One hundred young Gambians have successfully undergone a week-long entrepreneurship training in business development and management in Banjul.
Participants were given training on several entrepreneurial skills, such as proposal writing, business development, marketing techniques and customer care, as well as food processing.
Haddyjatou Jallow, a business student at the Management Development Institute, took part in the training and spoke highly of the benefits it provided.
“The sessions were comprehensive and interactive. Aside from the food processing techniques, we received theoretical and practical training in customer care and marketing. Currently, I am working on a business proposal to seek a small grant from YEP,” she said.
The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) funded the training, which was jointly organized by the Gambia Youth Chamber of Commerce and the Gambia Award Holders Association, as part of ongoing programmes to provide work opportunities for young people.
Isatou Conta, a final-year secondary school student who also took part in the training, similarly lauded the initiative. Like Ms Jallow, Isatou, too, has plans to start her own business after graduation.
“I was trained how to be a good entrepreneur, how to handle, plan and finance a business,” Isatou said.
According to Baboucarr Kebbeh, the Executive Director of the Gambia Youth Chamber of Commerce, the training is a way to help empower young people to be self-employed and self-reliant. He called on partners to come up with similar programmes in order to address unemployment among young people.
In a statement Kebbeh said: “A healthy and vibrant youth population is a viable asset to our nation. Therefore, encouraging innovation, creativity and resilience to endure change are necessities in good youth development.”
The Youth Empowerment Project Manager, Raimund Moser, said his agency would support the trainees with grants to start up a business.
Mr Moser added that YEP will soon organize other training sessions. These will focus not just on agribusiness but also entrepreneurship in the tourism and creative industries.
Original Source: The Migrant Project