Employment Benefits of an Educational Incubator for Business Graduates in Senegal

A major benefit of education is the lower risk of unemployment at higher educational levels” (Mincer, 1991). Yet, this contradicts the situation in Senegal, where the unemployment rate was approximately 31% among higher education graduates, compared to 23% and 16% for those with secondary and primary education, respectively (ANSD & AFRISAT, 2019). The central research question is whether, and how, an educational incubator fosters graduates' labour market integration. The primary partner for this research is the Directorate of Research and Innovation of CESAG, which manages the incubator. CESAG, a regional business school serving eight West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries. The research design combines two evaluation strategies, notably an impact evaluation to rigorously measure the extent to which the intervention has an impact on the learning and employment outcomes, and a process evaluation to explain the changes that occurred. Thus, the research involves incubating a group of 362 final-year Bachelor’s and Master’s students for six months. Students expressing interest in incubation will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group.