GAWFA register success at New York Conference

Mrs Oley Njie-Mbye, Chief Executive Officer of the Gambia Women's Finance Association (GAWFA) has described as a victory, Gambia's participation in the just concluded 2011 Micro Finance Capital Market Strategy Conference held in New York as a victory.

Mrs Njie-Mbye, who was accompanied by Mr Bakary Dibba, accountant at GAWFA, took part in the competition organized by the Women's World Banking in partnership with JP Morgan Chase, one of the fortune Five Hundred financial institutions in the United States.

The Gambia came out first in the first round and second in the second round out of a number of countries in the world while Xac Bank in Mongolia took first in the final competition.

The competition, held from the 5th to 8th was the ninth annual capital market conference and investors forum on the theme "Liquidity Management" with focus on how to manage financial risk in an uncertain economic climate while continuing to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.

In an interview with The Point She She She column, Mrs Njie stated that the conference brought together over 400 men and women from different countries around the world to celebrate women entrepreneurship and to support financial inclusion for the poor.

"The snapshot of the competition includes the GAWFA products, offering financial highlight, client segments, key statistics and thorough analysis of GAWFA," she added.

According to her, the conference gave opportunity to the network members and experts in the fields of management, gender and finance to share best practices. She stated that the agenda focused issues at both the macro and local levels, challenges facing the sector as well as panels on product diversification and risk management.

She commended the staff of GAWFA for their team work, dedication and support, noting that the credit for the award goes to the staff of GAWFA. She also commended them for the support and encouragement during the competition, which she added, resulted in the company making The Gambia proud.

Concluding, Njie emphasized the importance of team work, commitment and perseverance, noting that these are principles that can turn small things to become big.