Program Designers' Lab - Senegal

Another successful PDL cohort is about to end! enpact e.V.  landed in Senegal and developed an exceptional hybrid program for the Senegalese ecosystem. PDL Senegal is being implemented in the context of the « Femmes et Énergies Sénégal » initiative which is part of the GIZ « Programme d’Enseignement Supérieur sur les Énergies Renouvelables et Efficacité Énergétique (ER/EE) » (PESEREE). The main goal of the project was to enable the participants to develop implementable programs for female entrepreneurs in the sector of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

4 teams of 5 participants, from four partnering leading universities in Senegal showed high motivation and engagement despite their professional and academic commitments and despite the pandemic health restrictions. Each participant acquired new expertise in the design and preparation of their project ideas to promote women entrepreneurship in the RE/EE and strengthen their key role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The Program Designers’ Lab Senegal articulated around 3 modules. Module I was organized online in the form of a 3-day virtual bootcamp on the 22-23-24 July 2020. This module was a “Design Sprint” bootcamp through which participants worked in groups to design innovative and sustainable programs.

Module II consisted of a series of online workshops from July 2020 – May 2021 ranging from fundraising, marketing, stakeholder management to pitching. Additionally, a hybrid bootcamp was organized in February 2021,  focusing on mentoring, mobilization and pitching of the developed projects.

Module III bootcamp, 28 June – 1 July 2021,  included a virtual tour of 3 international startup ecosystems. Participants tuned in from Dakar, Senegal to gain insights into 3 major startup ecosystems around the world; Berlin, Tunisia, and Rwanda, and develop their own capacities for supporting entrepreneurs. This module ranged from mentoring sessions, experience & knowledge sharing sessions and online and offline team-building activities.

In October 2021, our team will travel to Senegal to tour the four partner universities for a final presentation of the project ideas in front of the respective rectorates and certify the participants for their efforts. 

Continuous mentoring sessions were offered for the different teams. Our mentors, Amel Saffar, Mehdi El Batti, Yassine Chaker and Walid Dass supported and provided guidance and recommendations throughout the program. Not only mentoring but also individual assignments and assessments on our eLearning platform was an important part of the PDL program.