Sème City — Benin's State-Led Innovation and Knowledge City

Launched in 2017 under Benin's 'Benin Revele' government action programme, Seme City is a planned innovation and knowledge city being built on a 336-hectare site in Ouidah, about 40km west of Cotonou. The site was expanded from an originally planned 192 hectares near the Nigerian border, and the project is run by the state Agence de Developpement de Seme City (ADSC) under director Claude Borna.
Pending completion of the main campus, the project has operated across four interim sites: Seme One (classrooms, co-working space, a language centre and a data centre), Seme Two (an innovation park with 3D printing and an X-ray laboratory), Seme Three (a UNICEF- and UNFPA-backed community centre for ages 8-18), and Seme Four/Pi (home to the Epitech Benin computer-science school).
The Beninese government has set a target of generating more than 100,000 jobs by 2032, at least a third of them self-employment and 40% held by women. Partners named across government and press sources include the World Bank, UNDP, the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Smart Africa.
Eight years after launch, the flagship campus is still under construction and the 100,000-jobs target is a government projection for 2032, not a measured outcome. Seme City should be read as an ambitious, still-unproven experiment in state-led innovation-city building rather than a demonstrated success.

Read the full analysis: https://semecity.bj/