By Yerro S. Bah
Muhammed Jallow nicknamed Kabir Jallow started learning digital and online marketing after he came across an ads by the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) for ‘freelancing’ on social media. Today, he is among the few lucky young people who are experts in the online and digital marketing platforms such as Google Digital Garage and Fundamentals of Digital Marketing in The Gambia.
As the digital entrepreneur indicated, the computer courses he did such as AAT Level I at Management Development Institute (MDI); Graphic Design and Entrepreneurship at Quantumnet; and YMCA catapulted him to an expert level in the fields of digital and online marketing through GrowthBond.
“I did digital and marketing and fundamentals of digital marketing at Google digital garage through GrowthBond,” he told Mansa Banko Online while narrating his digital journey during a WhatsApp interview.
[GrowthBond helps small businesses in Africa by providing growth capital for Facebook marketing. It’s an online investment marketplace…]
Recalling he signed up to a digital marketing social media ads by the YEP freelancing on social media, Jallow explained after three years, “I learned a new skill which helps me a lot”. Describing himself as GrowthBond expert, working with clients on Facebook ads for their pages, Jallow believes in today’s world, everything is linked to technology. The digital platforms and courses have paved him a way to not only earn income but also create solutions for people’s problems, digitally.
“Basically, my work as a digital marketer involves using digital marketing platforms to generate leads or clients for my customers,” said Jallow.
While he wouldn’t say it’s simple or difficult but rather a challenge, the digital expert said it motives him to give it his best shot. The progress is that he was able to learn a new skill through which he’s earning a living.
He recounted that when he started newly, two of his challenges were lack of laptop and internet availability which are ‘key hurdles and setback’. He observed that most of the youth use the internet but are not aware of the digital marketing side of it, apprising that it’s very important as it’s a means of making a living for youth.
Kabir posited that as a country such courses and skills should be introduced in schools so that most of youth folk could get involved in online businesses. It’s his view that teaching and learning centers for such digital marketing skills or courses should have been opened up in the country. Finally, his message to the youth is that, “big things start small”.
