Keys to the success of CITIC Dakar are local knowledge and relationships, clear goals, and building knowledge from and relationships with incubators worldwide. According to Sonatel (Senegal), a local partner, “The incubator is a nucleus to better understand the problems of entrepreneurs.” The incubator hopes to facilitate the scaling of early-stage ICT enterprises and make sustainable business incubation a reality for Senegalese entrepreneurs. To help achieve these goals, CITIC Dakar will join infoDev’s iDisc network, a global network of over 300 incubators in 88 countries.

iDISC, the infoDev Incubator Support Center, was created in 2002 to support organizations promoting ICT-enabled innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries. It provides free-of-charge, hands-on and practical information for incubators and other business development organizations, including online communities of practice, ‘how to’ guides for incubators, member directories, regional networking opportunities, case studies, presentations and reports from global experts on innovation and entrepreneurship for small to medium enterprises.

infoDev is dedicated to supporting the growth of early-stage ICT enterprises around the world. This particular incubator will support such work in Senegal and is the result of a partnership among several co-financiers: ADIE, ARTP, CDE, GTZ and Sonatel, and is being supported by OPTIC, Chaka Computers, APIX, and the Universities of Dakar and St. Louis. The incubator will provide a comprehensive set of business development, financial, market and technical services to entrepreneurs with high growth potential in the hopes of fostering new innovative and sustainable businesses.