Moussa Bocar Thiam, Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy.

Senegal has joined forces with Smart Africa to develop a national data strategy to support the country’s data economy project.

As part of Senegal’s Digital Strategy 2025, the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Smart Africa, and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), last week, held a consultative workshop, over two days, to draft a roadmap for the country’s digital journey.

The workshop, which included experts from stakeholder groups and key players in the digital economy space, was held to collect and exchange information on data infrastructures, the regulatory framework, governance and data uses in Senegal.

In a statement, Smart Africa said the workshop provided an opportunity to share the context and objectives of the strategy development project with the entire digital ecosystem.

Smart Africa is an alliance of 36 African countries, international organisations and global private sector players, tasked with defining and driving Africa’s digital agenda.

Launched in 2013, the alliance now represents over 1.5 billion people and over 40 private sector members committed to the vision and the advancement of Africa.

"Africa's digital sovereignty relies on the management of its data, the new oil. I therefore particularly welcome the willingness of the Senegalese government to implement a national data strategy to supervise and manage the use of data," said Lacina Koné, director general of Smart Africa, during the opening ceremony of the workshop in Dakar.

Moussa Bocar Thiam, Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, commented: “Senegal intends to perpetuate its commitment to the era of digital innovation, based on data, to further boost the digital economy by providing added value in areas such as improving the development of public policies or the modernisation of public services centered on users."

“GIZ, on behalf of the (German) Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, supports the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy of Senegal, in partnership with Smart Africa, to develop the first data strategy on the African continent contributing to the human-centered digital transformation,” added Bjorn-Soren Gigler, GIZ’s head of Data Economy and Blockchain Programmes.