Focus on Maison de la PME

In 2018, Societe Generale Group and Societe Generale Senegal inaugurated the first Maison de la PME in Dakar, which was the result of the joint determination of the Group and its local partners to provide a concrete response to the problems of monitoring and financing SMEs in Africa.

Since then, no less than 5 Maisons de la PME have opened their doors in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Accra (Ghana), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) and Douala (Cameroon). Others are also being developed in Madagascar and Guinea. The goal is to have one in each African subsidiary.

Africa is one of the continents with the most young entrepreneurs in the world and thus naturally sees the emergence of many SMEs which, due to financial obstacles or lack of experience, often struggle to overcome the fateful five-year milestone.

Open to clients and prospects, La Maison de la PME therefore offers to accompany young SMEs in terms of growth, operations and necessary investments to meet their financing needs.

In this dedicated space, both financial and non-financial services are available to meet specific needs. Networking events, trainings and Coaching Days are also organized for project carriers.

Societe Generale relies both on international partners (BPI France, Proparco, etc.) and on local partners in the economic and industrial sectors (associations of SME managers, incubators, etc.); in other words, all those likely to have an impact on improving the "investment readiness" of SMEs, in order to participate actively in their development and the growth that this implies on the continent in terms of employment and the economy.

Within the framework of the Grow with Africa initiative, the implementation of a multidimensional support for SME managers is one of the ways to achieve the target of 60% growth in outstanding loans from Societe Generale to African SMEs over the next 5 years.

La Maison de la PME is an example of cooperation for the development of entrepreneurship on the continent.