Ousainou M Jallow, Managing Director, Saadis Investment Group (SIG) Ventures, a poultry farm in Abuko, has praised the GIRAV Matching Grant Scheme, for helping it expand the firm. Speaking to journalists about the impact of the support being provided to his poultry farm by the World Bank-funded GIRAV project, through the Matching Grant window for SMEs, Jallow said: “Before the project we were operating with around twelve thousand up to fifteen thousand birds (layers). And it was very challenging because then we were operating at a loss because the little profit you make you have to reinvest it to make sure the business actually continues. So, that’s where we are right now. So, for the moment we produce on a daily basis a hundred and fifty to a hundred and sixty crates per day. But we are hoping that with the coming of the GIRAV support it will upscale our production and boost our capacity both in terms of the number of eggs we collect [daily] and the human resources [workforce]. We are expecting to increase the capacity of this farm to fifty thousand layers by the grace of God”.
Further on the impact of the support, the Managing Director said another important part of it is that it would serve as a source of employment because they would also increase the number of staff. Currently as we speak, we are about 18 staff. We used to be 16 but then when we completed the first phase of the GIRAV project, that’s the manure processing centre, we employed 2 individuals who would specifically work in the manure processing centre. So, we are also hoping to employ more staff (up to 60) in the very near future. This would also roll down to the community because we would also create more employment opportunities for the community both local and professional”.
Challenges
Mr. Jallow cited the imported eggs and the dependence on imported feeds (on a daily basis) as their major challenge. He therefore appealed for more support from the government to enable them grow their businesses for the interests of the common good.
He emphasised the need for large scale feed industry in the country, lamenting the challenge of procuring from Senegal at unpredictable prices. “We don’t control how much we buy the bag of feed. They will just base it on the exchange rate. You may go today they tell you the CFA is up and you have no choice but to buy,” the Mr Jallow bemourned.
SIG to Create More Job Opportunities through GIRAV Matching Grant Scheme
