The Gambia joins over 150 countries around the world in celebrating
Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014, which began on Monday.
The celebration, facilitated by the American Chamber of Commerce, The Gambia (AmCham), delves on the theme: “Celebrating women in entrepreneurship development; celebrating the Global Angel Investors Day”.
We are not surprised that AmCham is in the forefront of such events because they have been consistently promoting entrepreneurship development since the chamber’s inception in The Gambia, some few years ago.
AmCham Gambia deserves commendation, for it is out to oil the wheels of The Gambia’s economy through its promotion of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship promotes innovation, which is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
No country can do without entrepreneurship as it boosts economic development, as well as the social welfare of its citizenry.
Powered by the spirit of entrepreneurship, an individual always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.
Entrepreneurs play major roles not only in the growth of industrial sector of a country, but also in the development of the farm and service sector.
Therefore, The Gambia’s dream of becoming an economic superpower and the Singapore of Africa can only materialise if more focus is put on entrepreneurship development.
It is also vital to note that industrial development depends upon sound entrepreneurship.
A country might remain backward not because of lack of natural resources or dearth of capital, as it is widely perceived, but because of lack of entrepreneurial talents.
We have heard and seen how entrepreneurship has spurred industrial development in Singapore, Japan, Korea and Taiwan to name a few.
If Gambia wants to be like one of these countries, we must do as they did – support our entrepreneurs and remove the factors that may be affecting them.
Rich and developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom realized this and have ever been pumping more resources into supporting entrepreneurs and enhancing the entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of their citizens.
In The Gambia, we might not have substantial resources to support the rapid growth of entrepreneurs, but we have institutions like Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency and AmCham promoting entrepreneurial ideas and initiatives.
The government is, therefore, expected to continue to support these and similar institutions to promote entrepreneurship in The Gambia.
It is all geared toward promoting entrepreneurship.
“What is great about entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurs create the tangible from the intangible.”
Robert Herjavec