The Senegalese Mbalax super star , Youssou Ndour, will arrive in The Gambia next week – Friday, 15 February - as part of an annual event organised by Gamtel/Gamcel Association.

The Secretary General of the Gamtel/Gamcel Association, Mr. Mustapha Conteh, said the annual event aims to raise money for the Gamtel/Gamcel staff welfare fund, the empowerment of women and most importantly, Operation Save a Baby.

According to him, this fundraising event was started in 2004. Since then, the association has donated over 3.5 million Dalasis to institutions with the bulk of this going to Operation Save a Baby initative.

The secretary general went on to explain that social responsibility should be given priority over any other thing.

“This is why we take responsibility by organising this fundraising event year after year to give back to the community,” he said.

He went on to emphasise the need for Gambians to support Gamtel/Gamcel organized programmes.

Mr Conteh said that besides giving this money to the community, “we realised that the effect of this on the economy is great because Youssou Ndour comes to The Gambia as an internationally celebrated artist and as a result, lots of institutions benefit indirectly.”

“A lot of other artistes will participate during the event and this, combined with the presence of Youssou Ndour himself, will attract thousands of people to the event,” he said

A major benefit of these crowds is that local artistes, who will play alongside the legend, will get to experience the thrill of playing in front of a large excited crowd.

The Senegalese super star will spend three days in The Gambia in total and will perform in a gala evening on both Friday and Saturday.

In addition to Youssou Ndour, other artistes such as Saneex and Pap Chopeh, will also be performing.

Mr. Conteh extended his thanks to the previous management of Gamtel/Gamcel for organising the event.