Speaking at the press conference, Mr Jagana said: “As part of our vision for 2015, the chamber will continue to reposition itself as a centre for excellence by developing a highly committed organization oriented to serving the needs of our members.”
The chamber also stands ready to always provide a business platform, and offer business management and development services to a wider spectrum of enterprises, specifically those led by women and youths in order to ensure that their business grows to become sustainable and responsible in the evolving world and society, the GCCI president said.
In today’s business environment, he continued, GCCI is fundamentally tasked to be transformational in its leadership in order to stay relevant, as chamber’s business members and stakeholders are faced with new challenges in this very modern and globalized economy.
He said the successful business or entrepreneur is one that recognizes such dynamism, hence the chamber has to quickly adjust to respond to these market changes to increasingly become a catalyst of organizational change, which would guide its members into new market leadership.
Mr Jagana added that it is at the forefront of the chambers agenda to ensure that its members value and pursue “partnership”, because partnership could be used to grow a customer base and improve a business, thus enabling a business to tap into areas they could not have reached alone.
It is also to have access to new products, finances, gain complementary skills, and gain more competitive advantage against competitors.
The GCCI president said they would always articulate the need for partnerships, as well as every other issue that affects their members and other stakeholders.
Mr Jagana noted that the economic consequences of Ebola have been devastating to the whole region, particularly for the tourism industry, which extended to every fabric of the society, including the businesses.
He called for an improved partnership between the government, the private sector and the civil society in order to properly ensure there is equal redistribution of wealth and economic growth component that caters for micro, small and medium enterprises, especially managed by marginalised groups including youths and women.
He also said that over the past year, the chamber had increased its contacts with all relevant ministries, and with their support they have continually been meeting and discussing all business-related matters affecting the Gambian private sector.
He said the government had approved the establishment of a National Economic Council, which is proposed to hold meetings with ministries and policymakers with the view of fostering better understanding of issues of both the public and private sector, and highlights the benefits of public private partnerships and collaboration.
