March/April 2019 Edition

GCCI Presidential Election at AGM 2019 The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Friday 12th April, 2019, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Kairaba Beach Hotel.

This AGM, was attended by the GCCI members comprising of small, medium and large businesses in the country, witnessed the presentations, discussions and adoption of the Annual, Financial and Auditors reports of 2018.

As part of the agenda, elections were also held to replace 6 board members, including the position of President, Vice President, Treasurer and 3 other Board positions to serve the three year term.

The newly elected President, Mr Edrissa Mass Jobe thanked the members for entrusting him with the organization’s leadership and renewed the chamber of commerce’s commitment to support the government private sector led development initiative to achieve sustainable growth. He added that the chamber of commerce will expand its development services to the youth and women.

“We are ready to use our experience to work hard to take the country’s business sector to another level” he added.

In presenting the Annual Report, the outgoing President Mr. Muhammed M. Jagana, highlighted the activities undertaken and noted the achievements made as well as the constraints experienced during his tenure of office. “I will once again use this opportunity and call on the private

Mr. Edrissa Mass Jobe, GCCI President Sector to participate more actively in their Chamber in an inclusive way, as the GCCI belongs to all the business community. The work of the Chamber every day affects each and everyone in The Gambia, and we request all businesses to take up this challenge and responsibility.”

March/April 2019 Edition

Supporting “Made in the Gambia” and Local Content As part of its numerous initiatives in Promoting Made in the Gambia, GCCI recently commissioned a “Made in The Gambia Shelf at its secretariat in Bijilo. The Purpose of this shelf is to promote and create a Market Access avenue especially for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in The Gambia engaged in local production or processing. When it comes to products Made in The Gambia, the general public is either not well informed or they do not trust the quality of the said products. In order to build industries that contribute to the economic growth of the country, products made by MSME’s need the necessary support to facilitate their scale up. MSMEs that are able to penetrate in to the niche markets will eventually set the basis for export readiness which will eventually improve our foreign exchange reserves. Supporting Made in the Gambia is necessary as it will help boost the local economy. It will help keep money circulating within the local economy. Cash flow is vital for prosperity and local businesses recirculate a greater share of every dalasi, as they create locally owned supply chains and invest in their employees. Studies have proved that any amount spent on a local product/local chain store multiply itself back into the local economy (Multiplier Effect). Supporting Made in the Gambia will also create sustainable employment in the Gambia. In the agricultural value chain, local enterprises act as suppliers to other local business along the chain from production, to packaging and the final retail outlet.

Lessons That Can Be Adopted from Other Countries Ghana introduced its Made in Ghana Friday wears in order to promote the textile industry and by way of increasing patronage of locally-made African prints. The newly introduced Made in Ghana logo was aimed at making an impression in the minds of Ghanaians that locally-made products are also of high quality and must be seen as authentic.

The idea is to make manufacturers competitive by producing high quality products that will make them eligible for the logo. The logo is to be fixed only on products that meet certain standards prescribed by the Ministry of Trade and the Ghana Standards Authority. Sierra Leone launched its official Made in Sierra Leone brand campaign in July 2017 rooted in the need to improve productivity, performance and attractiveness for goods and services made and offered locally in order to meet competitive pressures from imported goods. The new Made in Sierra Leone logo will appear on all local products that meet a new requirement of standards. Similarly, we all note the pride in neighboring Senegal of wide use and service of local juices and menus on all occasions and in top hotels and ceremonies. Likewise in Nigeria. The below recipes are necessary to support Made in The Gambia; Patriotism: there is a dire need for patriotism to support Made in the Gambia products because this way, we all are empowering the local manufacturers to become strong and bigger to be able to produce at lower cost in the near future. The fundamental rule to develop is to keep our money within our country. We must build local content, hire local content, buy local content and spend local content. This is a basic rule the Gambia must follow but due to lack of adequate motivation and education we fail to adopt this philosophy. There is no better time than now to educate the present generation about the importance of devotion and loyalty to “Made in the Gambia” products. Government Policy: Policies to reduce imports by a certain percentage will create more employment, our balance of payment position will improve and the depreciation of the dalasi will stop. In our quest to boost locally manufactured goods and services, it’s worthy to capture the exact challenges facing the local entrepreneur. “We must build local content, use it, hire local content, buy

local content and spend local content.” ~ Olimatou Deen Sarr

Senior Business Development Officer

March/April 2019 Edition

Trade Fair Gambia International 2019 The 13th Edition of Trade Fair Gambia International was held at the Independence Stadium from 6th to the 28th of April 2019. TFGI is the leading business exhibition event in The Gambia, this year’s trade fair was the biggest fair organized by the GCCI with over 450 stalls, 300 of which were new tents and 6 portable toilets through a grant from the Africa Development Bank. Through our social media advert and partnership with Gambia Radio & Television Services all stalls where sold out within two months and more than 65,000 visitors attended the fair. Participants of the trade fair came from various sectors such as Agricultural Enterprises, Banking and Financial Services, Clothing Industry, Construction Industry, Energy including Renewable Energy Industry, Food and Beverage Industry, IT and Telecommunications Industry, International Businesses, Management Services, Manufacturing Industry, Non-Governmental Associations, Public Enterprises, Real Estate, Tourism Industry and each sector was dedicated a pavilion.

