Interview with Eva Sow Ebion, Business development manager at CTIC Dakar
Eva Sow Ebion, Business development manager at CTIC Dakar, hub dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship and new technologies, was invited to Hub Africa to represent the first business incubator specializing in ICT in French-speaking Africa with more 75 supported SMEs and more than 1,750 supported project managers.
What are the strengths of your project that have enabled you to be selected to come to Morocco to represent Senegalese start-ups?
Eva-Sow-EbionEva
Sow Ebion: CTIC Dakar and its management team benefit today from proven expertise in the field of entrepreneurship and support for SMEs. We are faced with various issues in the acceleration of supported companies, the implementation of market entry strategies and we benefit today from increased experience in the development of new activities / products / value added services.
CTIC Dakar has supported the growth of success stories and aims to promote the emergence of tomorrow’s champions. Among the companies supported by CTIC Dakar, some ended up having an international aura such as People Input, a digital agency, the most referenced in Senegal but also present in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. This is also the case for Seysoo, specializing in software development, consulting, auditing, project assistance and training, which has been very successful in Gabon. Other happy examples are to be cited as Nelam Services, promoter of Agendakar, What’sUp Dak, known for its “Niul Kuk” campaign against skin depigmentation, Mlouma, virtual market for local agricultural products, Byfilling and Conversation Agency that supports companies in their digital transformation.
What is your feeling at the end of this 4th edition to which Senegal is the guest of honor?
The impact of ICT and their role in accelerating Senegalese SMEs is undeniable. Senegal deserves to be honored because today it represents a real showcase for technological innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. Growing use of the Internet, explosion of mobile, job creation and impact in rural areas, these growth drivers are today at the heart of our economy.
What would be your future expectations and how do you intend to contribute on your scale to the development of entrepreneurship in Senegal?
We are already counting on genuine political volunteering in support of SMEs with high potential, but also on a legal framework conducive to technological innovation. We are awaiting a sovereign fund dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation. Part of the public order should be dedicated to ICT SMEs. Finally, institutional support would allow us to ensure the visibility of the proposed innovations and therefore this is part of our grievances. On our side, the contribution is made on several levels. Our expertise already provides support for university incubators. The coaching of students and project leaders in the strong incentive to undertake is part of our fields of action. We make funds available to project leaders. 130 million FCFA have already been raised. The incubator supported the best ICT SMEs. 450 young people from disadvantaged areas have benefited from entrepreneurship training. We particularly support the activities of girls in ICT and the creation of regional incubators.
CTIC-DakarCTIC Dakar is under the aegis of a foundation (FICTIS), the fruit of a real public-private partnership initiated by OPTIC, the SCA and the World Bank, which brings together members of the private sector, the administration and higher education.
This foundation is chaired by the private sector (Organization of ICT professionals – OPTIC) and CTIC Dakar is under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the technical supervision of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications).
CTIC Dakar is supported by the World Bank, the Brussels CDE, GIZ and the Orange Group – France Telecom, the European Union, etc. CTIC Dakar is an association, certainly, but which wanted to be financially balanced. It is in this sense that the incubator reached 80% of financial autonomy at the end of 2015. The successful CTIC Dakar model has since been duplicated in Niger, Mali, Guinea-Conakry and soon in Mauritania and Gabon .
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