The ceremony brought together prominent women from within and outside the business sector across the West African sub-region, with an ultimate aim of enhancing trade among women for national and sub-regional development.
In her official launching statement , VP Njie-Saidy dilated on the objectives of ECOWAS-FEBWE, saying it was meant to promote cooperation and regional integration in order to raise the living standards of people as well as maintain and enhance economic stability that fosters relations among member states and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent.
She underscored the core of the integration process within Ecowas, saying it has been the promotion of the regional trade through market and monetary integration and very close political cooperation characterised by the free movement of persons, goods and services among others. "This initiative is indeed in the right direction, however, in the Ecowas region, lack of adequate disaggregated data has hampered efforts to develop concrete arguments that will inform policy frameworks for the promotion of the sub-regional trade," she said.
VP Njie-Saidy noted that this has also made it quite difficult to embark on programmed initiatives that adequately address the political and strategic gender needs of women entrepreneurs."Therefore the establishment of o ECOWA-FEBWE and The Gambia Chapter in particular is indeed laudable, as it touches on the fundamentals of the integration process of the Ecowas region," she further stated.
The vice president told the gathering that the government under the able leadership of Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh has undertaken series of initiatives to create an enabling environment that enhance women's economic growth and employability through the development and implementation policies and programmes and projects.
She acknowledged the importance of some relevant partners such as the ILO, UNDP, Gam-Jobs and Trade Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration and Employment in providing capacity building and financial support to women and youth groups to enable them establish their own businesses. "The Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency also provides short-term training on business management for women," she added, while pointing out that all these activities are geared towards encouraging more and more women to venture into commercial and industrial sectors of the economy.
Commenting on the challenges facing women in the sub-region, the vice president stressed that limited training, means of production, creativity and entrepreneurial culture contributes to keeping women in the position of small retailers. "The majority of the workforce in the Ecowas community operates in this sector yet there is no clear policy framework laid down by Ecowas to enhance the profitability and professionalism of women entrepreneurs engaged in small-scale business," she added.
She further noted that at the regional level, trade and immigration policies of some Ecowas members states pose great challenge to cross-border trade as they prevent the free movement of goods and services within Ecowas member countries.
Commenting on the poverty reduction initiatives, VP Njie-Saidy acknowledged the fact that poverty reduction strategies should take into account the issue of gender mainstreaming in macro-economic policies and the programmes so as to ensure gender allocation of financial resources to empower women in the private sector.
"This would help increase women's access to business opportunities and decision-making in economic activities such as trade and investment and gender analysis of the impact of macroeconomic policies, programmes and measures on women's economic empowerment," she outlined.
She finally applauded all the ECOWAS-FEBWE women particularly those who travelled out of their various countries to attend the launching of The Gambia chapter and assured them of government's utmost support and collaboration.
For her part, Candide Leguede, the president of the ECOWAS-FEBWE, said that the launching is a sign of women's significant role in the sustainable economic development of their nations. She reminded the gathering that their vision is and has always been to ensure that the objective of ECOWAS-FEBWE is attained, saying: "If we gather as a federation, it is because we want to be part of a regional and sub-regional network that seeks to empower women." She also called for general mobilisation at the local levels so as to attain the best result that all can be proud of.'
Candide Leguede further spoke about the need for the sub-regional women to come as one and fight for the eradication of all forms of harassment against women within our sub-regional borders. She noted that the responsibility must be taken to ensure that all dues are settled, as the organisation is too young and not financially strong, while urging members to develop their professional skills. She finally thanked The Gambian leader and the vice president for the warm hospitality accorded to them in the country.
The president of ECOWAS-FEBWE Gambia chapter, Ndey Isatou Conteh-Jallow, in her welcoming remarks, explained that ECOWAS-FEBWE Gambia Chapter comprises of several women registered organisations as well as various individual memberships of women across the country.
She said since its inception, it has contributed a lot to national development especially from the perspective of women empowerment. "With its networking efforts, some of its members have been privileged to partake in the local, regional and international capacity building programmes, as well as from trade opportunities and linkages," she added.
Lyalode Alaba Lawson, president of ECOWAS-FEBWE Nigeria, highlighted on the promotion of women in trade and marketing in Africa. She pointed out that West African trade is mainly dominated by women and that women are also responsible for the food distribution system in the continent, something she said paved way for the protection food security.
The occasion was attended by the minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Fatou Lamin-Faye; and the deputy speaker of the National Assemble Fatou Mbye, who is also the chairperson of National Women Council, among host of others.