On Monday, February 24, 2025, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, officially launched Senegal's new digital strategy, dubbed the "Technological New Deal."
In his speech, President Faye emphasized the importance of this ambitious initiative, which places digital technology at the heart of national development and Senegal's technological sovereignty. This strategy, part of the national transformation agenda "Senegal 2050," aims to make the country a leader in the digital economy in Africa.
With the "Technological New Deal," Senegal commits to enhancing digital sovereignty by developing local solutions and securing its infrastructure, effectively digitizing government administration and public services, ensuring universal internet access, creating a conducive environment for emerging champions, establishing a unique biometric-based digital identity, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.
During this ceremony, the Head of State also highlighted the need to modernize public digital infrastructure and create a legal and regulatory framework favorable to innovation while protecting citizens' privacy.
Mr. Prime Minister,
Mr. Minister of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Affairs,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Government,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
African Ministers in charge of Digital Affairs,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Technical and Financial Partners,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Representatives of Startups and Technology Giants, Dear Guests,
At the launch of the New Deal Technologique
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would first like to extend a warm welcome to our hosts and wish them an excellent stay. I am delighted to be with you to proceed with the launch of the “New Deal Technologique.” This strategy is the result of a clear and voluntarist vision whose objective is to elevate Senegal to the rank of sovereign and prosperous nations by making digital technology one of the engines of our social and economic transformation. This project is at the heart of the National Transformation Agenda – Senegal 2050, which sets the milestones of a society anchored in strong values and oriented towards inclusive and sustainable development.
We are at the dawn of a new era where technology profoundly impacts our societies and economies. Everywhere, digital technology is an essential lever to increase competitiveness, affirm sovereignty, and foster prosperity. The pivotal period we are experiencing in a constantly evolving world requires nations to redefine their priorities to adapt to the imperatives of the digital revolution.
In Africa, this transformation is a strategic necessity. The continent, although rich in demographic dynamism and talent, also faces persistent challenges of inclusion, sustainable development, and good governance. It must also meet the challenge of this new revolution, that of Artificial Intelligence and data, by focusing on innovation and technologies to ensure a better future for our populations. This is achieved through universal internet access.
This is the ambition of the “New Deal Technologique,” which marks the starting point of a digital revolution to: address socio-economic inequalities; drive the digital transformation of administration and sectors; and accelerate the development of the digital economy with the emergence of national champions whose influence will extend beyond the borders of Africa.
The digitization of administration and public services, notably cadastral services, land management, electronic patient records, dematerialized civil status, electronic invoicing, telemedicine, e-learning, among others, is an absolute priority. It is the cornerstone of this digital transformation.
Many of our citizens face long, costly, and sometimes inefficient processes to access information or carry out basic administrative procedures.
With the New Deal Technologique, we will introduce, in addition to the simplification and standardization of procedures:
Universal access to the Internet, quality connectivity, efficient and at an affordable cost;
A unique digital identity based on biometrics, allowing the generation of secondary and functional identities for sectoral uses in health, education, justice, the economy, thus covering all life events;
A single citizen portal, the only interface between users and the administration for all procedures;
A centralized and integrated digital platform, allowing users to access basic information and services such as business creation, taxes, land registry, or payment services; this will also reduce the distance and disparities between urban and rural areas;
An incubation and funding program to support local startups and encourage technological innovation.
The impact will also be tangible for the administration, which will modernize with interoperable services, improved performance, and an expansion of the tax base, thus enabling the fight against corruption and significantly reducing tax evasion. This dematerialization of procedures and digitization of documents will eliminate intermediaries, reduce processing times, combat speculation and corruption, thanks to increased traceability and centralized, secure databases.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The development of our digital economy will be achieved by consolidating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem centered on SMEs and technological startups. They will need to be able to collaborate with major global technology players where necessary, to consolidate their skills and achieve efficient and secure industrial production.
Our ambition is to support the emergence of national champions capable of shining on a continental and international scale. In this context, we will particularly focus on:
The updating and operationalization of the Startup Act, in good coordination with the national digital ecosystem, including labeling and the establishment of an incentive framework;
The provision of modern and efficient public digital resources and infrastructures, to transform development environments and improve productivity;
The establishment of a legal, regulatory, and governance framework that is agile, conducive to innovation while remaining protective of privacy and respecting our socio-cultural realities;
The gradual digitization of the so-called informal economy, which will allow the identification, labeling, and support of our individual entrepreneurs, our very small enterprises, in their development.
Furthermore, the issue of digital sovereignty has become essential for all nations. For Senegal, this challenge is at the heart of the New Deal Technologique.
We are committed to building a sovereign digital space by strengthening our cyber resilience, securing infrastructures, protecting our critical data, and gradually reducing our dependence on foreign solutions. To achieve this goal, we will support our private sector and our academics in research and development, innovation, for the production of local technologies and solutions that are carriers of our sovereignty and ensuring the control of our cyberspace.
With the objective of investing in the digital economy, the “AI & Digital Factory” program will enable our country to become a crucible of excellence, a center of expertise, capable of producing, using, and exporting technologies and solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Virtual Reality, Gaming, and Robotics.
Our national champions will thus be able to shine in Africa and around the world. To ensure the success of this strategy, I ask you, Mr. Minister in charge of Digital Affairs, to establish an efficient monitoring and evaluation framework for close monitoring of the indicators and objectives defined in the Digital Master Plan, with its twelve (12) priority programs and its 50 flagship projects.
This is an opportunity to warmly congratulate you, your teams, and all the partners for your efforts in developing this vision for the digital sector in a transparent and inclusive approach.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This ambitious project is also intended for our technical and financial partners, as well as technology giants and investors who have come to participate in this great foundational event. Senegal offers a favorable investment environment, with a dynamic market, quality human resources, a healthy business environment, and a strengthened legal framework to protect data and encourage innovation.
I invite you to join forces with those of the government and the Senegalese private sector to co-create this digital ecosystem of tomorrow. Together, we can meet this challenge and build a future where technology is a lever of opportunities for all.
Thank you for your attention.