The Blog

Jainabu, who just turned eighteen, looked around her with deep emotions and profoundly expressed what a game-changer this opportunity is to her and other young girls in the community. At her age, she expressed, a lot of her mates are already married off and caring for their offsprings. She said, “this opportunity gives me a strong foundation in life. It gives me skills that will ensure nobody takes advantage of me because of my lack and gender”.

For Lucy, she is moved by the message and the story behind every tailored jacket. With every woven African print on a jacket, she wants her clients to feel empowered, beautiful and remember their roots. She wants them to stand tall, be bold and fall in love with the beauty embedded in their skin and culture.

“Our daily experience in this community as farmers cannot be expressed in words. During the rainy seasons, our lives are altered due to climate hazards and our agricultural produce is greatly affected…” These were the words of Kebba Tob, the Alkalo of Basik

In Soma, a community about 125km away from Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia, resides a young man motivated to make ends meet and pull his family out of the pits of poverty. Lamin Saidy, a renowned auto-mechanic in his neighborhood is inspired by the deep desire to ensure his younger siblings live a better life, have access to quality education and other basic amenities to create a better future for themselves. Lamin has worked as a mechanic for over 15years now where he earns a living and provides for his family. Lamin shared “My family and I have lived through many difficulties. I wake up every day with thoughts of them and ways to make their lives better”.

Luwang Ceesay, the only seamstress in Pakalinding, is on a journey to realise her dreams and grow her father’s legacy. As a beneficiary of the Tekki Fii Mini Grant, she has grown a business that operated within the four corners of her living room and a single sewing machine to a tailoring shop along the highway with 3 sewing machines and other necessities for the growth of her business. According to her, “Before the grant, my only market was my relatives and people in my immediate surrounding. But now, a lot of people see my shop and they get to see me work. This past Eid-ul-Adha celebration is a perfect depiction of how much my business has grown.”

The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) in collaboration with the PUM Netherlands Senior Experts provide training and coaching to poultry entrepreneurs under the Andandorr Programme. With this support, twenty emerging and expanding poultry enterprises in The Gambia are planning to enhance their poultry management. The participants have now started to go through a 10-weeks intensive online course.

On 08 October 2020, The Gambia Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) hosted an exciting virtual event on how SMEs in emerging markets can get their business online. Matarr Jobe, CEO & CTO of Sellox Inc., gave an expiring talk on why online sales matter. Based on vivid examples, he explained how to get the first products online and what aspects are most important for success online.

What has worked regarding fostering the entrepreneurial ecosystem in The Gambia? How are shortcomings and gaps addressed by the Andandorr Programme? The International Trade Centre (ITC) Gambia and The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) have published an article providing exciting insights from over 3 years’ work in the area of training and business development services. By analysing approaches which have proven successful in unlocking entrepreneurship potential as well as ones being less effective, the authors present the role of the Andandorr Programme by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP).

Twenty enterprises under the Andandorr Program participated on a product photography training delivered by the Expert Photographer Lena Nian, founder of Lena Photography. The training was conducted from August 17 to September 11, 2020.