NAWEC refutes claim that Gambia have highest electricity tariff

by Lamin Jahateh, Banjul NAWEC have disapproved the notion that Gambia have the highest electricity tariff in the sub-region. “Countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Liberia have higher electricity tariff than The Gambia,” said Mr. Jallow, the Finance Director of NAWEC. He said most of the time when people said that electricity tariff in The Gambia is high compared to other countries in the sub-region, what they don’t tell other people is that the sources of production of electricity are different from country to country. “If you take Ghana, for instance, where they use hydro to generate electricity which is far cheaper in terms cost of production you cannot compare that to a thermal power plant such as the one we used in The Gambia and naturally our cost of production will not be the same,” Mr. Jallow said. He continued: “Just to give you a simple example, if you have a bottle (0.5 Liter) of water costing D10, but if you put NAWEC water inside the bottle you cannot charge the same price and there is a good reason for that.  The company that bottled this water have cost that they incurred before getting the water into the bottle and for them to be able to remain in business the least they could price for the bottle is their cost and of course to make further investment to expand they need to add some margin to the cost of production. So naturally that is why they price the 0.5 liter bottle at D10, if you put NAWEC water in the bottle you cannot sell it to anybody for D10 because that is not the cost to NAWEC.  So this is a simple analogy, so if people are comparing let say electricity tariff in Gambia to Ghana they have to understand what the sources of production is and the cost related to that,” NAWEC is mandated for the provision of electricity, water and sewerage service in The Gambia.  As a public enterprise NAWEC has not operated on a commercial basis in the sense that both water and the provinces are subsidised by the Electricity Division. Although NAWEC has achieved financial sustainability for its normal operations, it still lacks the resources to properly expand the electricity system. Due to this the system is ill equipped to satisfy the growing demand and needs substantial investment for maintenance and expansion.

National Assembly seeks over $14 million from donors; gets less than $1 million

Lamin Jahateh,  Banjul The National Assembly of The Gambia is currently seeking, from both local and international donors, an amount of $14,388,097 representing 55% of the total amount of $26,253,812 that they need to finance the ‘Strategic Investment and Development Plan of the National Assembly 2009 – 2014’. The other 45% is to be financed by the government of The Gambia. In other to raise funds to finance this five year programme, the National Assembly on Wednesday held an official resource mobilization, dubbed donors’ roundtable conference, at Kairaba Beach Hotel, geared towards soliciting the support of donors and development partners in implementing the first ever Strategic Investment and Development Plan of the National Assembly. However, the total financial pledge that was made public at the occasion was less than $1 million, most of which is from local institutions and individuals.  This is due to the fact whilst there are many international donors, in the country, who work in the field of governance, the number of donors working specially on the issue of parliamentary development is limited.  Also, majority of these donors are bilateral donors who may or may not be active in promoting good governance in The Gambia. Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the President, the Vice President, Dr. Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, said the government has always been fully committed for a vibrant, robust and pro-active legislative that is responsive to the needs and aspirations of the Gambian people. Though no international donors, present at the occasion, made any significant pledge, the Vice President applauded them saying “your support and contribution in virtually all the sectors of The Gambia’s economy, including notably, the support you give or, are willing to additionally give towards strengthening legislature and governance, has our recognition.” The VP said the Investment and Development Plan is one that sums up in a single documentation the strategic direction that the government wish to follow, to promote lasting excellence in parliamentary functions and capabilities. “The development of such a Strategic Plan, which is by our standard, holistic and reflective of our needs, is therefore very important.  It is also very timely in that its implementation will become an added impetus to the huge capital investments that my Government has undertaken in recent times for the National Assembly,” she said, adding: “The most notable example here is, the ongoing construction of a multi-million dalasi, state-of-the-art National Assembly complex in the city of Banjul.  This complex, when completed will be second-to-none in Sub-Saharan Africa.” She disclosed that the government has demonstrated attention to the National Assembly by effecting an increase in budgetary allocation to the National Assembly from D3 million in 1996 to around D40 million as at January, 2011. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Abdoulie Bojang, said the total cost of the Strategic Development and Investment Plan, which is over $26 million, includes the building and resourcing of new-state-of-the art National Assembly, to which the government of The Gambia has already provided funds for up to $10 million. Pledges At the end of the programme, some local institutions and individuals has pledged in cash and kind including capacity building programmes and technical services to the National Assembly. The pledged was open by Minister of Justice, Edu Gomez, who pledges D5000, though he is yet to fulfilled a D10,000 pledged he made to the Young Journalist Association of the Gambia since the first quarter of 2010. The Gambia Bankers Association, pledges D500, 000; Social Security and Housing Finance Cooperation (SSHFC) D300, 000; National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) D500, 000; Action Aid - The Gambia D100, 000; Pro-Poor Advocacy Group pledges capacity building package for the Parliamentarians for the next five years to the tune of  D500, 000. Mass Axi Gai, Gambia’s Ambassador to Guinea Bissau pledges D2000; KMC Mayor Yankuba Colley D2000 and Matarr Baldeh of Education for All Initiative pledges to give D1000 annually for five years. The National Assembly’s five years Investment Plan, which if fully funded, is expected to strengthening the capacity of the National Assembly to deliver its core functions and to ensure that legislations proposed by the government are scrutinized in a transparent manner.

