Alieu Mbowe, the Proprietor of Mbowe Ngala Printing & Stationery in Farafenni, North Bank Region (NBR) has enthusiastically boosted that the large number of printing contracts that he gets from Farafenni and beyond accorded him the opportunity to conquer the local printing industry.
Mbowe, who do T-shirt & Badge Printing, Binding, Lamination and online registration, attracted lots of customers from Farrafenni and its surrounding villages as well as from Jarra Soma and the Central River Region.
Speaking to GYIN Gambia Media Team, he said he open his business after realizing that there was no printing shop in Farrafenni and its surrounding.
Starting up last year June 2018, he disclosed that he gets contract from schools for badge printing, T-Shirts for occasions and Identity Cards for the Kerewan Area Council.
“I started my business with only one computer which I was using before getting a contract from the Farafenni Sports Committee to print their players license,” he said, noting that he used that payment to buy another small printer and a desktop computer.
Mbowe was also opportune to benefit from the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) Mini Grant Scheme two months back, in which he received an A3 Laminating Machine, Canopy HP and a Binding Machine.
The mini grant scheme is about Forty-Seven Thousand Dalasis (D47,000.00) awarded to young people to facilitate the acquisition of equipment, materials, registration and other business inputs.
According to him, his main problem is the high cost of cartridge which trickles down to his profit. “When I print up to 150 paper sheets, it consumes all the cartridge and I usually buy it from my competitors which minimizes my profit,” he explained.
He asserted that his business is benefitting him as he is able to sponsor his family’s daily feeding and employ 4 young people whom he pays D2000 per month plus shop rent and electricity bills.
Unveiling his expansion plans, Mbowe dilated that he intends to apply for the Social Development Fund (SDF) loan initiative to expand his business by opening an Information Technology (IT) classes as there is none in Farafenni.
He confidently noted that his IT skills prompted him to start having classes with interested people who cannot afford to pursue it in the Urban Areas.
“The community already have confidence in me especially the Soldiers and the Police. Right now, they are only waiting on me to open the place for normal classes to start,” he said.
Speaking on his good reputation in his community, Mbowe enthused that he was elected as the ‘Most Influential Youth’ in Farafenni where many contested in the elections.
He once worked at Gaye Njorro Skills Academy in Farafenni as an IT Lecturer.