By Yero S. Bah
Fighting against the 2019 novel Coronavirus disease infamously called COVID-19, has become a collective responsibility of many Gambians since the outbreak of the deadly bug in the Gambia on March 17, 2020. Gambians from all walks of life are contributing immensely and effectively to the fight against COVID.
One such Gambian is Mr. Cherno Kanyi, the proprietor of “Kanyi’s Bakery Shop” located along the Wellingara highway next to Nema Kunku-Wellingara junction, who decided to reduce the prices of bread from seven (7) to six (6) dalasi for his clients, despite the economic and business challenges posed by the coronavirus in the country and world, at large.
He explained that, for eight years now, his bakery usually beat down the cost of bread in every holy month of Ramadan for the poorer masses, noting that this year they did it to combat the dreadful coronavirus which coincided with the blessed month of fasting.
“It is a tradition here that we make such offers yearly for our customers,” Proprietor Kanyi told this medium. He lamented that the coronavirus has created an unprecedented challenges for people, globally especially for Gambians whom, he said, majority live below the poverty line.
He emphasized that he drew his zeal for the business from the fact that most of the people running such businesses are non-Gambians; that most of them are either Lebanese or Indians. “Why can’t we do such bakeries?” the chief of Kanyi’s Bakery rhetorically quizzed.
The Kanyi Bakery has created employment for 20 Gambians most of whom are relatives with some few non-relatives. He revisited history to the starting of the business, saying the whole idea started through a friend of his who encouraged him to create a business of his own instead of working for people. And, his immediate reaction was the establishment of a bakery, to financially support himself and his family.
Pinpointing that everyone needs food to survive, Kanyi said that encouraged him to invest into food production. But he admitted that it wasn’t easy at all putting up the much-needed things together, noting that one second-hand bread making machine costs him D650,000 or 7.1 million CFA francs when he bought it from Dakar in Senegal on installment terms.
“Bakery is an expensive business to run,” he further admitted. Before his involvement into bakery business, Kanyi was volunteering with Gamtel, but also trading and supplying communication devices, such as PA systems and other office equipment, to the national telecom company, Gamtel for years.
Another challenging issue he referred to in his bakery business is the cost of fuel; he told Mansa Banko Online that he purchases 7,000 dalasi worth of fuel on daily basis, in order to keep his machines up and running.
Kanyi alleged that poor quality of the flours from the manufacturers in the Gambia sometimes reduce the quality of their breads, adding manufacturers do so if they run out of the necessary ingredients such as yeast products. With all the financial challenges encountered by Mr. Kanyi, he was lucky to get a loan of 350,000 dalasi from the Social Development Fund (SDF) to upgrade his bakery business few years ago, saying this business needs partnerships.
He started with one machine and one mixer but today, Kanyi has two machines and two latest mixers which are maintained by one Conakry-Guinean national on a weekly basis. He said he could not get any Gambian national who has the skills of cleaning a bakery, professionally.
Proprietor Kanyi made it clear that the quality of their bread depends largely on the quality of the flour they purchase from locally-manufactured flours in the Gambia by the Lebanese or Indian companies.
Admittedly, he intimated that coronavirus outbreak has badly affected his bakery business because bread suppliers who are mainly non-Gambians, used to supply breads to the street vendors, usually women who were selling different kinds of delicious sausages with breads, and also shop owners. “Now, the coronavirus has stopped such petty businesses on roadsides,” he noted.
He also disclosed that his restaurant business has also closed down since the emergency and coronavirus safety protocols were enforced by the government. But he was quick to point out that even well before the emergency measures were taken by government, customer numbers were seriously dwindling simply due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kanyi again, “Despite this, I saw the need to reduce the prices so that many Gambians might be able to afford bread in these trying times and blessed month of Ramadan.”
He refreshed that before the outbreak of the coronavirus, his bakery used to bake over 6,000 loaves of bread in a day, but in this coronavirus era, their maximum daily production is just about 3,000 breads, which are half of the normal production in a normal situation.
“Coronavirus halted everything,” bemoaned the Gambian bakery owner.
On a positive note, he noticed that in recent years, Gambians have started venturing into the business, as he vouched of seeing many citizens getting into bakery business. He, at least, has over 26 people in his payroll as they all work for him at the bakery and also at his restaurant in Sukuta, where he is involved into pastry business.
Mr. Kanyi has a big vision of expansion, as he divulged plans to open another bakery shop in Soma town in Lower River Region. He said the whole town of Soma doesn’t have such bakery facilities, opining that Soma as a town needs such quality breads.
However, he said his only issue is that he needs an ice-plant to be able to operate such bakery facilities, and that demand some huge capital to establish.
On whether he believes in the existence of the coronavirus since many are still in denial, Kanyi is undoubted that coronavirus does exist seeing the number of victims of deadly bug in the West. “I see people dying daily on TVs,” he justified.
Proprietor Kanyi argued that he avoided approaching his government for possible financial aid because he had seen many people who did but were never helped by the government. The enthusiastic Kanyi said he believes in himself and not the national government.
In conclusion, he called on Gambians to open up businesses so as to create employment opportunities for their fellow citizens in the country, that is to say: if they have some starting capital for business.
