Press releases - 2026 May 12
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye received in audience Mr. Antoine de Saint-Affrique, Chief Executive Officer of Danone, and Mr. Bagoré Bathily, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Laiterie du Berger.
For twenty years, these two companies have built a remarkable partnership together. Danone, a company with more than a century of history, and Laiterie du Berger, a flagship of Senegal’s agri-food sector, have based their collaboration on a shared conviction: producing locally, processing locally, and creating sustainable value for the benefit of small-scale farmers and traders. It is both an economic and social project, whose measurable achievements speak for themselves.
Starting in 2007 with a turnover of 250 million CFA francs and 200 partner herders, Laiterie du Berger closed the year 2025 with a turnover of 29 billion CFA francs. Today, the company works with 8,000 herders upstream, injecting two billion CFA francs annually into the pastoral economy through its purchases, and relies on a downstream network of 35,000 retail shops, which collectively generated a margin of five billion CFA francs in 2025. Nearly 1,000 direct jobs complete this ecosystem. This momentum is tangibly improving the lives of thousands of Senegalese people across the country’s rural communities.
Building on this trajectory, the company now aims to establish itself as a champion at the sub-regional level.
The Head of State reaffirmed the government’s strong commitment to supporting the national private sector through the development of an attractive fiscal and customs framework, support for companies that proudly represent Senegal, and the attraction of foreign investors who fully embrace local content policies. These are among the key levers being mobilized to foster a new generation of national champions capable of strengthening the country’s economic sovereignty and sustainably creating jobs and income opportunities across the regions.