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Rapper Akon finalizes deal on Akon City in Senegal

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Published on: June 16, 2023

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WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 01: Senegalese-American recording artist Akon speaks at an African Energy Initiative discussion at U.S. Chamber of Commerce Headquarters on February 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. The discussion examined efforts to increase access to energy in Africa, as part of the ‘Akon Lighting Africa’ initiative. (Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage)

Multi-award winning singer and businessman Akon has signed a deal to have his own city in Senegal.

The city will be known as “Akon City”.

Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future pic.twitter.com/dsoYpmjnpf

— AKON (@Akon) January 13, 2020

“Looking forward to hosting you there in the future,” his tweet read.

Akon, who is originally from Senegal, announced plans for the futuristic “Crypto city” in 2018 saying that the city would be built on a 2,000-acre land gifted to him by President Macky Sall.

The new city would also trade exclusively in his own digital cash currency called AKoin, he said.

The official website for the city said at the time it would be a five-minute drive from the West African state’s new international airport.

Known for songs like “Locked Up,” “Lonely” and “Oh Africa,” the Grammy-nominated rapper is more recognized as a businessman than a musician these days.

His most recent venture is Akon Lighting Africa which is providing solar power to African countries.

Akon Lighting Africa is a project started in 2014 with Samba Bathily and Thione Niang which aimed to provide electricity by solar energy in Africa. The projects provided electricity in 14 African countries as of 2015 and employed over 5000 people, and Akon said they have reached 1 million households in African nations.

Since launching in 2014, Akon’s group has operations in 14 nations, including Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Benin and Sierra Leone.

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