Businesswomen gearing up to tap the int’l market

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Gambian businesswomen are setting up a cluster that will bring businesses, particularly women businesses that are export-ready, to export to the international market, the American market in particular. “This cluster will help us come together, put our resources and expertise together to access the international market,” said Amie Ceesay-Jaiteh, the proprietor and general manager of C J Enterprise, a company mainly involved in the business of exporting foodstuff (mostly fish) to the UK and America.   She opined that when this cluster is ready there will be much foreign exchange coming into the country. “Exports make the economy more viable,” she said, adding “the American Embassy in the Gambia is helping us in that regard; they are encouraging us to export more into the US market.” With many years experience in exporting, Amie said the American market is huge, so when exporting there normally they will ask for about 4-5 containers, which is very difficult for individual businesses in The Gambia to provide but with such a cluster, “we can put together our resources and expertise to export in larger volume”, and take advantage of such a huge market. Challenges of exporting Amie recounts some challenges she encounter in exporting: “Actually there are challenges because we take fish abroad most of the time that it is difficult. Sometimes we take the fish to Europe, supply to the customers and some of them don’t pay on time.  Sometimes you are there for a short period, say, two weeks. Some of them cannot gather your money and give it to you before you leave; they ask you to go, then they will transfer the money to you. You have to be calling them to send the money.  That sometimes holds us back.” Asked how easy it is be exporting, Amie said: “I would not say it is easy because before you venture into export you need to get the market, you need to go and find your customers to be able to sell your products. So if you don’t have the market it is difficult to venture into it. If you see me doing it and you think you can also do it as well, you should have it in mind that it involves a whole lot of things being put in place. You have to get customers who are ready to buy from you anywhere you want to export to. “Before venturing into business you have to do research and market feasibility study to see what product you would be interested in selling.  If you want to be an exporter it is even worth travelling abroad just to look for a market; you also have to go to the internet and search for wholesalers.” The proprietor of CJ enterprise said exporting fish and agricultural products is something that she find “very interesting”.  “I was running my own restaurant after I returned from UK where I studied Tourism and Hotel Management and Catering,” she said. Mrs Ceesay-Jaiteh continued: “The time I was operating the restaurant I used to go to the market to buy fish and vegetables to sell in the restaurant; I used to meet fishmongers and vegetable sellers; I saw the constraints they were facing at that time. For instance, when you want to buy tomatoes in the market you discover there are abundant tomatoes at some point because they are all harvested together at a time, the same thing holds true of other vegetables. The market also used to be flooded with fish sometimes. “So I use to think of ways of helping these people; incidentally when I went to UK, somebody approached me and said they needed fish in their shop, so I started buying fish and packing them in suitcases for export to the UK, until they made a law in Europe that we have to pack them properly. So we started air-freighting the fish, but we were doing it through establishments that had export permit. As the demand increased, we started exporting in containers. We started with 20-foot containers, but now we use 40-foot containers because the demand is increasing by the day.” Advice to Gambians At the moment “things are very hard”, businesses are experiencing very difficult times globally. When things are difficult, “I think Gambians should help each other; if a Gambian is in business, let’s support the person”. Amie opined that this is the only way the country can move forward and improve our lives. She called on all and sundry to support Gambian businesses because Gambians are going into lots of businesses that would have been dominated by foreigners. Gambians are in supermarkets, minimarkets, import and export, so let us support each other. If a Gambian makes money, it stays in the country; it makes the economy more viable. For example, she said, there is a Nigerian shop in London, Nigerians are so proud of going to that shop to buy instead of going to other shops; they will support their fellow Nigerians.  So let’s do that - look at each other and support each other. That will take us from this level and probably it might reduce poverty because Gambians will be investing more in The Gambia and invest more in their families and that will lead to the growth of the economy.  That is something that we are lacking, let’s give that support to each other.

