Investing in the Future of Saint-Louis: Creating Impact Businesses for Youth Employment

Saint-Louis is one of the territorial hubs in northern Senegal, with an economy based on fishing, river valley agriculture, livestock farming, and tourism. A project for the Grand Saint-Louis Special Economic Zone (ZES) in Gandon aims to transform it into a regional industrial and logistics hub: eleven projects were presented by South Korean investors in December 2025. In terms of fishing and aquaculture, the Aqua Jëf 360 program of the National Aquaculture Agency aims to support young people and women in aquaculture entrepreneurship, and the Minister of Fisheries visited Saint-Louis during a tour in August 2026. Women processing fishery products in Langue de Barbarie face climate change, coastal erosion, and the reduction of processing sites. For training, ANPEJ inaugurated three Competence Centers (CENCOM) in Saint-Louis in December 2025, with the support of Andalusian Cooperation, to link training, employment, and entrepreneurship. Authorities invite young people to better understand support structures (ANPEJ, 3FPT), and Gaston Berger University participates in discussions on employability. This mission mobilizes the diaspora to invest in impact businesses (fishing and processing, aquaculture, agro-industry, tourism, digital), transfer skills, and open business networks to serve youth and women's employment.