Ascend
Together recently hosted a celebrity guest. One of Forbes’ 30 most influential
African entrepreneurs under the age of 30, Momarr Taal is a rising star in The Gambia, having started a successful agriculture business, Tropingo Foods. Mr.
Taal had a simple message for the young men and women in the Ascend program:
you can make a life for yourself here in The Gambia, you don’t need to go to Europe
to make money.
The Gambia
has one of the highest rates of migration to Europe of any country in the
world, losing on average 0.5 percent of its population each year to the
“backway”, according to UNICEF. In 2016, 12,000 Gambians, mostly young men,
arrived by boat in Italy, part of a wave of migration from Africa and the
Middle East to Europe. Despite its small size (roughly 2 million people),
Gambians are the 5th most common arrivals in Europe according to the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), rivaling much larger countries
like Nigeria and Syria. The effect on Gambian society is pervasive,
particularly in the provinces, where you find villages where most of the young
men have gone the “backway”.
And
the route itself is dangerous. Young Gambians who take the “backway” are
subject to kidnapping, torture, and murder while in lawless Libya, before
risking their lives on a treacherous boat crossing to Italy where overcrowding
often causes boats to capsize. Over 5,000 migrants, including Gambians, died in
2016 crossing the Mediterranean. The number of migrants killed or kidnapped in
Libya is unknown, but almost every Gambian knows someone who suffered some sort
of abuse or worse while in Libya.
The
meeting pondered the question of why are so many young Gambians are risking
their lives to get to Europe? The most common reason given by migrants is that
there are no opportunities for young people in Gambia. Young people want to
help their families financially and they see Europe as being the best way to do
that, where the remittances sent home from even a low-paying job can go a long
way in The Gambia.
As
an organization that works with Gambian youth, Ascend Together recognizes that
the migration issue needs to be addressed. So they called Momarr. Momarr Taal
as living proof that one can make a life for oneself in The Gambia with a little
creativity and a lot of hard work. So, sitting in the shade next to the YMCA
basketball court, Ascend students listened to Momarr tell the story of how he
started his life-changing journey by establishing his mango and groundnut
processing export company.
“First
of all, you can’t be afraid of failure. I’ve failed and failed, but I kept
trying until I succeeded. I hear from Gambians all the time ‘Gambia amuut
dara’; there’s nothing here. But look around you, we’re surrounded by mango
trees. Gambia has a wealth of agricultural opportunities. Mangoes can be sold
whole, as juice, as jam, or as a dried fruit. Even the mango pit can be pressed
to produce mango butter, which is an important component of many cosmetics
products,” he said.
When
asked what business niches might exist that aren’t currently being taken
advantage of by Gambians, Momarr said; “there are so many. One that comes to
mind is refrigeration. Every hotel, fish plant, restaurant, needs access to
refrigerated storage and there are only a few people doing it. Also there are
so many agricultural opportunities. The Gambia has a great climate for growing
rice. Gambians have historically grown rice. So why isn’t there a major Gambian
rice company? I don’t want to eat Chinese rice; I want to eat Gambian rice.”
While
these students may still be a few years away from starting a business, the
message was clear: there are opportunities in The Gambia; you don’t have to go to
Europe. And the wheels were turning. One student, Paul Mendy, asked why aren’t
pineapples grown in The Gambia? Momarr’s answer: “someone like you needs to look
into it. Maybe you can be the first person to start a pineapple company here.”
