Enabel and Flanders Investment & Trade join forces on mobility project in Senegal

Enabel launched a pilot project in October 2021 to stimulate economic exchange between Senegal and Belgium. Small and micro entrepreneurs in Belgium are encouraged to build partnerships with Senegalese entrepreneurs. By engaging the business visa between the two countries, sixty Senegalese small and micro entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to complete a learning path where they will be immersed in similar Belgian businesses and be able to build economic partnerships in Belgium.

"The role of FIT is to identify and inform Flemish companies and to support Enabel in a successful matchmaking process between a Flemish and Senegalese company," explains Claire Tillekaerts, CEO of Flanders Investment & Trade. "The exchange of business ideas and networks strengthens the internationalization of the participating Flemish companies and promotes economic ties between Flanders and Senegal, already in the top 5 of Flanders' main export destinations in Africa."

"We believe that labour and business-related mobility can have a positive impact on the development of both countries of arrival and origin," explains Enabel’s General manager Jean Van Wetter. "Labor and business mobility is a positive story when it is framed and regulated, and people are supported. It allows for the transfer of knowledge and skills, helps fill gaps in the labor market, and encourages economic exchange between countries."

The project in Senegal is funded by the European Union through the International Center for Migration Policy (ICMPD), the Immigration Office and the Ministry of Interior of Belgium and will run until early 2024. The signing of this specific cooperation agreement constitutes the first concrete implementation of the partnership agreement concluded between Enabel and FIT on September 28, 2020. Enabel cooperates at the Walloon and Brussels level with AWEX and Hub.Brussels.