The
management of Suna Institute of Science and Technology Monday launched their
official website at a ceremony held at their conference room in Brikama, New
Sonko Jileng Complex.
The launching ceremony was attended by Dr Pierre Gomez, head of Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of The Gambia, Mr Francis Baye, head of Information Technology and Art at the Gambia Colleague, Bakary Njie, a lecturer at the Suna Institute, as well as the staff and students of the institute.
In his launching statement, Alagie Jallow, Chief Executive Officer of Suna Institute of Science and Technology, said his institute was established in September 2013 with the aim of transforming the IT sector of this country from its current level to the highest possible standards.
He noted that as a young entrepreneur recently graduated from the University of The Gambia with a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology and Computer Science, it has always been his desire and ultimate satisfaction to set the pace by training and creating job opportunities for the young people of both Gambians and non-Gambian nationals.
Mr Jallow said that by extension it would enormously boost the morale of the young people of The Gambia, thereby availing them the opportunity to positively contribute their quota towards nation building.
“With the requisite education, focus and support, productivity becomes a reality by translating dreams into tangible outcomes. This is the ideology I wanted to promulgate in the minds of the young of The Gambia,” CEO Jallow said.
There are great potentials in the IT sector of this country that could be explored for national development, he said, stating further that Suna Institute of Science and Technology has core values that are anchored on quality services and relevance.
“Our courses are tailored to meet the development needs of the country. It is also our priority to become the leading IT training institution in this country within three years of existence,” he said.
According to CEO Jallow, about 90 per cent of the lecturers are young university graduates, a record that was unrivalled by other IT training institutions in this country.
“We will consolidate these gains and in the long run teaching faculty will be university graduates,” he said.
He said that comparatively, looking at the quality services they deliver, their tuition fees are more affordable with a flexible payment plan, adding that the question of affordability in higher education is key to national development.
Mr Jallow also asserted that Suna Institution is for all those who are motivated to acquire higher training and education in IT.
He further noted that as a result of the globalized nature of higher education, Suna was in consultation with other tertiary institutions around the globe to create linkages where both students and lecturers would benefit from educational exchange programmes.
Inter-sectoral collaboration between institutions of higher learning remains very central in improving quality education, especially in information technology, he went on.
He said success could only be achieved if vigorously pursued with determination and well defined objectives.
“As we uphold our core values as an institution, we shall positively impact on the development of IT training and education to the young people of The Gambia,” Mr Jallow said.
According to him, Suna is a young IT and educational company that provides quality IT consulting, print, design and educational services to its customers.
“The educational services industry, including Basic, Secondary and Tertiary, is one of the fastest growing business sectors of the economy, and Suna Consults intends to capitalise on the success of this industry and help improve on its weakness by taking advantage of investment vacuums that exist in it,” he said further.
He noted that Consults also aims at playing a defining role in the growth of building IT and software development sectors.
The mission of Suna Consults was to become the premier provider of IT education and software development services in The Gambia by building long-term relations with customers through quality delivery and customer support, he said.
He said the company’s goal was to grow steadily and expand, as well as become profitable by the third year of operation.
Mr Jallow also noted that Suna Consults would provide some services which include software development services, printing, graphics and web-designs, IT training services and private WASSCE preparation study classes.
Their market target would start from desk and mini-field and market research, he said, adding that it was clear there were consideration potentials in Brikama.
“The people of Brikama go as far as Latrikunda for IT training and as far as Pristine in Bakau for software development services. The town is among the biggest in The Gambia and business is growing in all sectors; so our intervention would be very timely as the services we will offer are desperately needed,” Mr Jallow told the gathering.