Friday,November 29, 2019   /01:06 PM  / By Disrupt Africa / HeaderImage Credit: Disrupt Africa

The Senegal Startup Act has been passed by the country'scabinet and will now go before the National Assembly next month in order to bepassed into law.

Disrupt Africa reported inAugust 2018 more than 60 key players in the Senegalese innovation ecosystemcame together to draft a startup act at the i4policy hackathon in Dakar.

The Senegal Startup Act contains a number of recommendations that aim topromote innovation and entrepreneurship, covering areas such as tax policies,startup financing, startup labeling, and the promotion of data collection andsharing so that entrepreneurs can develop better business plans.

Earlier this month, President Macky Sall's Council ofMinisters considered and adopted the bill, and it will now go before theNational Assembly in December. If passed it would make Senegal the secondAfrican country to pass such an Act, after Tunisia.

Thefirst specific startup law globally was passed in Italy in 2012, and Africa isincreasingly catching on. A host of countries, with Mali also at an advancedstage, are working towards Startup Acts, with Jon Stever, co-founderand managing director of Impact Hub Kigali and catalyst at i4Policy, saying at least 10 Africanecosystems are working on putting such laws together.

"I think that in a few years the question will be, "how many countries don't have Startup Acts?", Stever said. 

"This year, Smart Africa's board, comprising 26African heads of state, requested the Tunisian government to package and sharelearnings from their Startup Act. Moreover, the work of i4Policy signatories tosupport policy reforms is multiplying, as are our resources to support thework."

According to Stever, governments are increasinglyrecognising that "entrepreneurs are the experts in entrepreneurship", and canmeaningfully contribute to public policy conversations. Before this startups,if addressed at all in legislation, were addressed through SME-focused laws.

Credit: The post SenegalStartup Act Set To Be Passed Into Law Next Month first appeared in Disrupt Africa on November 25, 2019

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