By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
Habib Njie, a young tailor from Jagel Village in Central River Region North(CRR/N) and a beneficiary of the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) Mini Grant Scheme, has expressed profound delight and appreciation to the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and the National Cooperative Credit Union of the Gambia (NACCUG), for awarding him Forty-Seven Thousand Dalasis (D47,000.00) to enhance his business.
After being successfully selected for the grant support, Njie received five (5) machines to enlarge his tailoring shop.
According to him, NACCUG did not only stop at equipping his tailoring workshop, but has also enhanced his capacity in managing his business efficiently and maintaining good customer relationship through literacy training.
The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) is a EU-funded flagship project of the Republic of The Gambia implemented by the International Trade Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment and the Ministry of Youth and Sports with the objective to improve skills, create jobs and generate income for Gambian youths.
Narrating his story in the tailoring industry to Mansa Banko Online at his tailoring workshop in Kaur Janneh Kunda, in the Central River Region North (CRR/N), the young tailor recalled that he started his own tailoring workshop, situated in Kaur, CRR /N, early 2019. Prior to owning a shop, Njie worked as an apprentice and at the same learning tailoring at one Tailoring Workshop in Abuko for eight years.
Upon his graduation from an apprenticeship to a fulltime tailor, he got employed by a professional tailor in Serrekunda. He was able to raise some money which availed him the opportunity to return back to his native village to venture into farming.
He further explained that he used the proceeds of his farm harvest to buy two machines (one electrical and one manual) which he left at home village for others to use, as part of expanding his business.
“When I applied for the mini grant, I was successfully selected and I received 5 machines,” the YEP beneficiary acknowledged. With that support, Njie has currently, employed four youths to work at his tailoring shop.
With an enthusiastic tone, Njie said he’s “very much appreciative” of being a YEP mini grant beneficiary, through NACCUG.
About NACCUG
The National Association of Cooperative Credit Unions of The Gambia (NACCUG), the apex body for all credit unions in The Gambia, was formed and legally registered in August 1991. It aims at promoting and supporting the development of viable Credit Unions through sound and market-based business strategies. It works to develop and make available the best financial and non-financial services to its members at reasonable cost and to fight poverty as a model financial co-operative.
NACCUG is licensed by the Central Bank of The Gambia as a Non-Bank Financial Institution. NACCUG is also a bonafide affiliate of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) based in Madison in the United States (US).
NACCUG’s mission of sustainable development through credit unions complements The Gambia Government’s efforts in fighting poverty and socio-economic exclusion especially among the rural poor and marginalized groups in the country.
