The industrial tour covered Applied Research, Innovation and Manufacturing in Yundum, Niro Company Limited at the airport, Pasma Company Limited in Jambanjelly and Muhammed’s Poultry Farm in Gunjur.
Speaking during the tour, Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment Mod K. Ceesay said the visit was driven by the need for government to understand what local businesses are doing on the ground before providing support.
“We don’t only sit at the office and process documents we would want to go around and see for ourselves,” Minister Ceesay said.
He explained that the ministry had received submissions from some of the businesses seeking support, including special incentives, and that the tour would allow officials to establish how far their projects had progressed, whether owners had invested their own resources and how serious the businesses were.
“Once we satisfy ourselves, then we will process the documents,” he said.
Minister Ceesay said the government was particularly interested in supporting Gambian-owned businesses and would consider incentive, financial and technical support to help them grow.
He said the Ministry and GIEPA would continue to accompany promising businesses, adding that government support must be based on proper assessment because the resources being provided belong to the Gambian people.
The minister also said the government had introduced measures intended to give locally produced goods an advantage over imports, while continuing to assess the quality and capacity of local production.
The tour, he said, was part of efforts to create opportunities for Gambians and transform the country’s economy through local industry.
At Applied Research, Innovation and Manufacturing, CEO Wally Saine, said the company, established in 2018, now employs more than 20 young people, including administrators and engineers. He said the business needs financial support, equipment, affordable raw materials and assistance to expand its facility.
Pasma Company Limited CEO Pa Saikou Manneh, said his company is constructing a temperature controlled and food grade warehouse in Jambanjelly, with facilities for storing dry commodities, onions, vegetables and poultry products.
