Once you decide to expand to Senegal, you must prepare to incorporate in the country. Many factors impact the incorporation process, from where you base your physical office to what kind of entity you choose. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to set up your Senegal subsidiary and begin working.
Luckily, G-P can help. Companies can leverage our worldwide entity infrastructure to begin hiring in Senegal quickly and compliantly — without setting up new entities.
How to set up a Senegal subsidiary
Before you start researching how to set up a Senegal subsidiary, you need to answer a few questions about your business goals. Start by discussing where you would like to incorporate within Senegal. Different regions follow separate rules and regulations that impact the Senegal subsidiary setup process.
Senegal allows companies to incorporate as various structures, including a limited liability company (LLC), public limited company, branch office, and representative office. The most popular entity is an LLC, which allows companies to operate under limited legal liability but still continue to work in the country with many rights.
Shareholders setting up a Senegal subsidiary as an LLC must follow these steps:
- Obtaining a copy of their criminal record issued in their home country less than 3 months before starting the registration process
- Obtaining photocopies of their partners’ identity cards
- Paying registration fees of around CFA 25,000
- Securing national identity cards or passports for all partners or shareholders
- Depositing share capital
- Submitting an information sheet that includes the corporate name, head office, share ownership, contributions, and more
- Submitting another information sheet on all shareholders and partners including their names, addresses, occupations, and more
Senegal subsidiary laws
Senegal subsidiary laws also vary based on what type of subsidiary you choose to incorporate as. LLCs need at least 1 director and 1 shareholder who can be of any nationality. You will also have to deposit a minimum paid-up share capital of CFA 25,000 with a local bank or public notary before company incorporation. However, the recommendation is to assign a higher share capital, starting at around CFA 600,000.
All subsidiaries must keep their account books in French. If you don’t have a team member fluent in French, you will need to hire a translator, outsource your accounting, or work with a global EOR such as G-P. You also need to employ a notary to help notarize important documents to complete your registration.
Benefits of setting up a Senegal subsidiary
The biggest benefit of going through the Senegal subsidiary setup process is that you can legally start working in the country. A limited liability company also offers the benefit of limited legal liability for the parent company and subsidiary. The parent company does not have to worry about incurring liability from the subsidiary, and the subsidiary can operate independently as they see fit.
However, when you work with us, we manage hiring, ensure compliant payroll, and provide the right compensation and benefits to your workforce. Throughout the process, you can focus on building a new company location while we handle compliance matters.
Other important considerations
We recommend setting aside the time and money to set up your Senegal subsidiary before you begin the process. You will most likely need to travel back and forth to Senegal to hire employees, turn in documents, and ensure compliance. In addition to the share capital and registration fees, other steps in the process could come with a fee, so it’s a good idea to work with your accounting team to budget for these expenses ahead of time.
Enter new markets with G-P — no new entities required.
Beat the competition and enter new markets in minutes, not months, with G-P. We’ve paired our industry-leading team of in-region HR and legal experts with our #1 Global Growth Platform™ to help you hire compliantly in 180+ countries, eliminating the need to set up local entities or subsidiaries.
Get in touch today to learn more about how we can streamline the global growth process.