Association Magg’ando is the winner of the « Women in Sport Entrepreneurship » contest

On Friday 9 June, the final panel of judges for the “Women in Sport Entrepreneurship” competition, set up by Sport Impact and GIZ-S4DA, met in Dakar. After a pre-selection phase in May, during which several applications were received from African women entrepreneurs in the sports sector in Senegal, three nominees were given the opportunity to present their project orally to a panel of judges in the hope of winning a financial grant of €15,000.

At the private club The Third, Khoudia Touré and Mariam Dicko (Association Magg’ando), Walimata Seye (Hope and Sport Academy) and Oumy Baada Salomon (Siboo Sport) each had 10 minutes to pitch their respective projects and convince the jury.

The all-women jury was made up of established women entrepreneurs : Seynabou Thiam, founder of SEW Africa, and Mariam Ndour, Social Media Manager at Brut Afrique ; and members of the competition’s organising committee: Catherine Daraspe and Magatte Ndiaye from the GIZ-S4DA project and Syra Sylla from Sport Impact.

At the end of the jury’s deliberation, Khoudia Touré and Mariam Dicko from the Magg’ando Association were named winners of the competition for their project “Nu Fecc’Atte – Dance beyond our walls ».

Focus on the three projects presented

The “Nu Fecc’Atte” project run by the Magg’ando association has the dual aim of training and professionalising 5 apprentice dance teachers, as well as passing on the practice of dance to vulnerable groups, in particular the elderly and female minors in prison. Through dance, teachers and participants are encouraged to discuss gender inequalities and the importance of women taking part in sport. The grant will also enable the Magg’ando Association to lay the foundations for a sustainable project : the creation of a physical space in Dakar to host their various activities/courses.

“Thanks to the competition, we’re going to be able to bring to fruition a wonderful project that’s very close to our hearts, and which builds on the work we did last year. To be able to benefit from such support is a godsend and will enable us to structure ourselves better and plan for the long term! We’re extremely happy because this support will strengthen our impact on our beneficiaries: the dancers’ skills will be enhanced and they’ll be more professional so that they can find better employment, and we’ll be launching the pilot phase of the Magg’ando space, which will benefit our entire community of dancers as well as the surrounding communities.”

While Magg’ando won first prize, the jury also highlighted the relevance and quality of the other two projects, led by inspiring women, and their potential to help diversify and innovate Senegal’s entrepreneurial sector.

With Hope and Sport Academy, Walimata Seye, a former professional footballer, aims to create a sports-study football academy for girls in Yenne, Senegal. The aim of the project is to give young girls with a passion for football the same opportunities as boys, and to pursue their sporting careers while providing them with the means of a general education that would open the way to professional alternatives.

Oumy Baada Salomon has been promoting sports marketing with Siboo Sport. Siboo aims to help 20 top-level athletes develop their marketing and communication skills in order to promote their careers and their image.

There are still many cultural and structural obstacles for both women in sport and women entrepreneurs – in Germany as in Senegal. Their career paths are generally more difficult than those of their male counterparts, and their projects are all the more deserving of recognition and support, and their successes even more celebrated.

Through this initiative, GIZ-S4DA and Sport Impact want to promote women and their socio-economic sports projects and support their professional development in and through sport.