Investing in Touba's Future: Creating Impact Businesses for Youth Employment

Touba, Senegal's second-largest urban center with 1.12 million inhabitants, already boasts a strong entrepreneurial spirit: according to a study by the African Institute of Management, presented in July 2026 at the initiative of the Grand Magal organizing committee, 48.2% of active youth have created their own businesses, and eight out of ten entrepreneurs want to develop or diversify them. However, precariousness is widespread: 90.9% of active youth work in the informal sector, 94.9% without contracts or social protection, and 77.4% consider leaving the territory. Funding is the main obstacle (92.2% of entrepreneurs), and public schemes like DER/FJ are only utilized by 1% of them. According to DER/FJ, over 47% of young men in the department are unemployed, untrained, and outside the education system, in an economy dominated by trade and underdeveloped crafts. Training opportunities exist: in January 2025, 33 young people obtained a certificate in fruit and vegetable processing at the DAK training center in Touba, as part of the PFPE. The study proposes eight areas, including adapting training, access to funding, digital transformation, women's entrepreneurship, and recommends creating solidarity corridors between diaspora dahiras and those in Touba. This mission invites the diaspora to invest in impact businesses, mentor and train young project leaders, and open their business networks in Touba's promising sectors: agri-food processing, crafts, structured trade, recycling, transport and logistics, digital, and services.