By: Dawda Baldeh
The Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Welfare, Fatou Kinteh, has praised Moth Sarr, known as Njie Charakh, the CEO of Njie Charakh World Market, and expressed her ministry’s interest in collaborating with him to empower women.
Minister Kinteh made these remarks during her recent visit to the Njie Charakh School of Business and Entrepreneurship, where she witnessed the inauguration of 200 new entrepreneurs enrolled in skills training.
Speaking to reporters at the school, Mrs. Kinteh commended Njie for his initiative, saying it aligns with her ministry’s core mandate.
“I want to thank Njie Charakh for the initiative, for taking it upon himself to help young women by training them in entrepreneurship,” she said.
She described business as a rewarding career, noting that SMEs play a vital role in nation-building.
“It’s the responsibility of all of us to promote and empower SMEs. What Njie is doing is marvelous, training young entrepreneurs and providing them with loans to start their businesses,” she added.
Minister Kinteh acknowledged that, despite women being the majority of the population in the country, they remain among the most vulnerable. For her, empowering women economically grants them independence.
“Njie is creating employment and reducing poverty in the country. I want to assure the women that, with Njie Charakh, the sky is the limit. Let them be committed. I’m very impressed because Njie is helping me in my work.”
She continued, “This is why I embrace Njie, and I’m ready to work with him. We visited his shop in October, and we were impressed.”
According to her, the visit to Njie’s shop in October left a deep impression, affirming that her ministry will collaborate with Njie to support women.
“This is the fifth batch he has trained. Njie is doing a great job and deserves commendation and support,” Kinteh told reporters.
For his part, Moth Sarr (Njie Charakh) shared that supporting young entrepreneurs is his passion. He revealed his intention to expand his entrepreneurial training to benefit more young people in the country, though he cited ongoing challenges as obstacles.
“I have many ideas that, if implemented, could help create jobs for thousands of young people, but I lack the financial resources to do it alone. What I want for myself is what I want for others—that’s why I choose to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs,” he said. Njie also wants to expand his entrepreneurial journey to include diverse activities.
“For young boys, I want to start something special for them, and by the time I am ready, they will see the benefits. We can create as many jobs for young people as possible. For example, if you buy 200 tricycles and employ 400 young people to work in shifts—200 in the morning and 200 in the afternoon—you create 400 jobs, directly supporting 400 families daily,” he explained.
Njie stated that he aims to create employment for more than five thousand young people in the next five years or more.
“If I have the support, I will empower young people and ensure they create employment for themselves. For those in carpentry, I want to empower them by providing the tools and materials they need so that when they produce furniture, they can bring it to me to sell, and we will all benefit,” he noted.
In his view, some have the skills but lack resources, while others have resources but lack skills, underscoring the need for partnerships.
