No country in the world can guarantee full employment for its graduates and young people. Every year, thousands of newly trained individuals enter the job market, including in West Africa. The alternative is a culture of entrepreneurship. This is the rationale behind the Friedrich Naumann Foundation's "Echoes of Entrepreneurs" event. The latest edition was held at the Catholic University of West Africa. During this session, entrepreneurs shared their experiences and the challenges they have faced. "I've been an entrepreneur for 20 years. There have been ups and downs. There have been times when things were going very well. But we've also invested a lot of money in projects, like a training platform, without seeing a return on investment," reports Carlos Hayibor of Keli-Groupe.

Her experience is not unique. Yaye Souadou Fall, of E-Cover, a company specializing in used tire recycling, did not have an easy start. Between then and now, she knows that entrepreneurship is not a sprint. It's about building brick by brick. "My entrepreneurial experience has been full of difficulties. And it's a pleasure to come and share my experience with the students. You have to start slowly. Money is the lifeblood of any business. If you have money without a strategy, you'll have less impact. For me, what defines success is the impact you create," confesses Yaye Souadou Fall, who has won several awards in Senegal. "Les échos des entrepreneurs" (Echoes of Entrepreneurs) is a forum where senior entrepreneurs come to share their experiences, pass on the tricks of the trade, and discuss their failures. Young entrepreneurs must especially learn from the failures of these experienced entrepreneurs.

“When we talk about feedback from entrepreneurs, we’re thinking more about entrepreneurship itself. It’s not just an alternative to the salaried world. We realize that there are young graduates who struggle to find employment. That’s why we encourage them to start their own businesses. But they must do so with a thorough understanding of the rules of the game,” explained Antonin Oumar Gning, Program Manager at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, who added: “We enable experienced entrepreneurs to share their experiences with students and aspiring entrepreneurs. These are moments of sharing and exchange where we place a strong emphasis on entrepreneurial failure and resilience. It’s true that opportunities exist, but sometimes there are failures and rebounds. That’s why we talk about resilience.”

A void filled

In Senegal in particular, and in West Africa more generally, while institutions and funding exist, the institutional framework suffered from the lack of a platform for exchanging experiences between young and junior entrepreneurs. Furthermore, until recently, failures were not shared. It was in this context that the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom initiated the "Fuck Up Night" events, which have now been replaced by "Entrepreneurial Echoes."