What we're building is bigger than us.
An address to the women shaping Senegal's digital future — and to those who will.
Dear Festiciennes, dear friends of FESTIC,
There is an image I can't let go of: a young girl, somewhere between Dakar and our regions, closing her laptop convinced that tech isn't meant for her. Yet she has the same curious eyes, the same sharp mind as those who will become tomorrow's engineers, developers or entrepreneurs — except no one around her ever bothered to tell her so. FESTIC was born to make that image a thing of the past, one girl at a time, one region after another.
We don't believe talent is a matter of fate. A skill is cultivated, a network is woven, a calling is protected. In just a few years, more than two hundred women have turned that conviction into collective strength — through training, mentorship and entrepreneurship, all the way to the regions furthest from the spotlight.
Because digital is reshaping our country, our professions, our lives. The real question is no longer whether women will take part, but whether they will be its architects. Our answer is unequivocal.
The real question is no longer whether women will make the digital world, but whether we will finally let them.
To the woman still hesitating: your place exists, and we're keeping it for you. To those who want to act: a training, a mentorship, a gift can be enough to change a path. Nothing we achieve is done alone.
What we're building is bigger than an association. It is a promise to the next generation of Senegalese women: never again to have to ask permission to exist in tech. Thank you for writing it with us.
With gratitude and determination,
Solange Mbengue Ndir
President of FESTIC
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