GAWFA Finance Company shares up for sale

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul GAWFA Finance Company, the latest financial institution to be launched in The Gambia, has 6,100,000 ordinary shares for sale, at ten dalasis (D10) per share, Oley Njie Mbye, Chief Executive Officer of the company, has revealed. Mrs Mbye called on the general public to review the company’s prospectus, complete an application, make a sound decision and invest in GAWFA’s shares. The CEO called on the general public to join GAWFA in its cause of building safety net for the poor and promoting the economic empowerment of Gambian women by buying its shares to provide an opportunity to change a woman’s life. “I urge you to please reach out and get GAWFA shares today and not tomorrow. Please help build safety nets for the poor and promote the economic empowerment of women,” she added. Established in 1987 as a not-for-profit NGO, GAWFA - the Gambia Women’s Finance Association - recently launched its own financial institution called GAWFA Finance Company, to provide trade finance for Gambian women who would like to expand their businesses or establish new ventures. She said: “With GAWFA shares you are providing an opportunity to change a woman’s life one day at a time, providing safety nets for the poor, empowering women at the socio-economic level and creating the opportunity to make positive changes to a new generation. “In addition you are contributing to make GAWFA sustainable both financially and institutionally to reach the mission and vision of the organization.” Hannah Davis, chairperson of GAWFA board, said by purchasing the shares of GAWFA Finance Company one is providing an opportunity to contribute to the economic empowerment of Gambian women.   “I urge you to buy GAWFA Finance Company limited shares,” Mrs Davis says. Beatrice Allen, a board member of GAWFA, added:  “The shares of the company are up for sale to the general public but specifically for women, because really we want to be able to do for women what nobody else has done for them so we want to encourage the women first to buy.  Nonetheless, we have got some allocations for other members of the public, both companies and individuals, who want to buy shares.” “We encourage strategic investors both national and international level to invest and buy GAWFA’s shares,” a statement from the company says, adding: “GAWFA is the first and the largest microfinance institution in The Gambia established since 1987 and an affiliate of Women’s World Banking network headquartered in New York. GAWFA’s activities are intended to promote social and economic changes in The Gambia.” Brief background about GAWFA GAWFA’s vision is to build a sustainable financial institution that meets the aspirations of women in the vanguard of an evolving financial system, and to regain market leadership by 2020 with a share of at least 50% of the market represented by low Gambia women. The association has it mission to offer an innovative financial solution that contributes to lasting economic and social benefits for low income Gambian women and their families; and create value for our shareholders and stakeholders. GAWFA was incorporated in September 1987 with the main objective of catering for the financial needs of the poor and low-income women of The Gambia. The association was the first micro-finance institution to be licensed by the Central Bank of The Gambia. Over the years, the association has grown from under 100 members to over 48,948 clients, over 90% of whom live in the rural areas. GAWFA provides financial service to low-income women engaged in income generating activities, such as farmers, traders, and handicraft. It continues to provide services that are innovative, flexible and meet the needs of each category of its clients as they grow in a profitable and sustainable manner. Between 1994 and 2007, GAWFA disbursed over D127 million as loans. The association was also able to build a culture of savings among women with more than 48,000 clients accumulating a net savings of D12 million. GAWFA offers three loan products - individual loans, solidarity group loans, and large group loans. Group loans represent 65% of GAWFA portfolio and are concentrated outside Banjul. Individual loans represent 35% of GAWFA disbursement in 2006, and Greater Banjul accounts for 83% of the individual loans disbursed in 2006. GAWFA achieved a high growth in both credit and savings operations over the past five years, but the credit operations have increased more rapidly than the savings.

