Mrs Jean Able Thomas, born and grown up at Hagan Street in Banjul, is the founder and proprietress of Fajara Skills Development Centre.

Mrs Thomas attended St Joseph's Preparatory and St Joseph’s High School in Banjul. She later further her education at Auchi Polytechnic in Nigeria, were she studied Fine Art. She later came back to The Gambia and started business. She got married and went to England to study hair dressing, management  and  beauty therapy courses.

Mrs Thomas worked as a Graphic Artist at the Grants Advertising Agency in Borden Thomas, Lagos. She taught in The Gambia for some time. She is also a member of Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

In an interview with Women’s Weekly  at her office in Fajara recently, Mrs Able Thomas said her dream  is to see how she could help women in The Gambia thus recalling her days in England when she was doing her dissertation. “It is out of fate that I would tell you that my skills centre was established because I wanted to do something for women”.

She added that, the training centre was established in 1999. ‘‘Since then I have been moving on,” she noted.Mrs Thomas disclosed that, more than 300 women passed through the centre and were able to secure good jobs.

Asked if she has been involved in politics, Mrs Thomas said “I cannot mix politics with what I am doing. I am not politically minded and I am not a politician. I am here to help Gambian women and youths and also foreign nationals to acquire skills.’’

She said her main constraint is place. “I want to develop the centre and to able to train more Gambia youths”. She advised  Gambian women and youths that, It takes along road to get to where you want to get to, now is the time to get up and start putting yourself into good use to reach the benefit for tomorrow, especially the women’s, you should be self reliance so that you can sustain your families and to get a better life.

“If a woman is self sufficient, it will  help the economy of the family and boosts her living standard  and also the economy of the country. This is what I thought about and I said, I must do something to empower women, so that they can be less independent on the mens’. she concluded.