Senegal - Business Partnership Program for SMEs

The proposed operation is a Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) grant of USD 1,000,000 to Invest in the Senegal SME Business Linkage Program (SME BLP). This is a technical assistance operation that is closely linked to the Project to Support Skills Development and Youth Entrepreneurship in Promising Sectors (PDCEJ). It aims to strengthen the position of SMEs and SMIs in the oil and gas value chains so that they can provide quality goods and services. Local content requirements are specifically provided for in Senegal's Petroleum Code (February 2019), which gives preference to local SMEs for construction, equipment supply and service contracts, provided they offer enough conditions in terms of quality, price, quantity and deadlines. To date, Senegalese SMEs and young entrepreneurs who could serve large companies currently lack technical and managerial skills, adequate infrastructure, financing and innovative technologies and techniques, particularly for the oil and gas industry. This technical assistance project will not only target SMEs specialized in the oil and gas sector. Rather, the objective is to build a strong network of companies capable of providing quality goods and services to the major oil companies, a niche market that is currently promising, but also to other potential buyers following a multi-sectoral approach. The program has three main components: (i) Identification of SMEs and enterprise diagnostics; (ii) Development of management skills and production capabilities of SMEs; (iii) Development of Business Linkages and Project management.