Startups were on 28th April, 2023 taken through an entrepreneurship training as part of the Ye Agribusiness incubation program.
The entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to have an open discussion on their business, challenges faced and other business plans.
The startups were made to understand that starting a business and keeping up with it might be hard but it takes real determination and responsibility to make it to the next level.
One of the startups when asked to mention a general challenge faced by the entrepreneurs said it was “Access to finance”, However they were told that access to finance is not the major problem instead the management of the finance. Many are given finance or have access to finance but to manage that money tends to be a problem.
Samba Faye, a participant who is into plantation Nurseries, said Farmers do have problems in accessing tools and some of these fertilizers to keep up with their productions too. Habib Bah who is also into Poultry said that the Government should try and see how best they can start using the local eggs we have in the country and stop the importation of eggs.
The presentation was done by Suwaibu Cham of the The Gambia Investment & Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA), a national agency responsible for promoting and facilitating private sector investments into The Gambia.
This training is done in collaboration with The Hub and the Ye! Community , a chapter of the international trade centre. So far, the startups enrolled in the program have undergone a series of training which includes digital literacy, digital marketing , Taxation and business registration among others.