Omar B Cham, commonly known as Pa Cham, was born in Banjul to Alh Alieu Badara Cham and Ajaratou Isatou Gaye. He did his schooling in Banjul at St Augustine’s Elementary and St. Augustine’s High Schools.
Upon completing secondary education, Pa Cham was employed by the United Africa Company (UAC) and was sent to Igobi College in Nigeria by his employers to further his academic career in 1961. He graduated in 1963 with a degree in accounting and after returning to The Gambia, he was sent on a two-year attachment to Freetown by UAC at their offices in Sierra Leone.
When he returned home in 1965, Pa Cham was appointed Group Internal Auditor for UAC, with responsibility to cover its operations both in The Gambia and Sierra Leone, a position he held until 1972. He later left UAC and joined Panel Fitzpatrick & Co. Chartered Accountants as Audit Manager.
On 1st May 1973, Omar B Cham was appointed by the GPA as Assistant Accountant and got promoted to Chief Accountant after two years in 1975. He would later obtain an MSc in Port and Shipping Administration (Port Finance) from Delft University, The Netherlands in 1981/82.
While in the service of the GPA, Omar B Cham assisted in negotiations for the realisation of milestone projects including the purchase of the ocean-going vessel Bintang Bolong and the replacement of the river steamer Lady Wright with the new vessel Lady Chilel.
When Government signed the Performance Contract with the GPA in 1986, Pa Cham got elevated as Director of Finance with the portfolio to manage this new arrangement between the enterprise and Government, a position he held until his appointment as Managing Director in 1990.
The highlights of Omar B Cham’s tenure as Managing Director include:
Participated in the port project negotiated with the World Bank leading to the first ferries project financed by the Netherlands Government; negotiations and project preparatory facility for the 2nd Banjul Port Project between 1982 to 1985, which was financed by the World Bank, ADB and KFW from Germany; participated in the negotiations for the 1st Signed Performance Contract with Government in 1986; in 1986, participated in the negotiations for the second ferries project financed by the German Government under KFW; participated in the negotiations for the 2nd Signed Performance Contract with Government and World Bank in 1990; in 1992, as Managing Director, prepared the Port Master Plan, which set the infrastructure development blueprint for the Port of Banjul and effectively started the 3rd Banjul Port Project. The Loans were subsequently agreed with the World Bank and ADB between 1992 and 1994, initiated the National Trade Gateway Project, which was approved by the World Bank. This development blueprint envisaged the creation of free trade zones and special economic zones around the Banjul Freeport and Yundum Airport and a maritime teleport utilising Gamtel’s efficiency in telecommunications as the country’s replica of the Singapore dream. The Government would later adapt this project to what would be referred to as Vision 2020, essentially taking cue from this Trade Gateway.
It could be reliably stated that the then GIPFZA and later GIEPA, saw its roots from the establishment of the Trade Gateway initiative as GPA staff were placed on secondment at the ministry of trade for the project start-up.
As fate would have it, the penultimate step in the transaction to access the World Bank funding for the Trade Gateway Project was the aborted due diligence mission to Mauritius and Singapore in July 1994. This mission by Senior Government officials was to be led by Pa Cham.
During this same period, negotiations were finalized with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the feasibility of establishing the Gambia Maritime Administration and Capt. Sallah was appointed to undertake the studies.
Appointed young graduates and other professionals to take up senior positions at the GPA and extended the capacity building programme for the training of accountants, engineers, IT personnel and other disciplines.
Computerised systems in financial management and port operations were introduced by Pa Cham in 1992, much to the marvel of neighbouring Ports such as Ghana, Senegal and Cabo Verde that warranted them to visit the GPA under exchange programs to understudy these management systems;
international expertise was recruited as Technical Assistance in Finance, Facility Management and Operations under the transformative changes that Pa Cham brought about in the management of the GPA.
He negotiated and signed the 2nd Performance with Government
Pa Cham’s international accolades also include:
Executive Director of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), between 1991 and 1994 and he represented the West and Central African sub region in this world ports body, executive Member of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) between 1991 and 1994
member Board of Directors of the Regional Maritime academy, Accra, Ghana.
Mr Cham also worked for Mercandia/Anglian Shipping in England between 1994 and 2010 and was responsible for its Carribean and West African operations. This goes to demonstrate his active contribution in the maritime sector and the international acclaim Pa Cham possesses in this domain.
Pa Cham will be mostly remembered as having groomed and mentored vast talent in many fields of endeavor, both academic and socio-cultural, and epitomizes what Jack Welch a renown former CEO of General Electric once charaterised as the attributes of a great leader:
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others”.
