Havas is doing market research in Senegal to better establish itself. Vincent Bolloré's group wants to handle the communication of the country for the tourism, sports and investments sectors. An important task which will cannot be undertaken solely by the Senegal Havas agency. That is why a full Havas Africa team, led by its Vice-President Romain Guillemard went to meet the Senegalese authorities, but also local economic players as well as the press.

According to Romain Guillemard, the delegation came to "learn", "analyse" and "try to understand" how to take part in the development of Senegal, the website Réussirbusiness.com reports. For him, the tourism sector should not suffer anymore from the collateral effects from the insecurity in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria and the Sahel-Sahara region. The task set out by Havas therefore consists in "restoring its image, recalling the facts, namely that Senegal is a stable, calm and secure country and more importantly possessing hotel facilities of quality".

"The role of Havas will be to dispel all confusion about Senegal in order for the average Spanish tourist who wants visit Senegal as a last minute plan to have no apprehension. We already have a request from the Senegalese authorities to advertise Senegal as a holiday spot in France. However, this must be done in Spain, in Italy, in Belgium and many other European countries" explained Romain Guillemard, who was quoted by the daily Le Soleil. He recalled that Havas has already done the same job for Morocco.

The other task will be to make Dakar a favourite destination for investors and development partners to put up projects or fund those championed by the government. The latter is even looking for financing to support its Sénégal Emergent programme.

Sports is the third sector of interest for Havas. "Wrestling could a good example to showcase the country. We could develop this sport, and through it, highlight the Senegalese culture", Abou Diop, Director of the Havas Africa Senegal which was created in 2010, noted. Havas has the Havas Sport Entertainment which offers support to brands and sports federations as well as sponsoring. "We will meet with the sports companies, financiers. We could even extend to the management of sports infrastructure", Abou Diop continues. Havas wants to replicate the Ivorian example where the group manages "the complete sport chain". The group is already a candidate for the toll motorway marathon scheduled for 2016.