Dr Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, Vice-President and Secretary of State for Women’s Affairs yesterday inaugurated the new Reliance Financial Services Company at a ceremony held at the Reliance Head Office along Kairaba Avenue.

The inauguration of the company was part of the activities, marking the 42nd Independence anniversary celebration of The Gambia.

Delivering her inaugural address on behalf of President Yahya Jammeh, Vice President Njie-Saidy described the creation of the company as complementary to Government’s efforts towards youth empowerment. She said the initiative is central to Government’s development agenda, particularly the efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50 per cent by the year 2015, as enshrined in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II.

According to Vice-President Njie-Saidy, banking services are available to no more than 25 per cent of the Gambian population, despite market opportunities. She said it is estimated that only 1 in 20 Gambians have a bank account, despite an average yearly economic growth rate of 5.5 per cent. “Even though the GDP per capital is around USD320, the minimum amount required to open and maintain an account in the commercial banks is on average USD75. Consequently, a large proportion of banking services are disproportionate focused towards the minority.

Also, one in every three branches is located here in the Greater Banjul Area. Clearly then, the formal banking sector in The Gambia has a lot of challenges in addressing this anomaly,” she said.

She then pointed out that the lack of access to banking services is a growing phenomenon. She said the average Gambian citizen is excluded from the banking sector, noting that “we should realise that increasing prosperity means more Gambians have real needs for savings and investment opportunities. If the formal banking sector fails to adequately respond to this need, the danger, then, is that, the formal and often unregulated channel begins to play a more important role in financial inter-mediation”.

She told the gathering that the only way out of poverty is through entrepreneurship, saying this is the Government’s strong conviction. She then added: “The government draws comfort from Reliance’s initiative to play a pivotal and leadership role in this monumental task.” She noted that access to financial services is one of the most important ingredients to economic development the world over.

According to the Vice President, one of the major drivers to achieve these policy objectives of the government is to use micro-finance as a platform. “Reliance’s dreams are very much aligned with the Government’s Vision 2020 and that of turning the Gambia into the Silicon Valley of Africa,” she added. She commended the founders of the company, its shareholders, and staff for their vision, foresight and confidence in choosing to invest in The Gambia. She then assured them of the Government’s will to work closely with the bank.

Amie Ndoungou Drammeh Bensouda, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Reliance, said Reliance was conceived by three young Gambians, to provide financial services to a greater part of the population (the un-banked).

Ms Bensouda affirmed that the company is dedicated to serving the needs of the small, medium and micro-enterprises in the country. “Our main objectives at Reliance are to afford small businesses throughout the country, the opportunity to develop and improve their businesses and to also offer all hard working Gambians, whether in group or as individuals the possibility to engage in productive activities and improve their lives,” she said.

Famara Jatta, Governor of Central Bank of The Gambia said more efforts needs to be done in order to increase domestic savings, amongst others. He commended the co-founders of Reliance for the good initiative.

Baboucarr Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Reliance, said changing lives and widening opportunities is central in Reliance’s philosophy and double bottom line objectives of long term sustainability and economic development. He assured that Reliance will develop partnerships and alliances with various institutions to enable the transfer of basic skills, knowledge and equipment to the shores of The Gambia at reasonable cost.

“We will also engage the Village Savings and Credit Associations (VISACAs), the Social Development Fund, the National Association of Cooperative Credit Unions, Action Aid, Christian Children’s Fund, DFID, the European Commission and other multi-lateral agencies on a consultative basis to work towards the effective and efficient implementation of the Micro-Finance Policy Framework, which is much needed for self sustainability,” he said.

Knud Erick Rosenkrantz, a representative of international shareholders also spoke at the ceremony.

Ismaila Faal, Chief Operations Officer of Reliance gave the vote of thanks. The ceremony was attended by Secretaries of State, the Speaker of the National Assembly, amongst others.