A successful mission for European SMEs in Senegal as part of ESECA project
ESECA consortium organized its first business mission to Senegal the first week of July 2023, from the 3rd to the 7th. The mission aimed at intensifying business network collaboration among European companies in the renewable energy and smart grids sectors with Senegalese companies. ESECA organized this mission in collaboration with another European cluster partnership, AEWEN, which has also Senegal among its target markets and covers the water and energy sectors among its strategic areas.
22 European companies from Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France took part in this mission and around 70 B2B meetings were organized with the support of the local consulting team CEEMO. The presentaton of the European delegation is available here: https://www.pole-medee.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/vf-FR-contact-Fly…
On Tuesday July 4th, ESECA and AEWEN conjointly organized a conference to gather European companies with major Senegalese energy and water stakeholders. The day was filled with keynotes, pitchs and round-tables. 83 people took part in this event, enabling an active networking between EU companies and local stakeholders! Here is the complete agenda of the day: https://www.pole-medee.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FR-Programme-conf…
Here are some keypoints highlighted by our speakers to the EU delegation:
- Our speakers are open to innovation and cooperation and can act as entry points to find test areas and local partners
- They are looking for technical and financial partners to co-develop new energy and water projects
- Developed innovations are to be adapted to Senegalese conditions
- It is necessary to work not only on the technical part of innovation but on the complete value chain. These integrated solutions must answered to the energy challenges while promoting a sustainable socio-economic model.
- Skill transfer is as important as technical innovation
All the above mentioned points converge towards sustainable project development!
With this in mind, the agenda went on for the European companies with two days of personalized B2BS wih local companies. We hope this will lead to future win-win project development!
Finally, ESECA proposed a complementary support for European SMEs with the organization of a workshop around financial opportunities to develop projects in Senegal. This activity was co-organized with Eurocham, the european chamber of commerce in Senegal.
Do not miss the next steps for ESECA consortium:
- A new business mission will take place in Kenya and Rwanda in October 2023: https://clustercollaboration.eu/content/eseca-join-second-mission-oppor…
- ESECA is planning a final European workshop in Augsburg, Germany beginning of December 2023
Stay tuned!