Honourable Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Abdoulie Jobe
World Bank Task Team Leader, Rafael Pardo

On Behalf of the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Tourism Diversification & Resilience (TDR) in The Gambia, a project funded by the World Bank through an International Development Association (IDA) grant, I welcome you all to another remarkable achievement of the TDR project. Todays marks the graduation of the third cohort of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are tourism based or tourism related; and the unveiling of the fourth and final cohort of MSMEs in the Yokuteh Programme.

The ultimate goal of the Yokuteh Capacity Building Programme of the TDR project is to strengthen linkages between key MSMEs suppliers and key buyers (hotels, tour operators, and other large business that qualify as lead firms) in the tourism sector, such that the strong linkage will lead to the establishment of contractual agreements between the two parties that will expand business activity in the tourism eco-system. In the process to achieve this, a lot of success has been registered in terms of:
 delivering capacity building services to MSMEs,
 providing coaching and business development support to diverse range of MSMEs
 Generate a deal flow of “investment ready” MSMEs with a clear investment plan for further expansion
 Documenting the best practices for sustainable continuity of business incubation, management and performance monitoring in the tourism eco-system
I was proud to stand before you at the last graduation to state that at the halfway point, the Yokuteh Programme exceeded all the targets of the indicators for the programme in the project results framework. I am proud to stand before you today and repeat that we are still on course to exceed all the targets set by the end of the programme. But targets and indicators are just numbers, they are useful tools to help us measure performance and evaluate programmes. What is much more important are the human stories and the individual successes of improved welfare in the lives of the Gambians behind the small businesses.
For me, it has been a privilege to witness the growth and expansion of MSMEs we had in the first cohort to become something beyond our wildest imagination. We have the like of Kaba Girl that is now not only supplying a growing domestic market, but is exporting in tonnes, to multiple countries in Europe and America and of course, employing more Gambians.
In the second cohort we have the likes of Chef Bojang who not only continues to nurture young Gambian chefs, but is expanding his famous brand, The Spice Hub into a chain of restaurants, with support from the Yokuteh. Expansion means growth, growth means employment, employment spreads the welfare and income generating opportunities for more of our people.

Can Mariama Sarge, Founder & CEO of MESE Energy Solutions stand up, please? Ladies and Gentlemen, here is a young Gambian scientist who has invented a mobile solar cooker, and who with her great team have developed solar energy solutions that is absolutely necessary technology for the lead firms struggling with electricity challenges. She is graduating today as part of cohort 3 and we expect great things from her as she implements her matching grant in the second phase of Cohort 3.
Last night, as you may know, was the closing banquet of the West African Food Festival (WAFFEST 2026) which was held in this venue. Chef Bojang was there, basking in the glory of his many Chef-of-the-Year awards of previous years. To our surprising delight, Gambia won Chef of the Year and one of the chefs from the pair is none other than Ms. Daba Jagne (of Jacet Lamin Fish-Farm)Can you Stand up please ?). Yes she is part of the Cohort 4 we are unveiling today, and we expect greater things from her, even more than Chef Bojang, especially, especially, do you know why?... As she is a woman.

As you can see, we can go on and on, we have hundreds of fantastic stories to share, I have not even talked about Soun Juice, about Janko Creation, but this is only welcome remarks, perhaps you will hear about more MSMEs as the event unfolds.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have employed a comprehensive diagnostic tool to understand the tourism MSME eco system and thereby have collected a lot of business performance data on more than 500 tourism-related MSMEs. We have also documented extensive best practices and success stories and tried our best to implement the validated recommendations on the next cohort of MSMEs to ensure that the Youkuteh programme build on the experience and result of each round of capacity building to develop an innovative methodology that takes full consideration of the local context and peculiarities of the Gambia Tourism sector.

Last but not least, we have collaborated with the tourism stakeholders, the concerned Government Ministries and Departments under the able stewardship of the Ms. Amie Njie, Permanent Secretary, MoTAC and Chairperson of the Project Steering Committee to ensure that there’s broad-based participation of all representatives of businesses in the tourism subsector, including the craft markets, lodges up country thereby ensuring that we have businesses in the Youkuteh from all the regions of the Gambia, and from all types of tourism related businesses.

And when the MSMEs do not meet the high-growth oriented standard of the diagnostics, for instance in the case of some tourism businesses in the informal sector we collaborate with other excellent initiatives of the Government of the Gambia and the development Partners to see how the cooperation and information sharing can be the synergy for expanded support and enhanced value chain. A word of appreciation to Mr. Yusupha Keita, Country Representative, International Trade Centre and Champion implementer of the Andadorr programme under the EU funded Youth Empowerment Project on Tourism and Creative Industries.

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, it will be tragic if the generated output of the Yokuteh is not nurtured to become an institutional framework for more MSMEs to benefit in the future. The Gambia is a young population, The Gambia is an economy of promising potential. Hence over the course of the day, you will hear more about sustainability of the programme, including in a panel discussion. So don’t leave us after the opening ceremony. We shall celebrate our excellent small businesses; we shall also open the chapter of mapping a way forward for the Yokuteh.
The PIU of the TDR project remains at your service. We thank you once again for joining us today. Let the celebration of our success begin.