Landing Sanneh made this disclosure recently during a consultative committee meeting under the purview of the Ministry of Youth and Sports at the President International Award in Bakau.
He said: “We have supported over 130 consume shops, one restaurant, four fishing projects, one butchery, one bakery and one tailoring shop based on their prospective impact on poverty alleviation and as well as trained over 1500 youth and women entrepreneurs within seven years. We have supported a staff capacity building for a degree program at UTG in 2012, certificate and diploma programs in Management Studies for the administrative assistant at MDI. We have also supported a commonwealth certificate in youth entrepreneurship training in Zambia for the coordinator in 2013 and a postgraduate diploma in Management for the programs officer in 2014/2015. We have provided support to Epuuk Bakassuk Youth Group, Jarju Soap and Jam Processing, Food World with capital to support them, supported two youth groups in Barra and Kiang Genier with fishing boats and out-board engines and as well as the validation of the first NEDI loan policy.
“Despite the successes, there are challenges such as inadequate funding to meet the intended activities of NEDI, inadequate office space, low loan repayment by support vendors, mobility difficulties to run all errands and the inadequate staff base to effectively plan and monitor programs. We are planning to expand on the programs base to better integrate and invest more in the productive sectors as it relate to youth and women empowerment; to intensify youth and women involvement in the agriculture. Value chain management expand on the programs base to better integrate and invest more in youth and women empowerment and to open a business incubation and ground for job fair and other exhibition for youth and women enterprises.”
NEDI was established in 2004 under the office of the vice president and supervised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the main purpose to empower Gambian youth and women, through the provision of training in business entrepreneurship, and providing them access to funding for them to operate businesses in the informal sector and provide them business advice to ensure sustainability.
]]>
