Senegal Mobilises $50 Million to Plug the Pre-Seed Funding Gap in Francophone West Africa

The funding that gets the least attention is often the funding that matters most. Across Africa, the gap between a founder’s first idea and their first institutional cheque remains one of the most consequential bottlenecks in the startup ecosystem — and nowhere is this gap wider than at the pre-seed and seed stages in Francophone West Africa. Senegal’s Rapid Entrepreneurship Delegation for Women and Youth (DER/FJ) has announced the creation of the Catalyst DER/FJ fund, a $50 million vehicle that