THE INAUGURAL ‘INVEST IN SENEGAL’ SUMMIT 2023
Event date: 06-08 JULY 2023
It began with a conversation in a Dubai boardroom on May 13, 2023. The ask was audacious: deliver a world-class investment summit in Dakar, Senegal — a venue untested at this scale, in a market unfamiliar with the polished precision of events in the UAE. The client wanted more than an event. They wanted transformation.
By the next day, a team was already flying across continents. On May 14, they stepped into CICAD — a raw, sprawling convention centre that would soon become the epicentre of Senegal’s investment ambitions. Time was scarce. Expectations, limitless.
Building the Unknown
Designs kicked off on May 20. 63 exhibition booths — each custom-built, some as large as 300 square meters — had to be conceived, constructed, and delivered in less than 7 weeks. But the real challenge wasn’t what they had to build. It was how much.
The scope fluctuated dramatically from 5,000 m² at brief to 700 m², then expanded again to 1,500 m² — a final figure confirmed just 7 days before showtime. The team couldn’t slow down. They couldn’t wait for clarity. They built for every possibility, shifting gears with almost military precision.
Eid and the Empty Markets
As plans solidified, Dakar went quiet. Eid al-Adha arrived, bringing with it a 4-day shutdown. Materials couldn’t be sourced. Workers were off-grid. The clock didn’t care.
But relationships built in days became lifelines. Local vendors, moved by the urgency and respect shown by the team, opened their shops during the holidays. Meanwhile, over 6,000 kilometers away, a logistics unit in the UAE packed, processed, and flew in critical equipment in staggered waves.
A City Covered in Color
Then came the branding — all 7,000 square meters of it. Stickers, backdrops, graphics, signage. The kind of transformation that rebrands not just a venue, but a city.
No single vendor could deliver this volume on time. So, the team did the unthinkable: they onboarded 56 local printers, simultaneously, coordinating them like a single machine. In just 36 hours, the blank walls of CICAD bloomed into a vivid visual narrative of Senegal’s future.
People First, Always
Behind the build stood a battalion of 78 experts flown in from Dubai. Among them, 70 were strict Indian vegetarians — a logistical challenge in itself. Rather than risk discomfort or discontent, two chefs were flown in from the UAE to prepare fresh, culturally appropriate meals throughout the build.
Because the project wasn’t just about hardware and banners. It was about people. And people perform best when they’re seen, heard, and cared for.
The Curtain Rises
On July 5, the doors opened.
Gone was the raw hall from weeks earlier. In its place stood a vibrant, high-tech, meticulously curated summit space. The Prime Minister of Ivory Coast walked the corridors. Delegations from across Francophone Africa explored the booths. And investment flowed — over $110 million committed before the summit closed.
Senegal had hosted its first truly global investment summit. And it looked like it had done it for years.
The Legacy Left Behind
The summit proved that premium event standards could be exported, reimagined, and applied in new markets. It showed that cross-cultural collaboration, when grounded in respect and excellence, could overcome any logistical or temporal constraint.
And it left something behind — not just a transformed venue, but a new belief in what Dakar could do.
With the Invest in Senegal summit CONFEX didn’t just succeed. It set a precedent.
