By Mustapha Njie – Taf
(fellow Gambian entrepreneur)
Having spent over 50 years working in The Gambia and 36 years building businesses across West Africa, and having once been among the top three cement importers in The Gambia, I know the weight of every decision, every risk, and every sleepless night. To build from nothing is hard. To keep building amid controversy is harder still. And that is precisely why I rise today to honour a man I consider the greatest Gambian entrepreneur of our time: Hamidou Jah, CEO of Jah Oil Company.
A vision built across sectors
From modest beginnings, Hamidou Jah has built a conglomerate that spans multiple critical sectors of the Gambian economy. Today, his business empire includes:
· Petroleum: The company’s foundation, operating service stations across the nation and serving as a major fuel distributor
· Cement production: Through his cement brand, Jah Cement, with bagging facilities in Bafuloto and elsewhere, he has transformed rural access to building materials and created hundreds of local jobs for Gambian and other African workers. He is the first Gambian to invest in ocean-going vessels to facilitate the importation of cement and reduce its cost to The Gambia, a pioneering move that has benefited the entire construction sector.
· Commercial farming: His ambitious Jah Agric project in Central River Region began with 1,200 hectares and aims to expand to 15,000 hectares, with a warehouse capable of storing over 160,000 metric tonnes of rice
· Food processing and agro-industry: A multi-industry plant housing three giant warehouses, capable of storing 180,000 metric tonnes of rice, cooking oil, and sugar, positioning The Gambia as a potential re-export hub for Gambian and other African nations
· Building materials and retail: Jah Oil stations double as building material stores, ensuring rural communities have access to cement without travelling long distances
Employment and national contribution
Hamidou Jah is not merely building a business; he is building a nation. His cement operations alone directly employ hundreds of Gambian and other African citizens. Across all his enterprises, his workforce numbers in the thousands, and he has repeatedly stated his commitment to hiring Gambian and other African nationals.
Moreover, his contribution to the national treasury is immense. For every cement vessel imported, the company pays millions of dalasis to Gambia Ports Authority. He has consistently been recognised as the largest taxpayer among oil marketing companies, a model for Gambian and other African businesses.
Perhaps most significantly, Jah Oil’s rice cultivation project is a direct response to a national crisis: The Gambia currently imports 85% of its rice consumption, spending millions annually. Hamidou Jah has invested his own resources to change this, committing to sell locally produced Jah Rice, aiming for national food self-sufficiency, a lesson for Gambian and other African entrepreneurs everywhere.
The Badea loan: A story of frustration
My tribute was prompted by watching Hamidou Jah explain, with visible frustration, the US$50 million Badea loan controversy. Let me state the facts as they are:
The Badea loan was a government-backed facility to support Gambian businesses importing essential commodities. To access it, any company had to meet two conditions: pay a one-off, non-refundable administrative fee of hundreds of thousands of dollars and provide a full corporate guarantee for the entire loan amount. Jah Oil was the only business willing and able to meet these conditions. The others refused because they wanted the government to shoulder the risks for them.
Yet when Jah Oil stepped forward to take the loan to import food, petroleum, and other essentials to lower prices for Gambians, he was met with a storm of false allegations and unnecessary controversy. In the end, he returned the loan. Not because he could not use it, but because the misinformation had become so damaging that he put the country’s reputation and future credit rating above his own interests. He explained simply: “We came in to ensure that the country does not miss out on the opportunity. But following a lot of lies and unjustifiable noise, we decided to return the money.”
Since then, not a single business has come forward to take that loan, a warning for Gambian entrepreneurs about how easily false narratives can destroy opportunity. They wanted the government to shoulder the conditions, a luxury Jah Oil never demanded.
What we can learn from Nigeria
We must draw lessons from countries like Nigeria. There, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has built the world’s largest refinery and is about to embark on a 20,000-megawatt electricity production project. He was supported because Nigerians understood that to develop, you must empower your own Nigerian champions.
Where is the Gambian Dangote? We have one in Hamidou Jah. But instead of celebrating him, we subject him to suspicion, accusations of favouritism, and relentless criticism.
I say this as a man who closed his own building materials business: it is not easy. The pressure, the competition, the constant struggle. But Hamidou Jah has endured all of it and more, and he continues to invest, employ, and build for Gambians and other citizens’ prosperity.
A call to action
We must have deliberate policies to encourage and support local Gambian entrepreneurs to grow and be competitive. Otherwise, we will be sidelined while others will take over our economy, if that has not already happened. Every Gambian and other African who believes in this continent’s future should ask themselves: why do we attack our own champions?
Bravo, Hamidou Jah
To Hamidou Jah: Gambia, other African nations, their citizens, and we your fellow Gambian and African entrepreneurs salute and celebrate you. Continue doing what you are doing. Not many can. Not many would. But you have, and you will.
This tribute is written by a businessman who has operated in The Gambia for over 36 years, whose business now spans four West African countries, and who once stood among the top three cement importers in this nation. I have seen many entrepreneurs come and go. Hamidou Jah stands above them all.
