Several companies in Ziguinchor and the southern zone in general are benefiting from support from the management of the upgrading office for more growth and increased production capacities.

In this dynamic and perspective of boosting the local economy, an agreement has been signed with Agropole Sud to further assist these Casamance companies in the production, processing and marketing of products.

 

"These companies will make investments, particularly in their production systems, in irrigation systems for example. They will acquire new equipment, they will, for example, increase their production capacity. And so in all this, the Upgrading Bureau will support them," said the Upgrading Bureau Director, Fatou Dyana Ba.

According to Fatou Dyana Ba, 70% of these investments will be supported by the upgrading office.

 

"This material support will consist of financial assistance covering 40% of the investment amount. And for all technical assistance, because these are companies that also need support in terms of structuring their projects, in terms of structuring and organizing their activities. So for these investments and equipment, the Upgrading Bureau will support them with around 70% of these investments," she said.

These companies can achieve growth, but they also create jobs, explained the director of the upgrading office.

 

Fatou Dyana Ba affirms that within the framework of the Agropole Sud project, the interest is to strengthen these companies, particularly SMEs and VSEs, to strengthen them in their activities, agricultural production activities, agro-industrial processing activities, to enable them tomorrow to be able to integrate into the Agropole Sud system, to allow them to have new exchanges and partnerships with the companies that will be established at the Agropole Sud level.

 

The objective was to support 50 companies, indicated the director of the commissioning office, however three others have been added.

"We currently have 53 companies that have been supported. For these 53 companies, we have had to grant bonuses of around 597 million CFA francs, which is very appreciable. But as I always say, upgrading is really a mechanism that is there, that is there to boost the activity of these companies, that is there to support them," said Fatou Dyana Ba.

 

Patrice Diatta, an entrepreneur in Oussouye, whose company is among those supported, praised the work done to rehabilitate companies in Casamance and Ziguinchor in part.

 

"What we really liked about this approach from the Upgrading Bureau is that they find you where you are working, and they evaluate your achievements, your commitments and your objectives. There, even the act of undertaking or discussing with the consultants and all the people who come to visit you, you learn a lot.

"And really, we greatly appreciated being identified among the companies chosen to support in their upgrade," said Mr. Diatta.

 

As part of this support, Patrice Diatta explains that their ambition is to set up an agro-ecological farm.

"We are involved in market gardening, more specifically, but we also have other related activities. We want to set up an agro-ecological farm.

"And that is why, in what we are doing in terms of market gardening, we also want to put aside agriculture," said this entrepreneur from the department of Oussouye.