(Tuesday 15th October 2019 Issue)
European Union (EU) Ambassador who doubles as head of EU delegation in The Gambia, His Excellency Attila Lajos has said youth employment becomes a pressing priority-not just for The Gambia but for the whole African continent.
European
Union (EU) funded Tekki Fii Grant at a tune of one million euro equivalent to
Fifty-five million dalasis to support young entrepreneurs access finance.
Ambassador
Lajos was speaking during the launching of the Tekki Fii Grant, at the National
Association of Cooperative Credit Unions of The Gambia (NACCUG) head office in
Bakau.
“Tekki-Fii”
(a Wollof word meaning ‘Make it in The Gambia’) seeks to contribute to
socio-economic development and to nurture positive prospects for the Gambian
youth, including returning and/or potential migrants by promoting attractive
employment and income opportunities.
As
the EU’s top diplomat to Banjul observes, current forecasts on youth employment
are not encouraging.
He
pointed to the African Competitiveness Report revealing that Africa would need
to create 450 million new jobs by 2035, yet current policies are expected to
create only 100 million jobs.
“Economic
development and employment opportunities are the cornerstones for realizing the
full vision of The Gambia’s National Development Plan(NDP).
The
key objective must be on economic development that benefits the young people of
this country who indeed make up the vast majority of the population,” said
Lajos.
With
a growing number of young people entering the labour market and limited job
opportunities for them, the EU Ambassador cautioned that, unemployment is
threatening sustainable development and could pose a risk to social stability,
adding it is thus, crucial that “we accelerate our efforts to generate quality
jobs for the young generations”.
Translating
the Gambia’s youth bulge into a demographic dividend, the head of EU Delegation
believes, requires a number of action, as he pinpointed the need to invest in
quality education and skills development that prepares young Gambians for the
job market with the right skills sets.
Still
on the required number of actions, Lajos charged, “We need to create an
enabling business environment that facilitates investment and private sector
growth, support small businesses to become more competitive and grow.
We
need to foster innovation and entrepreneurship”.
He
said when they talk about business development in The Gambia; they need to talk
about access to finance.
The
EU diplomat added that the cost of borrowing money is high and it is hard to
access funds in the country; and that this is particularly true for young
entrepreneurs who often lack the collateral to get credit.
Ambassador
Lajos acknowledged that many young Gambian entrepreneurs have good ideas,
relevant business knowledge, that they are determined and hardworking, but are
not able to start their business because they lack seed capital.
Based
on these factors, the European Union (EU) is pleased to fund the Tekki Fii Grant
geared towards scaling-up and expanding the scope and size of businesses in the
country.
The
diplomat has indicated that the Tekki Fii Grant they launched was only one of
the many support measures that the EU, in collaboration with the Gambian government
and its partners like the International Trade Centre (ITC)/Youth Empowerment
Project (YEP), the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zussammenarbeit (GIZ), the
Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr (IMVF) and Belgian Development Agency-Enable,
is providing under the Tekki Fii-Make It In The Gambia.”
He
said the Tekki Fii programme includes training opportunities on skills
development, entrepreneurship and business growth, and it also provides support
to micro, small and medium sized companies in different sectors through the
provision of equipment, capacity building in quality and packaging product
development, market linkages and many other support measures.
In
addition, the Tekki Fii provides social support for young Gambians and
returning migrants through sports and other activities.
Lajos
was confident that the combined effect of all these measures would have a
transformative impact on the business opportunities in The Gambia, and thereby
{improving} the lives of young Gambians.
On
the scope funding of the Tekki Fii Grant, the Ambassador said the grant has two
windows- Solar and Agribusiness.
The
solar grant will have a maximum threshold of two hundred and fifty thousand and
is supported by GIZ.
The
agribusiness grant also caters for applications up to two hundred and fifty
thousand dalasis and is offered by IMVF.
The
Tekki Fii Mini Grant will continue to provide support of up to fifty thousand
dalasis in all sectors and across the
country and is supported by ITC/YEP, GIZ and IMVF.
Source-GYIN
