DAKAR, Senegal – The President of the Republic of Senegal, His Excellency Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has received national football talisman and Al Nassr forward Sadio Mané at the Palais de la République in Dakar to review strategic development plans for the player’s newly launched £15 million integrated agro-industrial enterprise, the Presidency confirmed in the Senegalese capital on Monday, September 21, 2026.
The high-profile presidential audience follows Mané’s formal announcement three days earlier committing private capital to establish SM10 Agro, a comprehensive rural agribusiness complex spanning a commercial mango plantation, industrial processing infrastructure, and a vocational agricultural college in his native village of Bambali in the southern Sédhiou region.
Okay News reports that during their closed-door working consultation on Monday afternoon, both leaders examined pathways to align the private agricultural investment with the national government’s macroeconomic priorities on food sovereignty, agro-allied manufacturing, and rural youth employment.
Expressing deep appreciation following the meeting, the 34-year-old former African Footballer of the Year commended President Faye for his open-door governance style and constructive engagement with grassroots industrial development initiatives.
“Delighted and honoured to have been received by His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, President of the Republic of Senegal,” Mané stated in an official dispatch released after the audience. “Our discussions particularly focused on the SM10 Agro project. Thank you, Excellency, for your listening, your availability, and the attention you have given to this project that is particularly close to our hearts.”
The presidential reception signals firm state endorsement for an enterprise engineered to solve systemic supply-chain failures in southern Senegal, where inadequate cold storage, lack of processing plants, and transport bottlenecks have historically caused rural farmers to lose between 30 and 40 per cent of their annual mango yields to post-harvest decay.
Under the project’s technical framework unveiled by enterprise deputy director Aminata Tope, SM10 Agro will establish a 500-hectare commercial plantation cultivating 78,000 mango trees alongside a modern processing factory engineered to deliver an annual output of 10,500 tons, including specialized cosmetic-grade mango butter for international export markets.
The initiative is projected to generate 1,000 direct agricultural and manufacturing jobs from inception, while supporting specialized technical training for young agrarians and female cooperatives through its affiliated tertiary agricultural institute.
Government insiders indicated that relevant regulatory agencies and agricultural finance ministries will collaborate with Mané’s executive management team to expedite logistical permits, rural grid integration, and export corridor access, cementing the project as a model public-private partnership driving sustainable development across West Africa.
