The Gambia Youth Chamber of Commerce (GYCC) with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) on Sunday wrapped-up a week-long product packaging and branding training for 25 business enterpreneurs at the National Nutrition Agency Conference Hall.
The training accord participants the opportunity to improve on their branding, packaging and marketing skills, thus enhancing their competitiveness through experience and capacity to support local and international markets.
At the forum, Baboucarr Kebbeh, Chief Executive Officer of GYCC, said the training covered topics such as the fundamentals of packaging, what designs requirements are on packaging, packaging processes, machinaries used in packaging as well as organised field visits to packaging industry and printing industry in The Gambia.
Kebbeh pointed out that when an enterpreneur has a good design, the product itself serves as a silent sales person.
"One of our objectives is to leverage the Africa Free Trade Agreement - a way for them to penetrate the regional and international markets is by ensuring they prepare our SMEs to be able to produce quality and standard products to compete with regional SMEs."
He thus urged participants to make best use of the knowledge gained during the training.
Adama Bayai, vice president of GYCC board, expressed their resolve to empower young enterpreneurs through such trainings from their establishment, saying 'if participants utilise their knowledge gained during the training , it will take their businesses to another level.'
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Mamud Bah, Director General of Food Safety and Quality Authority (FSQA), reminded that after the product, packaging, labelling, design and everything else, the most important thing products and enterpreneurs need to have is character.
The current generation, she added, have a lot of inadequacies and the unfortunate expectation is that they will pass those inadequacies to the next generation.
"And if they do not mold their character then they will not be able to correct where the current generation has faultered."
She advised young enterpreneurs that they cannot succeed 'if they do not have discipline,' and that the latter has to appear in everything they do.
She urged them to be tolerant, professional, honest, patient, modest and rightous and not be over ambitious as it may lead them to be corrupt.
"Be connected with your products and make them the best. Do not cut corners. Take advantage of technology," he further advised young enterpreneurs.
Papa Secka, Director General of the Gambia Standards Bureau, said most small and medium enterprises fail because of the lack of the right discipline and integrity.
He highlighted that standards are everything in a business and therefore urged enterprises not to never compromise them.