National transport network opens for business

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul A new initiative to establish a national public transport services to facilitate the provision of standard transport system, is now operational at the Gambia Transport, Agricultural, Food, and Industrial Workers Union (GTAFIWU) at the Gambia Red Cross Building in West Field, Kanifing Municipality. “Fangsoto” (meaning ‘self-reliant in Mandinka) transport services is set up by young Gambians with a view to further improving the public transport system, ensure proper management of transportation services in the country, and limit conflicts between vehicle owners and drivers, among others. “Once you have signed an agreement with us, we take proper care of your vehicle, appoint a driver and we will be responsible for maintenance services, and as the owner, you can collect your money on weekly, monthly or any form of agreement you may agree with our determined and committed administration,” said Ms Fatou Sidibeh, administrative secretary of the Gambian owned establishment. An initiative by Gambians, Fangsoto is out to improve transport services through networking, and to increase means of employment, and the socio-economic growth and development of the country. “The public transport service sector is meant to encourage vehicle owners involved in the transportation of people and goods,” she said, adding: "Most vehicle owners have lost trust and confidence in those drivers. Most vehicles on the road do not have the needed repairs and maintenance, to which effect drivers and vehicle owners push blame on each other, and consequently mark the end of the vehicle.” She continued: “Drivers do not have the trust and confidence in vehicle owners, which has resulted in carefree and careless driving. For that and many more reasons experienced by both vehicle owners and drivers, the Fansoto Transport Services is open to encourage a public transport service sector, to serve as a mediator between vehicle owners and drivers, within its jurisdiction and the nation at large.” Commenting on the aims of Fangsoto, Ms Sidibeh said the self-independence driven transportation services creates a better working condition for its drivers by taking the burden of breach between drivers, vehicle owners and the public at large. She said the initiative also introduces private and commercial transportation system with a base and the the use of CABIN system which will involve car radios communication system, where customers would only need to dial the office, and a transport would be made available wherever they are. Sidibeh said the new company will also establish a driving training school branch for drivers to ensure professionalism in their service delivery. “The driving school will be explicit in its theory and practical and will produce competent drivers at the end of their trainings. Drivers will go through a recruitment training prior to employment. Their conditions of service are our pride. Attractive salaries will be paid and maximum security in the field of work ensured. Professional drivers guided by knowledge and skills on traffic code of conduct thoughts will be ensured.” Fangsoto can be reached through the following contact numbers: 00220 9837903/ 6900897/ 6837903/ 7785128

Gambia’s airport to be positioned as a regional hub

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Banjul International Airport - the one and only international airport in The Gambia – is to be upgraded and positioned as a regional hub that will link the West African sub-region with the rest of the world, the Director General of Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Mr. Fansu Bojang revealed on Wednesday while submitting the activity report of the Authority at the National Assembly. “The GCAA is vigorously working towards achieving this objective,” he told the Lawmakers.  “The Authority has put in place various incentives to encourage the creation of a home-based airline, a key requirement for the realization of a hub-and-spoke system. Running parallel with this, the Authority is also actively and progressively pursuing other existing major carriers with the view of luring them into Banjul.” He said The Gambia has signed an Open Skies Agreement with the United States of America, and Banjul International Airport (BIA) has approved to serve as a Last Point of Departure for flights into the United States of America. “In addition, it is hoped that major in-roads would be made in convincing major carriers, such as Delta Airlines and Ethopians Airlines, into serving Banjul as a destination in the very near future,” he said. Mr. Bojang further said works that were executed in 2009, particularly within the context of BIA, continued to address the infrastructure requirements necessary for the realization of this goal. “Now that the industry is breathing a bit of fresh air, following what was arguably, a financially suffocating period; the GCAA will continue to pursue discussions with government leading to the restoration of airport tariff to their pre-June 2007 levels as well as the introduction of, at least, the Airport Development Fee (ADF) in the fee structure of BIA,” he said. He added that investments being made by the government in terms of expanding and renewing airport infrastructure and facilities make the generation of revenue through the introduction of a development levy compelling case. He continued: “This will literally subsidize the cost of operating the Airport in order to maintain the desired level of international standards. This resulted in huge financial burden on the Authority while at the same time not achieving its anticipated result of attracting more carriers into BIA.  Hence lifting of the hold would see the Authority gradually ease back onto a sound financial footing while maintaining international standards and continuing to reinvest into major developmental areas for the continued modernization of BIA.” He explained that Phase 1 of the Banjul International Airport Improvement Project is nearing completion. To this end, he said the GCAA through the Gambia Government secured additional funding from international funding agencies; in particular the Kuwait Fund, Saudi Fund and OPEC Fund for International Development for the implementation of Phase II of the Project. “This Phase shall include works for the expansion of the current apron, construction of an ultra-modern fire and rescue service station, replacement of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) as well as refurbishment and possible expansion of the existing Passenger Terminal Building. This Phase will automatically kick-in following the completion of Phase I, and it will also cater for the infrastructural needs of the Authority for the foreseeable future and thus putting BIA on a competitive footing in attracting major carriers into the country” he noted.

