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Young Gambian entrepreneur urges youth to face reality of life, believe in themselves

Sep 3, 2014, 10:10 AM | Article By: Malamin L.M. Conteh

Pa Modou Mboob, a young entrepreneur, has urged the Gambian youth to face the reality of life and believe in themselves, saying if they want to do anything in life they can do it.

Mr Mboob told The Point in an exclusive interview that he started working on his own when he was going to school.

“I was going to school I did fetch firewood, and sold it and used the proceeds to pay part of my school fees, and I also helped my mother in selling fresh cow milk during weekend,” Mboob said.

He stated that it all started when he completed his school. He taught for three years and during the course of this teaching, he was selected to go for Librarian training, and when he came back from the training, he was appointed as a teacher and a Librarian.

He said he was tasked to set up a library at the old Jewshwang Lower Basic School, which he did successfully.

In 2006, he added, he was sponsored by the Kombo North Federation affiliated to Child-Fund, to do a course in business management up to the level of advanced diploma, and he was further sponsored by the same federation to attend an entrepreneur training, after which they were divided into groups.

His group was named after Ndimbal J. Company, and all the groups were given a revolving fund of D5,000 to put into practice what they had learned, he said. Mr Mboob told The Point that he started with cosmetics, stationery, detergents and victuals, and later started targeting offices, which he did for a while.“When I registered I also came up with this idea of designing shoes with wax and shirts,” he stated. He urged the young people to face the reality of life, and also let them believe in themselves, if they want to do it they will do it, because in life everybody has a responsibility to face the reality of life.

He added that business in The Gambia is lucrative and the environment is friendly, and the Gambian population is patronizing him, adding that more over he employed people and trained them on the job.

“Some customers do buy my things and take them overseas,” he said.