DISCOM Project - An academia partnership to develop the distribution and marketing of local products

Senegal has marked up a steady growth rate of around 6% per year since 2014. Distribution, which is still dominated by the informal sector (15–20% of GDP), plays an important role in the country’s economy in terms of employment. Retail and distribution are very dynamic in Senegal, as well as in West Africa and Central Africa, as shown by the increasing number of  shopping malls in West Africa and the extension of national brand retailers in Senegalese cities (Dakar, Thiès, Saint-Louis).
However, the market for local products suffers from structural weaknesses: difficulties in referencing local products, no certification of organic products, low penetration rate of online sales.
Although several universities and training centres have recently opened, Senegal is facing a high demand for higher education, notably in management sciences.

The DISCOM project aims to set up a long-term academic partnership to implement higher education training programmes in Management Sciences, delivered by the Université Iba Der Thiam de Thiès (UIDT): a quality, job-oriented programme at the Bachelor’s/Licence, Master’s and PhD/Doctorate levels and attractive at national, regional and international level. The ambition? Develop the distribution and marketing of local products.

The project was selected for the second edition of the “Academia Partnerships Africa-France” programme (PeA). It is financed by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs via the Agence française de développement (AFD). The PeA programme is implemented by the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR – French National Research Agency) and Campus France with support from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

This project contributes to achieving the following  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):  

• Co-build quality, job-oriented training programmes on the African continent (SDG 4) ;
• Facilitate the access of young African women to university and thus to their economic empowerment (SDG 5) ;
• Facilitate the access of African youth to training that leads to decent jobs (SDG 8).