person: Awa Sene

  • Awa Sène seeks new strategies to deal with rising food prices

    Awa Sène seeks new strategies to deal with rising food prices

    After an extremely difficult few months marked by health issues, the death of her mother and the financial instability caused by the pandemic, Awa Sène began to resume her commercial activities in October 2021. She picked up trade by selling her fresh juices to children once schools reopened and also supplied chilled food products to…

  • Awa’s business expansion held back by Covid-19

    Awa’s business expansion held back by Covid-19

    Awa Sène was overjoyed when she took delivery of her second solar freezer in April 2021, a decision she had reached after discussing expansion plans with Energy 4 Impact Business Mentor, Dominique Thiaw. She immediately set out to widen her customer base to the surrounding villages. After a difficult period in which her business had…

  • ENERGIA’s Covid-19 solidarity fund helps Awa realise her dreams of expansion

    ENERGIA’s Covid-19 solidarity fund helps Awa realise her dreams of expansion

    The last six months have been riddled with uncertainty for Awa Sene. When the state of emergency in Senegal was lifted and life returned to a semblance of normality last autumn, she still faced operational and financial challenges. Awa had started out as a grocer in her home village, then diversified into a much more…

  • Living in ‘survival mode’ during the lockdown

    Living in ‘survival mode’ during the lockdown

    Since the lockdown was imposed at the onset of the pandemic in Senegal, Awa has seen her turnover fall from an average of USD 340 per month to between USD 70 and 110 per month. As schools closed down, market activities got suspended and travel restrictions were imposed, Awa’s customers faded away. Her mentor advised…

  • New solar batteries help Awa get business back on track

    New solar batteries help Awa get business back on track

    Business is booming for Senegalese entrepreneur Awa Sene, the first cold trader in the rural village of Khassid, located 150 km southwest of Dakar. The solar freezer that she purchased 18 months ago has enabled her to generate healthy profits by selling refrigerated and frozen products such as fruit juices, yogurt, milk, ice and chilled…

  • The entrepreneur who is making more nutritious drinks available thanks to the cooling power of the sun

    The entrepreneur who is making more nutritious drinks available thanks to the cooling power of the sun

    Awa Sene is a shop owner in Khassid, a village of 751 inhabitants situated 18km from the town of Fatick in south west Senegal. In Khassid, as in many of the neighbouring villages, there is limited access to energy, creating a barrier to local development for small businesses and households, and restricting opportunities for economic…