Building Community and Innovation with Laravel Senegal: The Artisan of the Day Is Idrissa Ndiouck.
For Idrissa Ndiouck, Laravel has been a catalyst for innovation and community in West Africa. As co-founder of Laravel Senegal and a full-stack developer at Global Business Group (GBG), he represents a new generation of developers who use open-source tools to drive local progress.
From Symfony to Laravel
Passionate about PHP, Idrissa began developing with Symfony before embracing Laravel. “Symfony was my first playground; it was demanding and gave me structure, allowing me to learn the rigor and best practices of development.”
However, his career took a new direction when he discovered Laravel.
It all started when he joined the Global Business Group in 2022 as a full-stack developer and software architect.
At GBG, under the guidance of his manager, Amath Thiam, Idrissa discovered Laravel and quickly realized its potential. Working within the TALL stack (Tailwind, Alpine.js, Laravel, Livewire), he helped develop a series of impactful applications, including:
- An HR platform for individual performance management.
- GBG’s official website with dedicated spaces for candidates and companies.
- SEN-POS, a system for inventory management and point of sale.
- Yolee, a citizen platform for real-time weather analysis and alerts.
Each project reinforced his belief that Laravel could help accelerate digital innovation across Africa.
A Journey from Construction Design to Coding
Idrissa's story is one of self-driven transformation, beginning in a working-class suburb of Dakar. He candidly shares his non-traditional path, admitting with a smile, "I never really liked sitting behind school benches." He may have never gotten a bachelor's degree, but his career is a success story that goes beyond academic conventions.
His initial professional training, however, provided a solid foundation. At Maurice DELAFOSSE, he pursued industrial training in Building Design, a discipline that instilled in him the values of precision, structure, and meticulous attention to detail.
This discipline proved invaluable when, driven by a deep fascination for technology, he later made a significant career shift into Computer Science. He subsequently earned a degree (Bac+2) in Programming and Networks. He later expanded his skills through programs like the Google Africa Developers Scholarship and institutions such as the Sonatel Academy, PSEJ, and EDACY.
These experiences prepared him for diverse roles throughout his career, from computer scientist to web development professor and full-stack developer.
Founding Laravel Senegal
In September 2024, Idrissa and his co-founder, Kheraba Diaby, launched Laravel Senegal. Idrissa describes it as “a place to share, learn, mentor, but also build projects that meet the needs of the Senegalese and African markets.”
Their goals are clear:
- Foster collaboration between junior and senior developers
- Promote best practices in Laravel development
- Build real-world projects that address local and regional needs
“Laravel Senegal is not just a technical community. It's a movement that embodies the spirit of sharing, solidarity, and innovation,” he says. “And for me, a software architect, full-stack developer, and a fan of hip hop, reading, and sports, this project goes far beyond coding: it's about building a strong and inspiring Senegalese ecosystem.”
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