By Sainabou Sambou
Fatoumatta Jammeh is a young Gambian female auto mechanic and CEO of Gambia female automotive service providers. Fatoumatta has been in the field for fifteen years and has won several awards in recognition of her work.
In this interview with the Gambia Daily Madam Jammeh revealed that she seized the opportunity offered by Riders for Health to teach women on auto mechanics and spent eight years at Riders for Health on apprenticeship.
Fatoumatta, who is married to an experienced auto mechanic, said her husband always supports her in her business and that he is currently with her.
“I established my own garage in 2020; Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) gave me an empty land for me to do my business and I pay tax to them,” she said. She further stated that some costumers believe they know everything, and if you tell them anything beyond what they know they won’t agree.
She observes that in The Gambia people think skill work is for men and they do not want women to hold leadership positions. She added that students of The University of Applied Sciences do their internship at her garage.
“Finance is one of the challenges that I am facing. I find it difficult to give transport to my interns. I could not attend some international activities due to lack of support. Whenever I get an invitation to travel I distribute my letters to the government for support but they always give me false promise. The most painful part is that the government is using my name to attract more people to venture into auto mechanics”.
She called on young people especially ladies to take part in skill work.
