Diaspora — investing back home from abroad

A first-rank economic force

Remittances from the Senegalese diaspora reached 2,211 billion FCFA in 2024 according to the BCEAO — close to 12% of GDP, more than official development aid. The vast majority funds family and consumption; the productively invested share remains the frontier, and the State actively courts this savings pool: the 300 billion FCFA bond issue launched in September 2025 included a dedicated diaspora tranche for the first time — whose take-up, honestly, was mixed.

The traps, named

Remote investment concentrates the documented misadventures: land sold to several buyers, a family proxy who "fixes" the paperwork, an open-ended building project with no contract, a developer vanishing after the deposit. The defences are known and they work: a notary, always; a limited, revocable notarised power of attorney rather than blanket trust; staged payments against verified progress; and a corporate vehicle for sizeable projects.

Invest as an entrepreneur, not a distant saver

The ordinary mechanisms are open to the diaspora: forming an OHADA company remotely (through a proxy), Investment Code approvals from 15 million FCFA, and the promising sectors of your home region. The golden rule: treat your project back home with the same rigour as an investment abroad — studies, contracts, professional advice — not as a matter of family trust. That is the modest price of success.