EU-funded project fosters business partnerships between Belgium and Senegal

Over the past three years, PEM-WECCO, the Pilot project for business mobility between Belgium and Senegal, has been connecting Senegalese and Belgian entrepreneurs. The project has fostered business opportunities between the two countries and has contributed to the development of a sustainable Belgo-Senegalese economic partnership. The “one-stop shop” for Senegalese entrepreneurs set up by the project will continue to support these entrepreneurial networks, offering mobility funding and legal advice.

A project that delivers tangible results

The pilot project has provided support to 47 entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized Senegalese businesses, who were able to meet with Belgian economic actors and develop joint business ventures. The project’s mobility component helped the companies involved develop their businesses abroad, allowing entrepreneurs to establish new channels for further development.

A total of 29 partnerships were signed between Senegalese and Belgian companies, while 60 more are under negotiation. The project spans a variety of sectors, from agriculture and education to technology and biomedicine. PEM-WECCO fosters businesses providing technical solutions for early cancer screening in rural health clinics for instance, or training for comic book writers, and the opening of new transport routes. Of these partnerships, 79% are commercial import/export trade, 10% are joint ventures, and 11% will involve the development of new products or services.

EU-backed mobility schemes

Launched in October 2021, the PEM-WECCO project has received over EUR 2,600,000 in EU funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The project is one of the multiple labour mobility schemes established under the Commission’s Migration Partnership Facility (MPF). Since 2018, MPF has become a key instrument to support legal migration. Currently, there are 11 active MPF projects, combining mobility activities with in-depth analysis of labour market needs in the EU and non-EU-partner countries.

These initiatives are designed to create sustainable cooperation structures between countries of origin and destination, while providing opportunities for permanent or temporary migration to Europe for work and training. They cater to the private sector by addressing business needs and provide benefits to migrant workers, such as remittances, mentoring, and intercultural exchange.

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Legal migration and integration

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