Core area “Sustainable economic development, training and employment” Loans for small companies, better training for young people

    It is Senegal's micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that are the backbone of the economy. Yet so far, they can hardly access loans and can therefore not make any investments, expand their business or employ new staff. Through its activities in Senegal Germany wants to contribute to giving MSMEs better access to financial services.

    The MSMEs on the one hand lack the knowledge on suitable financial products and the documents required for an application. For the banks, on the other hand, it is often costly and time-consuming to process MSME requests because many of the small companies do not have reliable financial data and no references from customers.

    A Technical Cooperation project contributes to facilitating faster matching between MSMEs and financial institutions. The project centres around an online platform on which companies can create a profile and set out their financial requirements. Partner organisations assist them in improving and completing their loan applications. The banks, for their part, have direct contact via the platform to potential customers and loan applications that have been pre-assessed by public authorities.

    Within the framework of Financial Cooperation KfW is supporting a microfinance institution and is thus also facilitating access to financial services.


    Vocational training

    Every year another 300,000 or so young people flood onto the labour market in Senegal. Nevertheless, many companies have difficulties finding qualified workers. The vocational training system is currently not sufficiently aligned with the needs of the labour market.

    On behalf of the BMZ the GIZ is facilitating the systematic cooperation between the public and the private sector in the area of vocational training. In selected regions, the project supports the development of cooperative training at schools and companies in twelve vocational areas with a promising future. A special focus is put on promoting young women.

    In addition, vocational schools in Senegal will be refurbished and better equipped with German support. KfW Development Bank is contributing to a vocational training fund which enables, in particular, disadvantaged population groups to get training to improve their chances in the labour market.

    In addition, the programme also supports young adults and returning migrants to develop promising business models and build livelihoods for themselves.

    As at: 22/06/2023