The new authorities aim to make the national private sector a cornerstone of Senegal's sovereignty and prosperity. They seek to remove current obstacles to the development of the local economy, stimulate its competitiveness, and establish priority areas for intervention. To this end, a National Strategy for Private Sector Development and Investment Promotion (SNDSPI) has been implemented.

“We have an economic model that is still dynamic, but which creates little value. We have a private sector that needs to become more productive, because we have a problem with productivity. We are not able to transform our resources locally and that is the challenge,” explained Jouldée Soumaré, Director of Private Sector Development, on Monday during discussions with the Collective of Economic Journalists of Senegal (COJES).

The aim of the new strategy is to forge a competitive private sector that creates wealth and jobs, and which will be the true engine of endogenous growth, particularly in regional hubs. To achieve this, the strategy implemented by the government, through the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Cooperation (MEPC), is structured around three major pillars.

"The first focus is on the competitiveness of the territories. What we want is to identify outstanding entities. These companies will be able to drive an entire ecosystem. The work is already underway. Then there is the facilitation of business and private investment. What we want, through this focus, is to make structural reforms," she says.

The strategy also aims to establish a permanent public-private dialogue to understand the issues at the level of each sector of activity. This is so that reforms can be more effective and "establish a pipeline of structuring projects, 'de-risked' projects that can then be properly financed," says Ms. Soumaré.

Work has already begun in the north, at the Saint-Louis hub, in the center (Kaffrine, Fatick and Kaolack) and in the southern zone. "The objective is clear: to identify, firstly, to create a monograph of our territories to see which sectors are promising, and within these sectors, to map the private sector and identify in the value chain the potential remarkable entities that we can support," she says.

Indeed, as detailed in the document, the National Strategy for Investment Promotion (SNDPI) aims to promote the competitiveness of regional hubs by developing value chains and distinctive identities, while also fostering spaces dedicated to entrepreneurship and investment in hubs located outside Dakar. Its second objective is to facilitate business and private investment by improving control over factors of production, strengthening the legal and institutional framework, and promoting private investment.

The third focus area is more on supporting businesses. Its objective is to improve the effectiveness of the public support system for the private sector, develop the services offered by professional, employers', and consular organizations, and facilitate access to financing for businesses. To ensure effective coordination in the implementation of the National Strategy for the Development of Private Sector Investment (SNDSPI), the ministry intends to rely on a governance model based on proximity, transparency, inclusion, equity, and accountability.