This is set to elevate the overall credit share of SMEs from the current 9% to 25% over the next few years.

With the goal of reaching CFA3,000 billion ($5 billion) in outstanding loans by 2028, Senegal aims to empower and uplift its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for accelerated growth and economic prosperity.

At the opening of the third edition of the Senegalese SME forum in Dakar, the country’s capital, Prime Minister Amadou Ba promised to collaborate with the private sector and elevate the volume of financing available to national SMEs.

“I salute the patriotic commitment of public and private players, who together determined the integrated monitoring framework bringing together all players around the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) SME scheme, and who share the ambition of increasing the volume of SME financing from CFA500 billion ($841 million) in 2023 to CFA3,000 billion in 2028,” Ba said.

This substantial boost is set to elevate the overall credit share of SMEs from the current 9% to 25% over the next few years.

The Agency for the Development and Supervision of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (ADEPME) presented its plan to boost financing for this vital category of companies at the forum.

A surge in investor interest greeted the Emerging Senegal Plan in 2014, a public policy framework spanning from 2014 to 2023. To ensure that SMEs actively contribute to the country’s emergence and progress, the ADEPME launched a dedicated forum in 2017 with the primary objective of mobilizing increased funding.

Senegal envisions considerable expansion in the number of SMEs benefiting from financing provided by microfinance institutions, the Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship (DER), and other financial mechanisms. The objective is to elevate the number of benefiting SMEs from 500,000 to 1.2 million, amplifying opportunities for business growth and innovation.