Senegal's start-up act to boost female-led business in first for West Africa

HACKATHON

More than 60 Senegalese entrepreneurs helped draft the law in 2018 in a "hackathon," or collaborative workshop, said Eva Sow Ebion from i4Policy, an Africa-wide initiative for start-up policy reforms, which led the process.

Francophone Africa has lagged behind English-speaking African countries like Kenya and Nigeria in terms of tech and entrepreneurship, which some experts attribute to ease of doing business.

In 2018, only 5% of the $1.2 billion raised for tech start-ups in Africa went to French-speaking countries, with Senegal leading, according to the global investment firm Partech.

Senegal's new law defines "start-up" as a business label and grants companies that fit the criteria three tax-free years as well as training.

"This will change everything," said Thiam, who said her business was crippled in its early stages by taxes.

Senegalese women often run informal businesses cooking street-food and selling clothes but do not register them, which means they miss out on social benefits and funding opportunities, said Marina Gning, co-founder of a company that makes reusable menstrual pads.

The tax breaks have now been written into law but the government has yet to create a platform to register start-ups.

Sakho said there is a governmental group working on it and that they should be done by mid-year, but several entrepreneurs expressed concern about the amount of work that remains.

"I think there's a chance unfortunately that when it comes to implementation and the real impact this is supposed to have, that they won't deliver," said Abdoul Aziz Sy, head of Impact Hub, one of Senegal's main start-up incubators.