Pa Malick Ceesay, coordinator of the National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI) has expressed delight about what he referred to as a triumphant achievement registered by his office from 2009 to date.

According to him, the 40 vendors were trained under the 2nd phase project and 68 under the 3rd phase project of NEDI respectively, bringing a total of 108 shops located across the length and breadth of the country. He said, each of them were also given a loan of D50, 000 which is payable within two years with an interest rate of 7%.

Ceesay was speaking to this reporter yesterday, during an interview  with this paper on the overview of NEDI activities in his office at the Independence Stadium, Bakau. "Out of the total loan disbursed, D10, 000 was given as seed capital and D2,500 was used to open a bank account for each vendor with Bank PHB, where repayments are made while the remaining D37,500 was invested into commodities chosen by vendors themselves based on market research in their communities. So far vendors are responding well and we are making progress", he remarked.

According to him, NEDI has a fundamental objective of putting ownership and control of the informal sector in the hands of Gambian youths by training them to acquire entrepreneurship skills and providing them with funds to open business ventures. This objective, he said is important for the fact that, the country’s business sector is predominantly dominated by non-Gambians. 

Such domination, Ceesay went on, enables some unscrupulous business people to collude in hoarding some basic and essential commodities as well as hiking their prices. "NEDI has come to rectify this situation by intervening in a meaningful way", he stated, and added; "The first stage of our intervention involves the selection of vendors who must be Gambians, which is done in consultation with mayors and regional governors," he revealed.

Ceesay further pointed out that, entrepreneurship plays a great role in the socio-economic development of any nation by providing employment for many people, particularly the young, and it can also boost the flow of capital by increasing both savings and consumption.

He went on to explain that, the 4th phase of the NEDI project focuses on two vital sub-sectors, which are hospitality and catering as well as fishing, in which the selection and training have already been done. According to him, the hospitality and catering group have opened a restaurant in Basse and is currently employing 50 young people. He added that, four fishing boats have also been procured as well as engines and nets with accompanying gadgets for these youths.

As 2011 is drawing nearer, Ceesay said, they have already outlined some series of activities as a form of job creation and entrepreneurship. These activities, he noted, intend to expand on the previous achievements by increasing the number of consumer shops. In addition, the NEDI coordinator said they are now planning to diversify, by going into cloth designing and tailoring.  He then used the opportunity to thank their partners, particularly Bank PHB and Gamjobs in their efforts to re-direct the focus of young people to become productive adults in the country. He also thanked the government for providing the enabling environment for their smooth operations.