Senegal: A fund to encourage creativity in IT

18 January 2010

An investment fund is going to be set up in Senegal to encourage entrepreneurs to put their creations to work in the IT domain.

The announcement was made last Thursday by an official from the government programme known as the Accelerated Growth Strategy (SCA), Malick Ndiaye, when interviewed by APS last Thursday in Dakar.

“Information technologies remain the key elements in speeding up the performance of companies”, he explained, adding that the SCA is going to be working on the feasibility and mechanisms of setting up the fund “within the framework of a plan of action, as well as studies which are in progress, in order to create a fund dedicated to innovation and supporting companies with innovative concepts in the field of telecommunications”.

A centre for fostering IT companies, with the support of the World Bank, is likewise going to be established in order “to boost the competitiveness of the companies involved.”

Actions such as these in developing the new technologies appear to bear fruit: Radio France International announced last week that more than one Senegalese citizen in two is already subscribing to a mobile phone.<br/>