Joelle Sow, and Jan Lachenmayer as well as myself, Heather Dannyelle Thompson. For as much work in writing that there was, there was an equal amount of research, outreach, coordination, and connections leveraged as well. In that vein, thank you to Rihab Ammar, who’s consistent and steadfast work to coordinate with members of the Senegalese ecosystem and the enpact team made this report possible. A big thank you to our enpact country team for Senegal, Wail Daoud and Quentin Merelle, who’s continual work in and knowledge of their target country allowed for the scope of this work to come into fruition.
