Dakar Has Opened a Start-Up Programme for Athletes and Sport Businesses
Dakar has launched IncubaSport, billed as Africa’s first incubator for the sport economy, ten weeks before the city hosts the first Olympic event held on the continent. The post Dakar Has Opened a Start-Up Programme for Athletes and Sport Businesses appeared first on The Rio Times .
The Dakar municipality has launched a pioneering start-up programme aimed at developing the sport economy, health and entrepreneurship. Dubbed IncubaSport, this initiative is the first of its kind in Africa and is set to run three phases - diagnosis, incubation and acceleration - with twelve specialisation tracks covering areas such as sports nutrition, video analysis, equipment design and sports law.
The programme, run by Dakar's municipal development fund FODEM, CEPEM business hatchery, and the city's sports directorate alongside French coaching firm WorkingFit, aims to reach over 1,000 young people, train 500 project-holders and accelerate 50 businesses across Dakar's 19 communes. Applications opened simultaneously on 20 August, 2026 and will close online by 15th September, 2026.
The programme comes in the lead-up to the first Olympic event held on African soil, the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar from 31 October to 13 November, 2026, and is positioned as a legacy programme for those Games. The program was conceptualised in 2023 and is now poised to start operations.
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