Under the theme “Regional Business Networking and Youth Empowerment through Skills development’, the event welcomed businesses from the ECOWAS region and beyond including Egypt, India, to name a few and also saw a surge in youth participation. Over 100 youths were supported by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), GIEPA, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and Made In The Gambia, Supported by Gambians.

GCCI prides itself in youth empowerment through skills development and creation of business opportunities for young entrepreneurs and its members. GCCI again collaborated with YEP in supporting participation of youth businesses through the construction of a youth pavilion. The youth pavilion consisted of twenty-two back-to-back stalls in which young entrepreneurs exhibited and sold their product and services to both visitors and vendors.

In addition to the above, various activities where geared towards facilitating networking among youths and veteran businesses such as the launching of the TEKKI FI (Make it

here) project and campaign during the official opening ceremony – a new initiative of the government of The Gambia supported by the European Union. The three year project will significantly scale quality job and entrepreneurship opportunities available for young Gambians especially for youths in rural area. A day was dedicated to the youths thus leading to the creation of new enterprises and market growth which will contribute to lowering the youth unemployment rate in The Gambia.

The Trade Fair also provided an opportunity to organise Made in The Gambia Day, Nigeria Day, Intellectual Property Day, Senegalo-Gambia Women’s Day and Daily entertainment activities by Gambian musicians to show case talents we have in The Gambia.

The International Trade Fair organized annually creates a platform for businesses to network, sell and promote their products and services and gain access to markets.

~ Aji Sally Sagnia, Corporate Officer

Visitors at the Trade Fair 2019

March/April 2019 Edition

GCCI Star-Up Chapter

The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the GCCI Start-Up Chapter on April 20th 2019 at the Trade Fair Gambia International Youth Day.

Objectives of GCCI Start-Up Chapter

1. Provide effective platforms for new entrepreneurs to connect with investors and service providers and to initiate and improve collaboration among its members.

2. To connect Founders, Start-ups with each other as a broad network.

3. To promote innovative entrepreneurship amongst various educational institutions and establish an entrepreneurship mindset in society.

4. To raise awareness on the importance of entrepreneurship and Start-up businesses

5. To improve collective bargaining power of Start-ups.

6. To facilitate/support graduation from Start-up category.

Why Join?

Networking and peer review of products and services (e.g. WhatsApp group, face to face)

Knowledge/Resource Sharing on any relevant market/business information.

Referrals for services within members

Partnerships to improve bargaining power and economics of scale

Trust building social sessions within members

Eligibility for Membership

i. MSMEs within 3 years of existence

ii. Must be legally registered

March/April 2019 Edition

Meetings and Discussions with GCCI

The Vice President, Minister of Trade and CEO at the official launching of Trade Fair Gambia International 2019

The last meeting of the former Board Members 2018

Consultants for the Green Mini-Grid Country Support Programme met with

the Business Development Unit of GCCI

His Excellency, the Ambassador of Burkina Faso paid a courtesy visit to GCCI

His Excellency, the Ambassador of the S.R. of Vietnam to Gambia paid a courtesy visit to GCCI to discuss Business Opportunities CEO of Unique Solutions presented a Certificate of Appreciation to GCCI

Meeting with Energy Charter Secretariat team to discuss private sector opportunities for Gambia’s membership to the Treaty

March/April 2019 Edition

New members for the month of March

Upcoming Events

Country Date Event Delhi NCR, India 4th July - 6th July 2018 12th Indian Fashion Jewelry &

Accessories Show

Kigali, Rwanda 22nd July - 11th August 2019 22nd Annual Rwanda Internation-al Trade Fair

Yokohama, Japan 28th August - 30th August 2019 Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7)

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 18th September - 20th September 2019 5th Global Exhibition on Services

Company Name Business Activities Contact Person

Agino Enterprise General Trading Mr. Joseph Momoh

Harmony Trading Ltd. General Trading Ms. Anna Jallow

Purple Moss Paradise Ltd. Agriculture Mr. Lamin Njie

Empire World of Brands Furniture Mr Abdulie Njie

W & J Enterprise General Trading Mr. Abdoulie Wahab Jabbie

Suncity Global Limited Mobile Phones & accessories Mr. Bamba Faye

Her Apparel Fashion & Textile Amie Sohna

Apple Store General Trading Mr. Momodou Lamin Ceesay Sultan Traders & Real Estate

Ltd. Real Estate Mr. Omar Sowe