NEDI, GCP train youth, women on entrepreneurship development Africa » Gambia Wednesday, October 15, 2014 The National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI), in collaboration with The Gambia Competitiveness Project (GCP), recently trained 50 youths and women entrepreneurs within the Greater Banjul Area on entrepreneurship skills development. NEDI was established in 2004, until very recently in April 2013 when the National Assembly enacted a bill to establish the NEDI Act 2013. It conducts training in basic business skills and micro-funding to operate small-businesses in the informal sector; as well as providing business advice to ensure sustainability. However, these programmers have been sustained by NEDI, through funding mainly from the government of The Gambia, and other partners, like UNDP, GAMJOBS and Bank PHB. Mustapha Badjie, the enterprise development officer of NEDI, said the training will help unveil various available opportunities to participants, while calling for more production and value-addition on local products, which he described as key contributor to sustainable livelihood. He said participants are expected to have the requisite skills to better manage their groups and businesses at the end of the training programme. Kebba Tourary, on behalf of Planning and Monitoring under the Minister of Youth and Sports, welcomed the participants and challenged them to bear in mind that they have significant role to play in national development, taking into account that they are future leaders in all aspects of society. This, he added, makes it important to be guided so that tomorrow when they are given responsibility they will execute it in a very matured manner. He disclosed that they have been closely working with NEDI countrywide and they have seen what they have been doing in terms of Agriculture, businesses, among others, saying the department is very pleased to collaborate with NEDI. He expressed delight that the youth have been able to select 350 youths across the country, a gesture he said, is indeed a very positive move. For his part, Sulayman Bah, the chairman of the Banjul Youths, stressed that the training on entrepreneurship for young people and women in Banjul is very significant. “If you look at it properly and looking at the Tobaski most of them have gone to their respective countries and during this period some of the thing we want, we have to wait until they are back ,” he said. Bah maintained that NEDI is here to help the youth and women, by training them with useful skills so that they can stand and help others. He then added that women and young people have a lot to do together, as lots of young people want to be entrepreneurs, but they don’t have the cash in hand to do so. He affirmed that “with this training of youths and providing them with cash to start up business will help tackle illegal migration.” Landing Sanneh, the director of NEDI gave a brief history of the NEDI and then explained that it is under the Office of the Vice- President, given its nature of operations. “The main purpose of its establishment is to empower Gambian youths and women, through entrepreneurship and enterprise development” he stated. This investment in youth and women sectors, he added, is the result of the need to create jobs for Gambian youths and women, so as to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of basic commodities in The Gambia. He observed that since its inception NEDI has spearheaded four phases of soft loan disbursements, focusing on different types of businesses, such as consumer shops, tailoring workshops, restaurants, bakery, butchery and fishing boats. He informed that NEDI currently has 131 beneficiaries, including four fishing groups/associations formed by several individuals, noting that those individuals have in turn created employment, either directly for their employees or indirectly for others, like farmers, vegetable gardeners, fish-sellers / mongers, etc. “These businesses have enabled the accessibility and affordability of basic commodities and services in their communities. The types of businesses were selected, mainly due to their relevance to poverty alleviation and the level of domination by non-Gambians in the trades,” he added. The enactment of the NEDI Bill 2013, Sanneh pointed out, also came with new challenges and responsibilities, taken into account the instituting of relevant frameworks, policies and programmes required for a normal public institution. “The entire transformation period needs some substantial commitment of resources and sacrifice to set the foundation for real implementation within the short and medium-term. This also requires partnership-building, training, and above all, strategic planning to keep in initiative up and running for the ultimate benefit that it is established for”. Sanneh thus urged the beneficiaries to take the training more seriously, so as to ease their work for the development of their career. Author: Fatoumatta K Saidykhan
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 11:19:33 +0000
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