In a region notorious for brutal civil wars and coups, Senegal's major attraction has been its stability. Its lack of natural resources has probably been something of a bizarre blessing as gems and gold often fuel the area's conflicts.
While a three-year-old rebellion has convulsed Ivory Coast, one of the region's heavyweights, Senegal's economy has bounded ahead with annual growth of more than 6 percent.
But President Abdoulaye Wade, who won power in peaceful elections in 2000, knows he must to do more to entice investors.
His government recently cut corporate tax to 25 percent from 33 percent, hoping to end dependence on fishing and groundnuts, which are vulnerable to weather changes and commodity prices.
The aim is to attract money into luxury tourism, agri-business and the service sector.
"You can't find another country in West Africa as attractive as Senegal in terms of tax breaks," said Aminata Niane, head of the state Investment Promotion Agency (APIX).
Stubborn obstacles to investment remain: corruption, poor roads and persistent power cuts that can last several hours. Wade has set up a presidential council for investment to tackle these issues.
With India as an example, Senegal hopes that good telecoms and low wages can turn its capital Dakar into a hub for call centres and technology services in the French-speaking world.
Telecoms operator Sonatel has forged ahead since France Telecom started to build a controlling stake in 1997.
Today, Senegal has one of Africa's most powerful Internet networks of more than 400 Megabits per second and more than 1 million telecoms clients, or a tenth of the population.
The government hopes the Atlantis II submarine cable linking the tip of West Africa with Europe and South America, which will eventually be able to transmit 240,000 phone calls at a time, will confirm Senegal's place as a communications crossroads.
"We are trying to follow in the footsteps of India," said Saidou Diouf, APIX's chief market developer for new technology. "For now we are concentrated in telemarketing but we hope very soon we can develop software here."
Business people still complain about sprawling bureaucracy, corruption in the civil service and an inefficient judiciary.
"What often stuns me are judicial decisions," said Frenchman Richard Alvarez, who has been doing business in Senegal for around 20 years. "You think the court decision will go one way because the facts are obvious, but to your great surprise it takes another turn."
While authorities set up a nation-wide committee to fight corruption last year, a recent survey showed 40 percent of managers still found corruption to be a major concern.
Transparency International ranked Senegal as the 78th most corrupt country in th world out of 159 countries in its 2005 index. Only Ghana and Burkina Faso scored better in West Africa.
In Dakar, countless business hours are squandered on dusty, bumpy roads in the sprawling suburbs where rust-covered minibuses trailing colourful ribbons jostle for space with private cars, horse-drawn carts and motorbikes.
"It's a real problem for all of us. Very often our workers arrive late because they are stuck somewhere in traffic," said Pierre Michaux, president of French Investors in Senegal.
"If you try to transport containers from the port, it will take more time than it should, again because of the traffic."
On the plus side, progress is being made to slash red tape and make Senegal a more attractive place for foreign companies.
A recent World Bank study concluded that Senegal had fared better than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa in reducing paperwork and waiting-time to start a company. In 2002, Senegal attracted more French direct investment than any other country in West Africa: 35 million euros ($42.4 million) compared to 7 million for Mali, 5 million for Guinea and 1 million euros for Mauritania.
Almost all of the French investment in Senegal went to services, such as data processing, telemarketing and tourism. Some 250 French companies are now established in Senegal.
"It is not difficult to set up a company in Senegal," said Alvarez, who has interests in the telecoms sector.
Since 1994 when the CFA franc used by Senegal and other African countries was devalued by 50 percent, Senegal has dismantled price controls and reined in the state budget.
It has also attracted commitments from several oil firms to drill wells as exploration intensifies following offshore discoveries in neighbouring Mauritania.
But the government still relies heavily on foreign aid from the World Bank and the French and US governments.
Heavy rains and flooding this summer showed how vulnerable the majority of Senegal's people still are and shone a light on the failings of basic infrastructure, like roads.
The floods also stoked simmering political tensions: Wade postponed next year's parliamentary polls to release funds for victims of the rains and opposition politicians denounced a grab for power.
While ratings agency Standard & Poor's praised the government's commitment to reform, it still ranks Senegal's long-term debt as a speculative "B+" investment and points out that many obstacles exist to an economic boom.
"GDP per capita is low, estimated at $961 in 2005, and development indicators, such as education, poverty, and health care, are weak and constrain growth," the agency said, noting that growth must accelerate to reduce poverty.