Launching the Impact Hub Dakar brand in Senegal

Built the Impact Hub Dakar brand from zero for its launch in Senegal: social strategy, video and visual content, community events, representing the hub nationally and internationally, and acting as manager in the MD's absence.

Results

First hire, and for six months the only employee alongside the founders

Impact Dakar accepted into the global network: it became Impact Hub Dakar

More than 100 events in my time, close to 200: startup sessions, afterworks, Failure Nights, fan zones, clubs

Co-hosted i4Policy with Eva Sow Ebion and the whole ecosystem, the process behind Senegal’s Startup Act, adopted on 27 December 2019

Managed a team as it grew to five or six people, interns included

Impact Hub Dakar brand built and launched in Senegal

Social media strategy, video and visual content, community events

Acting manager during the Managing Director's absence

Represented Impact Hub Dakar at the Impact Hub Global Gathering in Brazil (2019)

Hosted an evening with Jidenna and the 2019 presidential debate between party representatives

Startups tracked through KPIs as Business Analyst

How it started

It’s thanks to my friend Aziz Sy, co-founder and managing director. At first it wasn’t Impact Hub yet: it was Impact Dakar, five founders who wanted more than a coworking space. They were hiring a community manager to build a brand, and above all an ecosystem. I went to the interview, and at the end I was asked one question: where do you want to start? We started from there.

For the first six months, I was the only employee. I spent more time in that office than anyone, more time there than at home.

It was my second home. I was spending more time there than at home.

Carte blanche

About a dozen startups were incubated at the hub. The founders had ideas for events, and they gave me carte blanche: anything I wanted to try, as long as it built the community, grew the ecosystem and connected people.

i4Policy: changing the rules of the game

One of the events I’m proudest of is i4Policy, with Eva Sow Ebion. We brought the whole ecosystem into one room: the State, incubators, startups, small businesses and investors, to identify which policies had to change for startups to grow in Senegal. That process ended in a law: Senegal’s Startup Act, adopted by the National Assembly on 27 December 2019.

More than 100 events

In my time there, we ran more than 100 events, probably close to 200:

For the startups, almost every day
For the community: game nights, a lot of afterworks, Failure Nights where founders shared what went wrong
For other companies, who hosted their own events at the hub: a way to bring people in, and to bring in revenue
For everyone: fan zones for the World Cup and the Champions League, a chess club and other clubs

People came to know it as the place to be. Some evenings went further:

An evening with Jidenna, organized by Papi (l.artrepreneur), with guests such as Chris Bosh, Luol Deng and Amadou Gallo Fall.
The 2019 presidential election debate: the candidates’ programmes, presented and challenged by representatives of each party, hosted at the hub.

From Impact Dakar to Impact Hub Dakar

To join the global Impact Hub network, a hub has to prove it: a real community, a steady flow of events, programmes for its startups. We did, and Impact Dakar became Impact Hub Dakar. I then represented the hub at the Impact Hub Global Gathering in Brazil in 2019. The next gathering was cancelled by COVID.

Growing with the team

The team grew to five or six people, with programme managers and office managers. I managed people on my side too, including interns, and later followed the startups’ strategy and performance through KPIs as Business Analyst. I learned to manage, to be more strategic, and I met a large part of the people I still work with today.