First day with WOW partners

Here we are! After reading previous reports about the different companies and women who received loans from WOW, we started to visit some of them today. The companies were :

• GIE Oumou Mountaga TALL
  
• Restaurant Chez Maye
• Marché.com

The three are all situated in the suburbs of Dakar. A quick taxi trip under a hot sun brought us to GIE Oumou Mountaga TALL. The leader of the organization Sadio, is a highly skilled and organized woman, who can transform any cereals, fruits and vegetables into high quality products. For 3 hours, we got to know her vision, how she plans to grow her business, what her next steps are, and eventually visited the transformation center. She looked determined and really looking forward to working with WOW. 

Restaurant Chez Maye was our next stop. It came at a good moment, so that we can had lunch. After walking through the huge construction

site surrounding our destination, we enjoyed eating and getting to know Maye, who had prepared an excellent meal for us. We were impressed by her creativity and cooking background. An electricity cut didn't prevent us from spending a fruitful time with her, learning about her long-term plans, and the current economic situation in Senegal, where grain and energy prices, among others, are surging.

It didn't take us much time to walk to the next partner, 

Marché.com, situated just next door. Meeting Mrs Ndoye and her son was a really inspiring moment.  Through dedication and careful planning, they developed innovative delivery services of food, and other products to an untapped market: the women with occupations. We were impressed by their approach to customer service and how they are building a core group of loyal clients.

Our first day with the partners was very instructive and confirm my belief that we will learn a lot during the following days and weeks. Indeed, Malick prepared a pretty dense planning, with about 15 interviews for the coming 2 weeks. We will meet current portfolio companies, potential partners, and other organizations (e.g."Chambre de Commerce", Ecobank) from which we could learn more about the small and middle-size business economy.

Looking forward to the next visits...

-Laurent