The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) unveiled Thursday night in Dakar, the “Reveal” project with a budget of $150 million.
Create, innovate and grow businesses through consulting services and financing. That’s how the USAID new Entrepreneurship and Investment project is summed up.
Under a tent set up in the Grand Théâtre Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose, hundreds of leading entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, influencers and business leaders were able to talk business and investment opportunities.
These interactive workshops allowed the participants to follow the path of successful young people. Ndella Christine Faye is one of them. From executive secretary at the Federation of Bakers of Senegal (FBS), she became the owner of a bakery in Kaolack (Center).
To get there, she made sacrifices: “For four years, I deprived myself of natural hair, wigs, beautiful dresses … I was able to save four million CFA francs. Afterwards, I obtained a loan of 10 million CFA francs. Nevertheless, it was not enough to start,” she explained under the admiring gaze of the audience.
Determined to reach her goal, she decided to start up anyway with “second-hand equipment.” A successful bet for this graduate in business law. “Today, I am the head of a company with over 30 employees. I now work with new equipment and I provide hot bread to the people of Kaolack,” said a smiling Ms. Faye.
Several other entrepreneurs, through their stories, invited young people wishing to start a business to be more selfless and courageous. These qualities are essential according to Abdoul Ahad Diallo. “I came back from France with a salary of 2 million CFA francs. The first difficulty to overcome was to convince my parents. It took me months to do so. I also lived for months without a salary. But that did not stop us from continuing. And thanks to God, we are doing well,” said this first-time entrepreneur working in information and communication technologies.
ARD/id/lb/abj/APA