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of businesses in Senegal, they only account for 42% of total employment and just 33% of total value
added.
In Uganda SMEs are largely concentrated in urban areas, mainly in Kampala and the central region. They
are predominantly engaged in hospitality and entertainment, education, wholesale and retail trade,
manufacturing, finance and insurance, health, social work, furniture, agriculture, professional services,
and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Ownership of the enterprises is almost equally
distributed between the male and female genders at 47.4% and 52.6% respectively, with more females
engaged in micro enterprises.
Agencies have been set up to support SMEs in both countries. In Senegal ADEPME (Agency for the
Development of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises) is a government body which supports SMEs, from
their creation to their development by providing technical assistance on accounting, marketing, and
business development. The “SME sectoral policy letter” mainly addresses SMEs development. At
regional and international level, many organisations are involved in the SMEs promotion in Senegal. The
African Development Bank is very active through its “Strategy 2010/2015” which financially supports the
national policies like the Accelerated Growth Strategy or the Enterprise Update Programme. Other donors
like ECOWAS, GIZ, EU, and USAID take part in the implementation of generic or specific sectorial
SME programs.
It appears that very little information is available about SMEs and exports in both countries. The Ministry
of Finance in Senegal estimates that only 5% of SMEs are involved in international trade. What we do
know, however, is that there is a plethora of policies and strategies aimed at exports which could be of use
to SMEs if they have the capacity, the entrepreneurial orientation and the support facilities for export-led
internationalisation. ASEPEX (Senegalese Association for Exports Promotions) was created in 2005 by
the Ministry of Trade; this association is in charge to help Senegalese enterprises to export through the
implementation of the Accelerated Growth Strategy (SCA).
In relation to exports, Uganda developed a National Export Strategy (NES) for the period 2008-12 that
aimed to generate US$5 billion per year in revenue from the export of goods and services. This sum
should contribute more than 16% to GDP, and increase the per capita export ratio from US$82 to US$200
as from 2012. Of the 12 sectors highlighted for the medium-term, coffee, tea, flowers, fish, cotton, and
services were identified as the main priorities. In order to support export diversification, sectors with
export potential such as textiles and garments, cereals and pulses, commercial crafts, natural ingredients,
and dairy have also been targeted. Although SMEs tend to operate mainly in the service sector there are
likely to be export related externalities which could be of benefit to many of the service industries in the
country. Substantive measures have also been developed to provide direct support activity to create, for
example, an effective national export training infrastructure which offers hands-on entrepreneurship and
export management training.
The doubling of real per capita GDP in Burkina Faso between 1995 and 2006 can be attributed to the
success of the cotton industry. Since 1995 the seed cotton sector has grown by 7.2% per annum on
average with much of growth being derived from the availability of increased area of cultivation and land
and labour productivity gains. Cotton is the main source of exports related income representing two-thirds
of all export earnings. Approximately 98% of production is exported, after ginning, to 30 countries. The
weighting in favour of cotton makes exports particularly vulnerable not least because of the fluctuating
prices and the volatility of the international commodities market (Burkina Faso Embassy, USA, 2013).
Burkina Faso’s exports are mainly cotton, gold and, a relatively smaller amount of livestock, which
together represent 78% of the country’s export. The three products accounted for 10.5% of GDP in 2007
and 15% in 2010, and are exported as raw material, with very little value-added from processing.
Furthermore, these exports contributed only 0.1% to the GDP growth rate of 7.9% in 2010.