YOG Dakar 2026: cry from the heart of small businesses

While the YOG rocks Dakar, disillusionment sets in around the Iba Mar Diop stadium. Far from the party, small traders play cat and mouse with the security forces. Bans on sales and confiscation of equipment now punctuate their daily lives.

Dakar has hosted the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) since October 31. The party is in full swing, the cupboard is filled with medals: a happy event for an entire nation. But on the side of the small businesses established around the Iba Mar Diop site, there is disenchantment and disillusionment. Two days before the end of the Games, the atmosphere is completely different around the stadium. For small businesses and street vendors, unlike sporting events which are played inside the sites, it is a game of hide and seek that they play with the police. Although they had prepared well to take advantage of this event, it was over the course of the competitions that their enthusiasm evaporated.

Sitting in the corner of a shop, Hawa Diallo, a donut seller, admits to being disappointed with the way these YOG have turned out: “I was hoping that my little business would be flourishing given the crowds, but I was only disappointed. Sometimes it works when there is mass, but this event has no effect on my business. »

A cardboard box acts as a barrier around his stove, on which a deep pan filled with oil simmers. Right next to it, in a jar, a few donuts are piled up. She readjusts her scarf and confides what pushes her to keep going despite the difficulties. “I have 5 children and I lost my husband. So, to avoid begging and doing other things, I have to run this business. With a profit of 500 F, I will at least be able to get them something to eat,” she admits with a pained look.

Right next to it, a lady is sitting, a smile on her lips, a silent witness to the discussion. Sitting with a small bag slung over her shoulder, no cooler placed in front of her, no sachet of water visible. The reason? They are strictly prohibited from selling around the sites. Fatou Sarr, supported by a cement brick, was just waiting for this opportunity to rush into the breach and empty her bag: “When we organize an event of this kind, we must involve all levels of society. Imagine, you organize an event like this and young people take off… We, the street sellers, do not benefit in any way from these games. »

Still in her explanations, she claims to have been the victim of eviction: “I had a tray full of sweets that they confiscated, and until now I don’t even know where it is, they never gave it back to me. »

Asked how she sells her water sachets, she replies: “We sell, but as soon as we see their car, we leave, at the risk of them confiscating our goods. »

For concrete solutions

Fatou Sarr denounces unequal treatment and offers concrete solutions: “Inside, there are sellers, they have their tents there. But is it a matter of long arm? They allocated them as they saw fit. But imagine a family who comes to watch the activities: a bottle of water that we sell for 100 F here, they triple it! A family of 5 people can’t buy one for everyone, it’s too expensive. The best thing was to erect tents here for those outside. »

She did not fail to recount a mishap experienced by one of her fellow sellers. “One day, a seller wanted to come inside and sell. They made her buy a ticket, but at the door, they asked her to put down her tray to let her enter empty-handed,” she testifies.

Still on the same alley, opposite the Iba Mar Diop site, as spectators begin to flock, Mamadiou Dia runs her little business. A coffee and tea seller, he serves a customer while watching over the teapot placed on his stove: “Do you see my parasol placed next to it? I can’t even install it because we could be kicked out at any time. It was yesterday that I came back here. I had set up there behind this table” (he points to a table set up in an alley), “they had confiscated all my things. » He claims to have prepared to host the YOG, but only receives disappointment: “Before the games started, I really believed that we were going to find our account, but alas… With what we are experiencing here, it was even before the games that we were doing the best. »

Fatou NGOM