48 49 ENGAGEMENT AND LISTENING Kosmos led or participated in workshops and conferences in Senegal in 2018 on transparency and good governance of natural resources. We continued our regular engagement with the EITI, supporting the dissemination of the 2017 EITI report by presenting at a workshop in Saint Louis. We also sponsored and presented at an EITI Africa conference on beneficial ownership transparency held in Dakar following the EITI’s annual Board meeting which was also held in Dakar. At the request of EITI’s Senegal chapter, we sponsored and contributed to the development of two public educational documents on topics of interest related to oil and gas: How to Develop Cross- border Oil and Gas Resources: Lessons Learned from International Experience and Catching the Early Worm: An Educational Document on Lessons Learned from Oil and Gas in Ghana for the Senegal Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. These documents are now being used by the EITI in capacity building programs to help improve understanding of the oil and gas industry. Catching the Early Worm was written by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), a prominent Ghanaian civil society organization. In November 2018, Kosmos funded the authors of the report to travel from Accra to Dakar to present and discuss their work with the Senegal EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group. For the third consecutive year, Kosmos sponsored members of Senegalese civil society to attend a Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) summer school on resource governance at the University of Central Africa in Cameroon. Topics covered included oil and gas project lifecycles, revenue flows during different stages of the project, the causes and impacts of changes in oil price, contract transparency, corruption risks, and managing the environmental impacts of exploration and production. In 2018, we also sponsored and participated in the third annual National Conference on Sustainable Development organized by the Ministry of the Environment. The event brought together government officials, industry, civil society and academia to discuss the sustainable development of oil and gas resources. We continue to work in partnership with BP to continue these types of capacity building engagements with government, civil society, journalists and local communities in Senegal. POSITIVE IMPACTS Since entering Senegal in 2014, Kosmos has supported a range of social investment projects designed to: •  Improve quality of life in fishing communities •  Restore the environment and combat coastal erosion along the Langue de Barbarie •  Protect the environment and biodiversity in Djoudj National Bird Park •  Support a graduate degree program in Senegal on managing the impact of the extractives sector In 2017, these projects were transitioned to BP as they assumed operatorship of the exploration blocks and GTA project. Kosmos Innovation Center Expands into Senegal In 2018, we expanded the activities of the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) into Senegal with the first annual Senegal Start- Up Accelerator, an initiative modeled on a successful program implemented by the KIC in Ghana. Like other countries, Senegal faces high youth unemployment but has many talented entrepreneurs and significant opportunities for motivated business leaders to start their own companies. The Senegal Start-Up Accelerator, launched in partnership with Reach for Change, is helping young Senegalese entrepreneurs develop innovative solutions to challenges in the agricultural and environmental sector. The program starts with a week- long selection process where potential candidates are thoroughly introduced to the program; and the program leaders to their business ideas. With this depth of understanding, ten people are selected to move forward in the process. These ten finalists undergo an intensive boot camp with business experts and then pitch for their place in the accelerator. Five businesses move forward to take part in the six-month program. Participants are guided through the early and fragile stages of business growth, learning everything from how to develop customer profiles and how to carry out competitor analysis, to how to make a product roadmap and develop a sustainable revenue model for their business. Six months later, the aim is to launch five new businesses with the potential to help transform the agricultural industry in Senegal. Creating Local Opportunities Kosmos and BP committed to a multi-million dollar investment in support of the newly created National Institute of Oil and Gas (INPG), designed to build national capacity for the emerging oil and gas industry in Senegal. The INPG was inaugurated by President Macky Sall and welcomed its first cohort of students for a specialized master’s degree in oil and gas engineering in October 2018. In addition to building the capacity of people who might work in the oil and gas sector, Kosmos and BP have taken steps to help established businesses become a part of the oil and gas supply chain. Kosmos and BP both became founding members of Invest in Africa’s Senegal chapter in 2018. Invest in Africa is a nonprofit enterprise specializing in helping small companies develop their businesses and improve their competitiveness by creating access to skills, markets and finance. In Senegal, Invest in Africa will be working with leading oil and gas industry operators and tier-one service providers to help Senegalese businesses better understand the oil and gas sector and prepare to make the most of future opportunities in the industry. Invest in Africa plans to launch a number of programs in Senegal in 2019. Kosmos sent two people from Senegalese civil society to a Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) summer school on resource governance at the University of Central Africa in Cameroon. Young entrepreneurs with the Kosmos Innovation Center in Senegal learn about starting and growing businesses that use technology to address challenges in the agriculture and environmental sectors. Catching the Early Worm An educational document on lessons learned from oil and gas in Ghana, for the Senegal Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative How to develop cross-border oil and gas resources LESSONS FROM INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE