By Adama Makasuba
Many skills shop owners within the Greater Banjul, who surely depend on their skills for living, have been telling how the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten serious financial crunch on their businesses.
The shop owners ask for financial support from The Gambia government and other organisations to avoid future crumbling of their shops as some shops employ dozens of skilled young Gambians who are immensely contributing to their families.
Muhammed Lamin Jallow, a father of three, complains of how the pandemic nearly crippled his tailoring service. His tailoring shop used to brim with clients before the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and living was not hard as it’s now for him.
He says: “Before the outbreak of coronavirus, this tailoring shop used to brim with clients who came to sew their clothes.
He adds: “things are hard on us because for many months we are not having work. We are feeling the pain of the pandemic and this is the only job we make living to feed our families and loved ones. From morning to night, we will not see a client coming to bring a cloth to be sewed.”
AbdourahmanJallow, is a carpenter and owns a carpentry shop where he employs young Gambian skilled boys. He also tells of how he and his employees are bearing the brunt of the pandemic which is being worsened by the high cost for timber.
“Our difficulties are enormous especially during this pandemic of coronavirus because we are not having business as it used to be before. And prices for timber wood are skyrocketing and living has been so hard on us as family heads,” he says.
Mr Jallow continues: “We are just bearing the patience as we are now living from hand to mouth to ensure our families don’t go empty belly to bed.”
As many of these skilled workers are now soliciting financial aid from The Gambia government and Non-Governmental Organisations amid the pandemic to avoid future crumbling, I speak to Youth Empowerment Project which seeks to help skilled Gambians with financial support about their how they operate their service to skilled workers.
Abdoulie Badjie, YEP communications officer details his office has been offering support to skilled and entrepreneur Gambians especially during the outbreak of coronavirus, which he says has disbursed thousands of dollars to support skilled businesses from crumbling for free.
He says: “We have more than 300 young Gambians who have benefitted from grants ranging from $1000 to $5000 under the Tekki umbrella. So, when Covid happened there were a series of efforts that were undertaken to make sure that businesses stay afloat, but also to try as much as possible support a lot of these entrepreneurs as well. So, one of the services we launched was the Covid-19 grants which were issued to about 254 Gambians who benefitted from the grants.”
He says his office has engaged dozens of tailoring shops to produce facemasks which he says had generated thousands of dalasis, adding the skilled business people were supported with needed materials by his office as well to ensure they become job creators.
A World Bank Group report says The Gambia still faces considerable challenges in respect to reducing poverty. As a result of its narrow economic base and its reduced internal market, the country will continue to rely heavily on the productivity of its citizens to reverse the cycle that keeps families in poverty generation after generation.
Poverty reduction is a complex equation that involves improvements in job creation, especially for high-skilled and productive employment, as well as improvements in human capital levels to ensure that citizens are able to take advantage of employment opportunities. Currently, however, low human capital levels greatly limit the productivity and employment outcomes of the population, as evidenced by the fact that a majority continues to work in subsistence agriculture, especially in rural areas.
This story was produced with support from journalists for Human Rights (JHR), through its Mobilising Media in the Fight Against COVID-19 in partnership with Mai-Media
