Beatrice Prom, Acting Chief Executive Officer, of the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), has stressed the significance of magazines in business activities as vital to attracting investment.

The GCCI Acting CEO made these remark during the launching of the maiden edition of the Observer Business Magazine, which was presided over by the Vice President Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, at the Sunbeach Hotel and Resort in Cape Point.

According to Ms Prom, effective communication in business community can be achieved through the dissemination of information for awareness creation. This business magazine, she added, is dedicated to the promotion of the private and public-private sector partnership.

She observed that the information in the magazine centres around the private sector and its development, economic operators, capacity building, agriculture, and tourism. She said the packaging and processing of these information are geared towards ensuring a well informed population. 

She assured the gathering of the Chamber’s support for the magazine, saying GCCI serves as a clearing house for information and dissemination of information on the business opportunities and requirements for investing in the country.

She commended the management of the Observer Company for taking the bold step, describing it as being in the right direction. She urged the public and Gambians living abroad to subscribe to the magazine to ensure its sustainability.

For his part, Ebrima Jaw Manneh, News Editor at the Daily Observer, emphasised the need for the training of young writers to enable them master the art of creative writing. Mr. Manneh noted that “If young writers can produce a magazine of such quality without being to any school of journalism, one can imagine how it would be like if they are given opportunities to pursue programmes at universities and colleges”.

The Observer News Editor commented on the importance of processing information for the consumption of the public. He warned that “the historical truth to transform The Gambia into a modernised nation will be lost forever, if we failed to write the realities of our development efforts”.

Mr. Manneh commended the institutions and organisations that have advertised with the magazine for their patronage, and then thanked the subscribers of the magazine for their support. However, he maintained that the continuity of the magazine will depend on the support it receives from customers and the general public. He therefore, urged them to take ownership of this new product.

Pa Ousman Darboe, another News Editor of Observer, chaired the ceremony.