National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI)

The National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI) was established by the government in 2004 as part of its strategic endeavours in empowering youth and women of The Gambia. The main purpose of its establishment was to empower the Gambian youth and women through enterprise development, as a means of sustainable employment creation and better livelihood. NEDI conducts training in basic business skills competences and provides micro funding for youth and women to operate small and medium businesses in both the formal and the informal sectors; as well as providing business advice to ensure business sustainability.  This investment in youth and women sectors is the result of the need to create jobs for Gambian youth and women, ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of basic commodities in The Gambia and creation of meaningful employment to the targeted sectors. Since its inception NEDI has spearheaded four phases of soft loan disbursements, which focused on different types of businesses.

So far, NEDI has supported over 150 Gambian youth and women enterprises across the country through micro – loans, mainly in the retail businesses, butchery, fishing boats and equipment, bakery services, Tailoring workshops, restaurants / catering and agriculture. Similarly, over the past five years NEDI has conducted a series of youth entrepreneurship training programmes for over 3000 youth and women entrepreneurs across the country. However, these programmes have been sustained by NEDI through funding, mainly from the Government of The Gambia and other partners like UNDP,.

While the training has provided the beneficiaries with the requisite skills to run a small scale business, the loans have enabled them to start new businesses or expand the ones already existing. Business advice provided during periodic monitoring and advisory visits are geared towards ensuring sustainability and growth of the businesses.