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Good practice Imported

Senegal's Startup Act — A 2020 Law That Took Five Years to Start Working

Senegal · Dakar · See the Senegal profile · See the Dakar profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 89% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Senegal's 2020 Startup Act promised tax breaks and procurement access to labelled firms, but its oversight commission wasn't installed until August 2023, and press found only one labelled startup by late 2022 — a cautionary case in the gap between law and implementation.

1
Startups formally labelled (by Dec 2022)
3.5 years
Years to install the oversight commission (CEAC) (2020-2023)
Senegal's Startup Act — A 2020 Law That Took Five Years to Start Working

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy / Commission d'évaluation, d'appui et de coordination (CEAC)
Period
2020–2025
Keywords
digital economy, entrepreneurship policy, fiscal incentives

Context

Senegal's National Assembly adopted the Startup Act in January 2020, creating a 'labelled startup' status offering three years of tax exemption and simplified public-procurement access.

Activities

The Commission for Evaluation, Support and Coordination (CEAC), the 18-member body responsible for granting the label, was not installed until 30 August 2023 - three and a half years after the law's adoption.

Results

By December 2022, essentially only one startup had been formally labelled; in January 2025 the government launched a digital one-stop shop, aiming to label 500+ startups and create 150,000 jobs by 2034.

Conclusions

No independent audit of labelled-startup numbers, tax revenue forgone, or job creation has yet been published, five years after enactment.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Commission for Evaluation, Support and Coordination (18 members)

Conditions for success

  • an installed oversight commission
  • a functioning digital application system

Common failure modes

  • oversight commission not installed until 3.5 years after the law
  • leadership instability after the 2025 relaunch

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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