Economic Growth Senegal Project #31017

Capacity Building for Young Entrepreneurs

by Aspyre Africa

Project Report | May 21, 2018
Spring update from Senegal

By Savina Geerinckx | Project Leader

Portrait of beneficiary during replanting onions

Dear Supporter,

I have just returned from Senegal after spending one month in the field, and I am delighted to tell you that our Young Horticulturists of Saint-Louis have now started harvesting and selling their African eggplants/aubergine as well as their first onions!

The replanting of the onion seedlings turned out to be a much bigger task than they had imagined, having never worked on such a scale before, but they got there in the end. With the technical support provided, in particular by the young agronomist from the university farm, they are learning every day how to tackle the challenges of the land. Under his guidance, they are currently updating the calendar of crops to not only make the full use of the available land, but also take into account the market prices and potential profits to be made. With the water now flowing and the temperatures in Saint-Louis rising, the conditions are ideal for the watermelon, okra and cucumbers they just planted to thrive.

Meanwhile, their network of customers (actual and potential) has been growing by the day and they have had no problems selling their produce. They also made their first two visits to the bank to make deposits, a very encouraging development for all of us . With all the technical & business sides well taken care of, the current challenges we are facing are dealing with health issues & the lack of support from some parents, both leading to absences. While I seized the opportunity to undertake family visits while in Senegal, we realized our project manager needs to spend more time with the parents to keep them fully on board. To tackle the access to medical care, we visited the university’s medical centre nearby, whose staff is now willing to look after our beneficiaries at no cost. On our visit however we also witnessed the severe shortage of medical equipment and medications the centre has.

Our young horticulturists have shown great perseverance in often challenging conditions. They are very much aware that the strategic planning of crops and quality produce can make all the difference. However, as planned, they will need the continued guidance to guarantee their success.

Please help us provide ongoing support for The Young Horticulturists of Saint-Louis by donating to this project again. Regular donations would be particularly helpful.

If you happen to know how to access donations of medical equipment or drugs to help the university medical centre, please do get in touch.

Thank you for your continued support!!!

Harvesting the African eggplant/ aubergine

Weighing the aubergines

The treasurer at work

Harvesting the onions

Glimpse inside the medical centre

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Feb 22, 2018
Update from the Young Horticulturists of Saint- Louis, Senegal

By Savina Geerinckx | Director

Babacar & Adja with CIPA Director Mr Diop

First of all, I would like to thank you for supporting this project! With your help we managed to reach our “End of Year Campaign” target and earned a fantastic £1,000 bonus from GlobalGiving. We could not have done it without you! Secondly, we have just returned from Senegal with brand new photographs and uplifting updates from our young entrepreneurs as well as some breaking news to share with you! We are very proud to announce that Babacar & Adja managed to secure government funded placements for the “Certificate of Professional Competence” following highly competitive entrance examinations. This 2 year secondary level course was recently introduced at the CIPA Training Centre, where they did their 10-month course. This is an amazing achievement and opens the door to new opportunities we had not even imagined possible when we launched this project.

Meanwhile the remaining 13 young entrepreneurs have been hard at work and are currently selling lettuce (fast to grow and always in demand) while planting their onion seedlings, which will be their main crop this season. Until recently they had struggled with water supply issues and unwelcome visits of some very acrobatic goats that wander the university grounds. As a result their first crops of okra and watermelons, however promising, did not yield the return they had hoped for. With the support of our project manager both issues have now been resolved: with a large water basin and electric pump now fully functional, and greenhouse covers, generously donated by the GDS (the most important export horticulture company in Senegal) and used to strengthen the fence and keep unwanted visitors at bay. Our project manager is currently training the members of the cooperative in charge of finance to manage money matters in a smooth and efficient manner. On a technical level, they have received weekly guidance from their former trainer, but recently also benefitted from support from the manager of the university farm. As a young agronomist with a flair for business, he has turned out to be a great role model with both technical and business savvy advice.

The prospects for the onion harvest are looking very good and the profits should allow the cooperative not only to make its first loan repayment and cover the cost of the next crops, but also to start saving and share some of the profit. Still, the young entrepreneurs will continue to need targeted capacity building and supervision to make the cooperative a real success. To guarantee this support for the duration of the 2-year project however we still need to raise a further £7,567. We would therefore be extremely grateful for your continued support to this project, and for spreading the word amongst your friends & family. With warm wishes.

Showing us the lettuce about to be sold

Carefully planting the onion seedlings

Receiving advice from a young agronomist

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