With 5 friends, he had set up a cosmetics and food products distribution GIE using his own funds. He had previously worked as a manager for a Canadian distribution company, but decided to leave because of the gap between the products on the market and the expectations of Senegalese consumers.

Chérif and his friends started their business with 14,000 CFA francs invested in soap, which they quickly resold on the streets of Dakar. This enabled them to buy other products and gradually build up their assets. Today, they offer the opportunity to around 70 young salespeople whom they train and enable to earn a living through the commissions they pay them.

In their company, there are no hierarchical relationships. And the key to their success is delivered by Chérif: “You don’t have to be good to start, but you have to start to become good”.