Wave Senegal and DER-FJ strengthen their partnership to enhance the attractiveness and influence of the Senegalese entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The first edition of Ndekki Wave – LionsTech took place this Friday, October 16, 2026, in Dakar. Co-organized by Wave Senegal and the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship for Women and Youth (DER-FJ), this annual event is part of the partnership between Wave and DER-FJ, which has already supported 15 Senegalese startups at VivaTech. It was co-chaired by Ms. Elisabeth Dioh, Marketing Director of Wave Senegal, and Dr. Abdoulaye Niane, General Delegate of DER-FJ.

"A simple but decidedly useful moment of exchange"

Ndekki Wave – LionsTech aims to be a simple yet highly useful exchange. This is why this first edition brought together around sixty entrepreneurs, support structures, investors and institutions for practical workshops (building a founding team, preventing entrepreneurial burnout, company culture), a presentation by the startup Kera Health and a networking session.

Wave Senegal and DER-FJ: a fruitful partnership to enhance the attractiveness and influence of the Senegalese entrepreneurial ecosystem

According to the marketing director, Wave Digital Finance's participation in this event stems from its history being intertwined with that of Senegalese entrepreneurship. "Wave was born here in Senegal, more precisely at the fishing pier in Mbour, long before our offices in Dakar. We experienced demanding beginnings: attracting the right talent, staying on course, and building a strong team culture in a constantly accelerating environment. Many of you are facing these challenges today," emphasized Ms. Elisabeth Dioh.

To give substance to its commitment to Senegalese startups, she explained that they needed a partner who shared this ambition and was already closely connected to entrepreneurs. "The DER/FJ therefore emerged as the obvious choice: through LionsTech, one of its flagship initiatives, it unites tech and innovative startups in Senegal and supports them in strengthening their skills, accessing funding, and gaining visibility, both in Senegal and internationally," she maintained, adding that this Ndekki is the first concrete expression of this commitment.

Ms. Dioh points out that this partnership with DER-FJ is based on "a clear commitment: to contribute, alongside DER-FJ, to the attractiveness and influence of the Senegalese entrepreneurial ecosystem, on the international stage as well as here, at home, in Senegal."

“The first step in this partnership took us to Paris last June for VivaTech, one of the world’s largest innovation events. Alongside DER-FJ, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and the French Embassy, Wave was proud to fund the participation of 15 startups from the LionsTech community in the Senegal Pavilion. They were able to present their solutions and network with international investors. That said, an ecosystem isn’t built solely on the international stage. It’s built first and foremost here, at home, and among ourselves,” explained the marketing director of Wave Senegal.

This is precisely the purpose of the second phase of this partnership, which begins today with this Ndekki event. This meeting will be followed by "Entrepreneurship Week" in November, and other initiatives to come, all with the same objective: to create spaces where entrepreneurs can meet, learn from each other, and leave better equipped.

In this regard, Ms. Elisabeth Dioh expressed her deep gratitude to DER-FJ for the trust it places in Wave Senegal and for the remarkable work it carries out with the LionsTech Invest community.

Objective: "to promote innovation"

The Director General of DER-FJ, for his part, welcomed the initiative, which he said aims to promote innovation, one of DER-FJ's objectives. "Today, we are having high-quality discussions on entrepreneurial culture, the difficulties of starting out, and burnout. These are therefore unusual topics that require an extremely practical approach," emphasized Dr. Abdoulaye Niane.