Senegal : “Senum plays a central role in the digitalization of Senegalese society”
For several years now, Senegal has been resolutely embracing the digital revolution. Société Sénégal Numérique (Senum, ex ADIE), the state's armored wing in the digitalization process, is playing a key role. We talked to its Managing Director, Cheikh Bakhoum, about the challenges and goals.
Interview by DBM
What is Senum’s role in the Senegalese tech ecosystem?
Senegal Numérique is a national company under Senegalese law, created by the Senegalese government to support the digital transformation of public services. It builds digital infrastructures on behalf of the Senegalese state. This includes data centers, infrastructure and optical fiber throughout Senegal. Senum also plays a key role in the digitization of administrative procedures and acts as a link between the administration and Senegalese and international startups, always with a view to providing solutions that meet the needs of Senegal and the Senegalese people.
How is this ecosystem evolving? What are the gaps that need to be filled?
Today, there are more and more startups on the Senegalese market. At Vivatech, we hosted more than 18 startups on the Senegal stand. And new startups are being created every day. Today, the government has created a framework to help them move forward. This is the case of the Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship for Women and Young People (DER/J), which supports, finances and incubates these start-ups. However, we need more financial resources to enable these startups to capture foreign markets. That’s our main challenge.
What exactly does it take for startups to survive on the international market?
First and foremost, we need to strengthen the framework and mobilize more financial resources. We need to rely first on our own instruments. The African Development Bank (AfDB), for example, should position itself much more on these issues. We also have the Islamic Development Bank… All these instruments on the continent should be mobilized to provide substantial resources, billions of dollars, to really support the ambitions of African startups to capture the international market.
But it’s worth pointing out that we already have a number of structures that are interested in Senegal and what Senegalese start-ups are doing. We’ve met with the BPI, Expertise France, Digital Africa… bodies that have funds at their disposal and are ready to support and boost their activities.
