Chief Executive Officer | Team Leadership, Strategy, Research and Innovation
“We pledge our firm allegiance, our promise we renew. Keep us great God of Nations. To the Gambia ever true” To commemorate our 59th independence anniversary, the office of the President of the Republic held a national dialogue with key change makers under the theme ‘Our collective responsibility in preserving the nation, safeguarding the state and securing our resources’. I was invited by the office of the President to give my own ‘reflection’ on how we can develop our beloved nation. It was an absolute honor to engage our government, politicians and key stakeholders on the theme. Four years ago, we ( InSIST Global Gambia Ltd. )partnered with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to develop a solution to allow Gambian businesses to manage their finances and generate financial reports to make it easier for them to gain access to capital. This solution is called Afrijula, which is a business management tool for the African merchant. You see, there is a subset of businesses that is often overlooked- the micro businesses. Some of these entrepreneurs are semi-literate with low IT skills. We conducted extensive research to better understand their needs, their profile- this provided the data we needed to develop a suitable tool. Providing the software alone was not sufficient, we again partnered with several entities to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Gambia (United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) , Gambia Women's Chamber of Commerce , Gambia Chamber of Commerce & Industry - GCCI , International Trade Centre , Startup Incubator Gambia to name a few). These partners supported the implementation of several capacity building programs for businesses all over the Gambia. This support allowed several micro businesses to formalize their business processes and thrive in a challenging environment. To date we have trained and supported over 12,000 business owners (54% youth, 45% women). This underscores the importance of public-private-partnerships to transform our nation. Currently almost 50% of our youth are neither in employment nor in training (GLFS figures). The illegal emigration rate for the Gambia is the highest on the continent- thus we are faced with an existential threat that we cannot ignore! There’s a critical need to not only drive entrepreneurship, but provide capital and have pro-SME policies to allow micro businesses to grow into bigger enterprises as a tool to alleviate poverty and create wealth. As key partners, we will continue to find innovative ways to support our Gambian brothers and sisters transform their businesses (and lives). To the team behind the Afrijula brand (product and software engineering, marketing, PR, business development, customer care and support teams) working tirelessly to support the businesses- we celebrate you. Happy Independence Day to all Gambians…as we celebrate this day, we continue to ‘pledge our firm allegiance’, as ‘To the Gambia 🇬🇲, we are ‘ever true’!
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Keep it up Dr....we are right behind you.
Dr. Keep it up. May Allah grant you all your blessings and prosperity
Go Jorjoh!!! Super proud of you 💕 More grace and blessings to you
Happy Independence Dr….
Keep up the good work Dr