By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
Ebrima Sanyang, a Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) mini grant scheme beneficiary from Fatoto, Upper River Region (URR) has called on his fellow tailors within the Greater Banjul Area to go back to their respective regions to serve as role models, thus inspiring others to venture into tailoring.
It could be noted that, upon receiving six different machines from the Mini Grant Scheme, through the National Cooperative Credit Union of the Gambia (NACCUG), the young Fatoto tailor became an employer as he brought onboard other young people within his community to assist him in his business.
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.
In an interview with Mansa Banko Online, in Fatoto, the 25 -year-old, Ebrima Sanyang, sews different types of women and men attires for his customers within his locality and from neighboring villages.
Sanyang, who started as an apprentice for six years, has since qualified to be his own boss and serving his community as a mentor, for the two years now.
As he pointed out, his current expansion plan is to lobby for contracts from the Senior Schools around his area, to be sewing their students’ uniforms.
Sanyang called on young people to take up tailoring as a profession taking into consideration the grant opportunities available in the country.
The YEP grant beneficiary acknowledged: “Receiving the YEP support has boosted my business a lot. It has also enabled me to serve as role a model in my community.”
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.
