Entrepreneurship experts would tell you that entrepreneurs are people who see challenges as opportunities. Evidently, that’s exactly what Muhammed Kuyateh of Basse Manneh Kunda in the Upper River Region of the Gambia, who now lives in Sanchaba Touba in the Greater Banjul Area, has just done by operating a local tour and cultural company called ‘Roots and Cultural Tours’. It’s situated at Duplex Street in Kololi, Senegambia.
Despite the “devastation” of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Gambia’s tourism sector, resulting to numerous challenges, in the past two years, and its related ripple effects on lives and livelihoods in the country, people like Muhammed were still determined to press on, and never quit.
Kuyateh, who holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from Holborn College in the United Kingdom, provides services to both foreign and local tourists through the provision of transportation on land, sea and air depending on the client’s request.
“I decided to open this company simply because I got 15 years’ experience and know a lot in the business,” he told this medium, adding that he used to drive tourists as well as locals, and that’s how he decided to run a Group ‘B’ tour company. The Tourist taxi driver-turned-local tour operator recounts that survival in the last two years was really difficult for him and the company staffers, a situation that compelled them to turn to community transportation by plying between Bundung and Basse garages.
“That is how we were able to carry on for sustainability,” Kuyateh disclosed. According to him, also part of the challenges smaller operators like him face in the business, is that ‘bigger tour operators want it all’, so that ‘smaller operators will remain with nothing’. He added that they are still struggling to keep going, but they are yet to realize things as they wanted.
The ‘Roots and Cultural Tours’ chief indicated their resolve to ensure that transportation is easy and reasonable for both the tourism industry and the local community.
However, he argued that the Gambian tourism needs year-round operations, not only tourism seasons; but local tourism should be entertained to keep the business growing with or without the foreign tourists.
Kuyateh believes the Gambia has one of the best geographical landscapes, and a fantastic river that needs to be considered by the relevant authorities. “We have lots to be done, especially with the fresh water that the country is endowed with. The tourism department [Gambia Tourism Board] should pay closer attention to these untapped areas with lots of potentials,” he suggested.
According to the 2017 report of the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA), tourism is undoubtedly the fastest growing sector in the Gambian economy as it serves as the biggest foreign exchange earner, and also a major source of employment.
