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USAID Pours $9.7 million Into Three Senegalese Startups

August 1, 2021

The United States Government has provided three co-investment grants totaling more than 780 million francs CFA ($1.4m) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The grants leverage more than 4.6 billion CFA ($8.3m) in private resources, resulting in a total of 5.4 billion CFA ($9.7m) in public and private investment in three promising Senegalese companies: Club Tiossane, an online fresh-grocery delivery service, and Biosene and Enterprise Aissatou Gaye, two women-led food companies (EAG).

Investment In Club Tiossane

The USAID co-investment will be used by Club Tiossane to expand its activities, including the construction of a cold storage and packing facility to boost its food storage capacity. The company will also purchase 14 delivery trucks to enhance its weekly home delivery capacity from 1,200 to 4,000.

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Club Tiossane will grow its pool of producers to 500 by forming supply-chain agreements with 400 additional small-scale farmers in Senegal to meet market demands. The organization will also assist these producers in improving the quality and quantity of their output, as well as identifying market opportunities, diversifying their product lines, and expanding into new markets.

The firm and USAID have invested a total of around 1.1 billion CFA francs ($1.9m).

Investment In Biosene

Biosene, a woman-led food firm that distributes goods derived from locally sourced raw materials, will use USAID money to bolster its supply chains in Senegal and the rest of West Africa, which were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biosene will buy 340 metric tons of semi-finished products and raw materials from 6,600 farmers and processors, including millet, fonio, baobab fruits and powder, hibiscus, moringa, and white beans.

USAID funds will be used to develop an e-commerce platform to help Biosene better promote its products, hire 39 new employees (22 of whom will be women), improve the performance of all 96 employees, and update all Biosene business procedures and procedure manuals. A processing and storage facility will be designed and built using Biosene resources. Biosene and USAID have invested a total of 1.2 billion francs CFA ($2.1m) in this project.

Investment In Enterprise Aïssatou Gaye

Enterprise Assatou Gaye (EAG), a rice producing enterprise in the Saint Louis region’s Ross-Béthio area, will use the new funds to help overcome obstacles in working capital, agricultural consulting services, and processing capacity.
The total investment in EAG for growth is estimated to be over 3.2 billion francs CFA ($5.8m). Due to COVID-19 transit constraints that severely limited Senegal’s access to imported rice, the co-investment is planned to double EAG’s processing capacity and respond to increased demand for rice.

Investing in EAG will also enhance rice production, contributing to food security in the Ross-Béthio region while also serving as a model of female entrepreneurship in an usually male-dominated sector.

These three USAID co-investments, made through the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, show how the US government encourages entrepreneurship in the region. As USAID commemorates its 60th anniversary and six decades of partnership with Senegal, initiatives like these demonstrate how we can collaborate to strengthen the country’s private sector and entrepreneurship, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Morocco to Become America’s Gateway to Africa Under the Prosper Africa Initiative

January 14, 2021

As part of the new Trade and Investment Program under its Prosper Africa initiative, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is set to designate Morocco as an economic hub. Under the programme, North and sub-Saharan Africa will receive up to $500 million in funding, over the period of five years. The aim is to provide services such as business development, investment-facilitation, as well as support for improved legal and regulatory frameworks.

Using Morocco as a centralised economic hub, USAID looks to create thousands of new jobs, as well as manage billions of dollars in exports and investments. According to the US government, the overarching goal is to strengthen strategic ties and expand trade between the US, Morocco, as well as other countries across North Africa. USAID is approaching this venture in a continent-wide manner, looking to create satellite offices that will support North and sub-Saharan Africa.

Prosper Africa is a US governmental initiative with the goal to increase two-way trade between US and Africa. With such a program, the US government recognizes that Africa will play a pivotal role in the future global economy. Part of Prosper Africa’s ambitions is the need to make trade and investment opportunities easier to access as the African continent looks to diversify its economy and play a more assertive role in global exchanges. While Africa holds six of the fastest-growing economies, as well as over 1 billion consumers, the United States has access to over $13 trillion in purchasing power. The hope is that connecting the markets will yield mutually beneficial results.

Looking to capitalize on these conditions, “the U.S. Government helps to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans and the people of African nations like never before — advancing American and African prosperity and security, supporting jobs, and demonstrating the superior value of transparent markets and private enterprise for driving growth.”

On November 17, 2020, USAID’s acting Deputy Administrator John Barsa announced the Trade and Investment Program for pre-solicitation. According to the Office of Press Relations for USAID, this is not just a new program. Instead, “it is a new way of doing business that will dramatically expand the investment by the United States in Africa’s growth by harnessing private-sector resources and innovation.”

As part of the initiative, USAID looks to open and staff an office for the recently announced Executive Secretariat for Prosper Africa in Morocco. This will involve expertise from 17 participating US governmental departments and agencies, bringing over resources and staff.

For USAID, the main goal of the program is to further consolidate the strong-looking relationship between Morocco and the US. USAID supported Morocco’s COVID-19 response, addressing the basic need for food security as well as assisting deaf and hard of hearing students with distance learning. US Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer also said that Morocco has been the largest recipient of funds from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to date.

The cumulation of these programs and investment shows the growing importance of Morocco on the global stage. As local industry recovers to pre-pandemic levels, Morocco has established new diplomatic relationships and strengthened existing ones. As it looks to capitalize on an unprecedentedly successful year for its diplomacy, Morocco appears poised to bring its diplomatic and strategic outreach to new heights in 2021.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry