Services Provided by the Business and Export Development Department
Goal
To provide business support services to small and medium enterprises in The Gambia in order to enhance their income generation capacities with a view to achieving sustainable growth, employment creation and poverty alleviation.
Our Services
We provide two broad categories of services for SMEs as highlighted below:
- Operational Services are those needed for the day-to-day operations, such as information and communications, management of accounts and tax records, and compliance with labor laws and other regulations.
- Strategic Services are used by the enterprise to address medium- and long-term issues in order to improve the performance of the enterprise, its access to markets, and its ability to compete. For example, strategic services can help the enterprise to identify and service markets, design products, set up facilities, and seek financing etc.
Such business development services in general include training, advisory services, marketing facilitation, market research and business linkage promotion.
Training
We provide face to face training in the form of capacity building and coaching programs at subsidized cost for SMEs in The Gambia through our network of business development services providers.
Advisory Services
Our business advisory services offer SMEs the golden chance to receive expert counselling and guidance on all business development related matters. We take you through a step-by-step process to look into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your enterprise and give advice as to how you can outperform your competitors in the market place.
Marketing Facilitation
We help SMEs to:
- Identify a niche market in The Gambia and abroad
- Increase marketing productivity and develop their corporate image
- Design and develop new products as innovative business solutions for target customer needs
Market Research
We frequently carry out market research on how to find out existing commodity prices in The Gambia. We also conduct value chain studies of products in order to expand productivity-based commercial viability in both the domestic and international export market.
B2B & B2C Linkages
We promote and facilitate linkages between domestic business enterprises as well as between domestic and foreign enterprises in the form of joint ventures, partnerships, memorandum of understandings etc. We also provide linkages between individual/group producers and bulk buying tradesmen with a view to facilitate timely marketing of consumable products in The Gambia.
Export Advancement Program (EAP)
The Export Advancement Program (EAP) is targeted at existing or potential export-oriented enterprises or individuals that have the capacity to export goods or services in two priority sectors: Fashion & Textile and Food & Beverage.
The objective of this program is to mentor and develop successful women- and youth-owned export enterprises in country to enable them to take advantage of market opportunities, especially in high-value target markets around the world. To export, businesses must be well organized and produce consistent quality, something which also helps them in the home market.