Capital Express Assurance to provide life insurance to low-income earners

By LAMIN JAHATEH, Banjul Capital Express Assurance (Gambia) Limited has planned to aggressively promote life insurance penetration at the rural level through its suites of micro-insurance products. The focus on the rural areas is in cognizance of the fact that life insurance is beneficial for all and has to be made accessible and affordable for low- and medium-income earners. Pic: Managing Director (Mr. Adegboye in the middle) & Board Members This is part of the company’s business generation strategies for 2011, which include massive decentralization of quality life insurance services throughout the length and breadth of The Gambia. In a press conference held on Monday at the company’s head office at Sankung Sillah Building along Kairaba Avenue, Mr. Kunle Adegboye, managing director of Capital Express - the only specialised life assurance company in The Gambia, said that as part of the strategies, his company has started a massive agency network process by recruiting different cadres of agents for distribution of the company’s products to the people of The Gambia. “We have recently completed a deal with one of the largest banks in The Gambia and as part of the partnership agreement, we will have a table or a kind of small office where we can meet the insurance needs of the people, which means you don’t have to come to the head office to get your life product, you don’t have to come here to get your claim paid; right at the bank you can do your insurance transactions,” Mr Adegboye said. “We are not stopping at the banks; we are also going to get into partnership with the big supermarkets and any public place. Anywhere people frequently visit to get one form of product or service, we are going to partner with them. All this is geared towards taking insurance to the doorsteps of our clients.  In this case, anywhere that Capital Express has no branch you will see a branch of that bank, so our clients can easily walk into this bank and do their insurance transaction.  I don’t want to name the bank because they have not yet announced it.” Capital Express is the first insurance company in The Gambia to include a customer service department in its operation. With products like guarantee tuition protection plan, future income plan, annuity plan policy, credit life assurance policy, guaranteed education protection, universal life assurance plan, and personal protection plan, Mr Adegboye noted that his company is sure of providing a world class insurance services that will make a turning point in the country's insurance industry. He said the three risks – the risk of dying too soon, the risk of living too long, and the risk of becoming disabled - can all be adequately covered through any one of these pool of products. Mr Adegboye assured every individual that Capital Express will always remain true to its policy of ensuring that whoever has a genuine claim with the company is paid without hassle. “And also no matter what kind of situation they are in, we will try our level best to resolve it for them,” he said. “Our new state-of-the-art insurance software will be launched early next year,” the Capital Express MD said, adding that the company is standing on a solid rock of a high calibre of human resource with a modern sophisticated technology. “Work is already at an advanced stage on the deployment of the application and this will go-live early in the New Year,” Mr Adegboye says. The software is in line with the mission of the company, which is to provide wealth management and risk protection services to at least one member of every household where they are licensed to operate using the most sophisticated technology and manpower. With this software in place, any prospective customer of Capital Express can just walk into any business centre, have access to the internet and will be able to have a policy of Capital Express within 24 hours.  Again the existing policyholder who has access to the internet can be able to access his records, know the state of his policy and anything that he wants to know about his policy, just with a click of a button. In line with its vision to be a world class financial services provider, the company, apart from it base in the Nigerian city of Lagos, has full-fledged subsidiaries in five African countries, namely Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. ”By the grace of God, next year we will open other offices in South Africa and Mauritius,” Mr Adegboye disclosed. Niyi Onifade, Managing Director of Capital Assurance Global Franchise Ltd based in Lagos, Nigeria, says the focus of Capital Express (G) Ltd is to satisfy the life insurance needs of the people of The Gambia. He told journalists that the company is in The Gambia for the benefit of her people: “We are not in The Gambia just to make money and go; no. Our focus is to do business here, make money, provide employment for the Gambians and invest money we make in The Gambia to take the country to the next level.” Mr Onifade, who is a member of the Board of Directors of Capital Express (G) Limited, says he is convinced that The Gambia is a country they can make remarkable achievements. Since The Gambia is a predominantly Muslim state, Mr Onifade notes, Capital Express will introduce a product that will be in line with Islamic injunction. The parent company of Capital Express Assurance (G) Limited, Capital Express Assurance Group in Lagos, Nigeria, has an authorised capital of N7.5 billion. The company is reckoned to be the fastest growing life assurance company in Nigeria.