Senegal: President Bassirou Diomaye Faye Wants to Make the Country a Technology Hub

Elected on March 24, 2024, Macky Sall's successor, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, is beginning to lay the foundations of his policy. The former Secretary General of PASTEF (ruling party, Patriotes Africains du Sénégal pour l'Ethique, le Travail et la Fraternité), who became a presidential candidate after his number one Ousmane Sonko, who is the new Prime Minister alongside him, was prevented from standing, has already taken stock of public finances and the economic situation in which he found the country. While Macky Sall's legacy is not so bright according to the government's September 26, 2024 release, exposing a debt of 83% of GDP, this does not prevent President Faye from having strong ambitions for the country's systemic and economic transformation. The President and his Prime Minister have called for a break with the past, particularly in foreign policy, advocating balanced cooperation while respecting sovereignty.

In an interview with Jeune Afrique, Senegal's Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs, Yassine Fall, outlined three pillars of her country's new breakaway diplomacy: economic sovereignty, regional integration and economic diplomacy. President Bassirou Diomaye's last two trips to China and the United States have revealed the first signs of his economic diplomacy. These include the ambition to make Senegal a technology hub through a New Deal for Technology.

Senegal, a Technology Hub in West Africa?

Senegal's political stability has made it a de facto diplomatic hub, with the headquarters of various international organizations, chancelleries and non-governmental bodies. For the new authorities, one of the objectives of Senegalese economic diplomacy is to make the most of this political stability and interesting geostrategic position for economic, commercial and technological purposes.

The previous government had laid the groundwork for Senegal to become a technology hub, notably through “the implementation of structuring projects under the national digital economy strategy ‘Sénégal numérique 2025 (SN2025)’, such as the Digital Technology Park, an innovative infrastructure designed to stimulate the knowledge economy in Africa”. These programs are part of the Projet d'Accélération de l'Economie Numérique (PAEN), which is part of Axis 1 of the Plan Sénégal Emergent (PSE), but have not yet been finalized as they should be.

The program on which Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected mentions the creation of a National Fund for the Development of Research and Innovation (FNDRI), which will replace the Impulse Fund for Scientific and Technological Research (FIRST) currently implemented in the country. This fund will finance start-ups, research and innovation (R&I).

According to its forecasts, the aim will be to establish “an incentive and secure framework for digital entrepreneurship, to enable the emergence of a high-performance national ecosystem, with priority given to national orders, and capable of meeting the demand for digital products and services from other sectors of the national economy”.

As part of a new public policy frame of reference, President Diomaye intends to focus on the digitization and transformation of Senegal's digital environment. His trip to China from September 1 to 8, 2024, to attend the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation (FOCAC), enabled him to make a working visit leading to agreements, visit China's top-notch technology ecosystem, and invite Chinese investors to come and invest in Senegal and share their experiences with young Senegalese.

The Senegalese President's visit to Huawei provided an opportunity to gauge his ambition to make Senegal a technology hub. “You will see that, among the engines of growth, digital technology will occupy an important place in Senegal's systemic transformation”, President Faye told the special envoy to China of Senegal's public broadcaster, RTS. At the end of his visit to Huawei's demonstration center in Beijing, the Senegalese head of state hinted that the partnership between the State of Senegal and the Chinese digital giant would be a long-term one, in light of the projects launched by the new government in a number of sectors requiring innovative solutions. During a bilateral meeting between President Faye and Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 6, 2024, the question of a strengthened partnership in the digital field was also raised.

To draw inspiration from Chinese experience and technology, Bassirou Diomaye Faye also visited the port of Qingdao, renowned for its innovation and key role in world trade. With 70% of containers leaving China passing through this port, it is one of the world's largest logistics hubs. The President of Senegal also visited the premises of Haier, a leader in household appliances, air conditioning, robotics and digital solutions.

After China, Diomaye Proposes the New Technological Deal to the Americans

On the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Bassirou Diomaye Faye also made a landmark visit to Silicon Valley. The President took the opportunity to meet several of the world's technology giants. Accompanied by Aliou Sall, Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and the Digital Sector, as well as young Senegalese businessmen, Diomaye Faye took the opportunity to encourage investors to set up in Senegal, in collaboration with Senegalese who are already active in the sector.

“President Faye was accompanied by the Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Alioune Sall, the Minister of Finance and Budget, Cheikh Diba, and other senior Senegalese government officials. In California, the group met with entrepreneurs and representatives of technology companies, universities, financial institutions, Senegalese start-ups and the Senegalese diaspora,” confirms a press release from the American Embassy in Senegal.

In particular, the Head of State visited the premises of Starlink, a division of SpaceX, a company specializing in satellite connectivity. “This innovative technology represents a major opportunity for Senegal, particularly in terms of boosting the priorities of the National Transformation Agenda through the Technological New Deal”.

To conclude his stay in California, President Faye visited the offices of ARM (Advanced Risc Machine), considered one of the world leaders in digital technologies. He also held a working session with American investors, a meeting which highlighted investment opportunities aimed at boosting Senegal's digital economy and widening access to technologies thanks to the “Technological New Deal”. “This initiative marks a decisive step in Senegal's digital transformation and its positioning as a technology hub in Africa”, says the Presidency of the Republic.

Through these two trips to China and the United States, President Bassirou Diomaye has demonstrated the extent to which he intends to put his diplomacy at the service of Senegal's economic interests, in particular to attract investors from the Tech world to accelerate the country's digitization and strengthen it as a technology hub in West Africa. Digital technology in particular is one of Senegal's top priorities under the Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko duo.