Dakar's Grand Municipal Fair: "Buying local" celebrated at the Municipal Building

The City of Dakar, through its Municipal Development and Solidarity Fund (FODEM), is showcasing local expertise at the Grand Municipal Fair. Held this Tuesday, November 10th, at the Municipal Building, Senegal Day celebrates products made in Senegal and local entrepreneurship. However, behind this commercial facade, exhibitors are facing a less encouraging reality: low attendance and sales below their expectations .

Local products are plentiful, but customers are scarce. At the Communal Building, the Dakar Municipal Fair showcases a diverse range of products reflecting Senegalese expertise: processed foods, local grains, handcrafted items, and other goods made in Senegal. Yet, despite this variety, exhibitors are struggling to attract buyers and sell their merchandise.

Aminata Diop Samb, Director General of the Municipal Development and Solidarity Fund (FODEM), presents this Senegal Day as an opportunity to highlight the initiatives of beneficiaries supported by the municipality. Training, formalization, and financing constitute the three pillars of this program. Artisans and entrepreneurs have thus benefited from training in several fields, including masonry, sewing, and food processing.

Beyond the exhibition, the City of Dakar aims to foster business opportunities and partnerships. "Partnerships have been established with exhibitors, but also with all the beneficiaries we have trained," says the director. She assures that this support will continue after the fair, with capacity building, formalization of activities, and financial assistance based on expressed needs.

But the commercial results still fall short of expectations. After six days, the Grand Municipal Fair has only reached 50% of its objectives, particularly in terms of attendance and sales, according to Aminata Diop Samb. She hopes for an improvement during the final week of the event.

On the ground, exhibitors welcome this initiative, which provides them with a platform to showcase their products and promote local entrepreneurship. However, they lament the lack of consumer enthusiasm. In several booths, merchandise remains unsold due to insufficient buyers. They are therefore appealing to Dakar residents to come and discover their products and support local production.

The success of this fair will also depend on the sales achieved by the exhibitors. Beyond visibility, the goal is to enable local producers and processors to sell their products and make a living from their expertise.