Senegal – Idea Program

IDEA Program Senegal

Advancing agribusiness while creating jobs in the regions that need it most

As one of the activities of the INOE (Investments for New Opportunities of Employment) multi-year project, IDEA Program Senegal provides incubation training and mentorship to 100 Senegalese founders to build solid and resilient agribusinesses, especially in the retrieved Casamance region.

Funded by

Value chains impacted

Mango

Cashew nuts

Fishing

Agroforestry

Agriculture is one of the dominant parts of Senegal’s economy as it occupies about 75% of the workforce. Despite a relatively wide variety of agricultural production, most farmers produce for subsistence needs. Moreover, climate change in Senegal will severely harm the farm economy due to extreme weather such as drought and increased temperatures.

IDEA Program supports Senegalese entrepreneurs to turn this around by creating innovative solutions that can boost, protect or scale the most relevant value chains in the country while generating new decent job opportunities.

How does the model work?

UNIDO select two IDEA Centers to be Bridge for Billions’ implementation partners and undergo a “Training of Trainers” program to build their entrepreneurship program management and incubation capacity. The training consists of 6 sessions covering topics from creating a mentors network to mastering the IDEA platform to facilitating best practices.

Bridge for Billions co-manages the entrepreneurship program with the two IDEA Centers in Senegal: Baziness Lands and Lycée Technique Agricole Emile Badiane de Bignona (LTAEB)

Amongst all program partners, 100 Senegalese entrepreneurs and 115 local and international mentors are selected out of hundreds of applications to participate in the IDEA Program. All of them are trained and onboarded during Kickoff Day.

As part of the program, all founders access structured guidance in 8 business tools, constant support from the incubation management team, personalized weekly mentorship, and a global community of founders, workshops, and sectorial resources.

Baziness Lands and Lycée Technique Agricole Emile Badiane de Bignona (LTAEB) provide local support and knowledge to the founders, additional in-person workshops and resources, and physical space for founders to work from.

Entrepreneurs work in teams to develop their businesses while working weekly with volunteer mentors through the IDEA platform.

Once the program is complete, entrepreneurs have bankable business plans and the opportunity to get funding through our partner, the Direction de l’Entrepreneuriat Rapide (DER), whose focus is entrepreneurship development in Senegal.

Impact goals in Senegal

100 enterprises supported

37%

of enterprises belong to female founders

72%

of enterprises are still working on their projects 1 year after the program has ended

58%

of enterprises create an average of 5 jobs two years after the program has ended

115 mentors accepted into the program

3 onboarding and training sessions for entrepreneurs

2 IDEA Centers trained in Casamance

Where are the entrepreneurs from?

Entrepreneurship support everywhere

Entrepreneurship opportunities for all

Sectors of the entrepreneurs

Some of the participants from IDEA Program Senegal

Entrepreneurs

Agriculture Intégré

Looking to create agricultural farms under an agroforestry system model to increase production, improve the quality of fruits, vegetables, and meat to better nutrition, and reduce unemployment.

He started with 50 chickens, currently at 300 chickens.

Matar Badiane

Agriculture Intégré Founder

Goodness Green Inc.

With the mission to popularize the adoption and practice of hydroponics in the Sahel to promote innovation and agricultural development.

They are the first to have carried out the cultivation of 100% hydroponic vegetables, with 90% local materials, and is a self-taught way in Senegal.

Fatoumata Binetou Fall

Goodness Green Inc. Founder

Namakara

Agripreneur seeking to save the forests of Casamance, improve her communities’ diet and create jobs by producing fruits and vegetables.

She already has one fenced hectare producing fruits and vegetables.

Samy Cécile Lucie Ndecky

Namakara Founder

Transfo des Produits Agro

The project involves transforming agricultural products like cereals, fruits and vegetables, milk, and fish products from the primary sector into finished products with the goal of promoting a nutritious diet in their communities.

They are in the second year of the BTS food industry training at the Lycée Technique Agricole Emile Badiane de Bignona (LTAEB).

Abdou Gueye

Transfo des Produits Agro Founder

Mentors

Abdourahmane Dia

Matam Region, Senegal

Directeur Centre de Gestion et d’Economie Rurale de Matam/Bakel (CGERMB)

Motivation: “Entrepreneurs need support for keeping their accounts and training in leadership and on the development of a business plan to find technical or financial partners.”

Delphine Huet

Dakar, Senegal

Humanitarian Project Coordinator

Motivation: “In order to be able to share my experience and to be able to participate in the world of entrepreneurship with my skills. I don’t necessarily have the ideas but I have the method.”

Yatma Dieye

Senegal

Directeur de l’Environnement et de la Libération des Emprises

Senegal
Motivation: “I received a lot and for me, it’s a way of giving back. By working alongside project leaders, I realize the need they have to be accompanied and the gap there is with the business world.”

Abdoulaye Simon Pierre Diatta

Matam Region, Senegal

Directeur Centre de Gestion et d’Economie Rurale de Matam/Bakel (CGERMB)

Motivation: “To enable entrepreneurs to transform problems identified in their region into business opportunities and simply allow them to realize their dreams.”

With the support of

UNIDO and Bridge for Billions designed each entrepreneurship program taking into account the most critical value chains for each country, and found entrepreneurs working on the fundamental challenges for the sector with the support of local incubators.

Ziguinchor, Senegal

Baziness Lands

Incubator for micro-enterprises and promotion of territorial development.

Bignona, Senegal

Lycée Technique Agricole Badiane

Local partner with expertise in the processing of agricultural products

“It remains evident that the entrepreneurship training that UNIDO and Bridge for Billions bring through the IDEA Program Senegal program adds value by boosting local economies and young people’s access to viable and sustainable business creation to power industrial growth on a national scale.”

Ibrahima NdiayeUNIDO Expert

We are looking for partners!

IDEA Program Senegal is on the lookout for public and private institutional partners and donors to make the program sustainable and amplify its impact over the next few years. Send us an email and make a difference in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem of your country or region.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) partnered with Bridge for Billions to create IDEA, an online program to connect young entrepreneurs with mentors from all over the world to accelerate the growth of new entrepreneurship communities and foster an entrepreneurial culture.