By Stephen V. Lansana
The Sierra Leone Local Content Agency (SLLCA) in partnership with International Labour Organisation (ILO), on Friday December 15th, 2023 concluded the ILO Opportunity Salone Business Competition at district levels for selected applicants in the project implemented in the districts of Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Port-Loko.
The events were well attended by representatives from the Sierra Leone Pharmacy Board, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau and Bakers Union, Civil Society, the District Councils, and the entrepreneurs in the two value chains.
This project supports Small Local Businesses that are into production and sale of BEAUTY PRODUCTS using palm kernel oil and those into the production and sale of Bread, Pastry and Confectioneries using cassava flour. The competition which started in Port-Loko on Monday December 11, 2023, ended on Friday December 15, 2023 in Kenema district.
The ILO Opportunity Salone Project is part of a larger EU funded Jobs and Growth Programme implemented by a number of partners that aim to stimulate job creation by improving the investment climate through enhanced access to finance, improving rural transport infrastructure, and upgrading human capital through general and vocational training and education.
The Director General of SLLCA, Mr. Fodeba Daboh explained that they started by identifying SMEs from two value chains that is, cassava and palm kernel. “We want to make sure that people are able to use our local cassava and process it into flour to make bread, cake and others because we don’t want to depend heavily on imported flours,” he said. “Again, we have palm kernel which will be used to process beauty products.”
He added that “this basically local production for local content.”
He said that they had judges which included representatives from the Sierra Leone Pharmacy Board, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, Bakers Union and civil society. “To show openness and transparency, the Agency is not part of the judges,” he added. “At the end of the day, we will select the winners at district level in each value chain for the grand finals at national level.”
He added that the objective is to ensure that they lay premium on the locally produced goods so that the country will not depend heavily on imported goods, noting that that the key objective is to ensure that Sierra Leoneans and Sierra Leoneans businesses take ownership of the economy.
“For far too long this economy is in the hands of the foreigners, for instance when you go to most business lines, you will see a foreigner,” he said. “Now, we want to make sure that we create wealth for the SMEs so that we don’t depend on importation of foreign goods.”
He thanked the ILO and European Union for their support, noting that it is a pilot project and hoped that come next year they would be able to roll the project in all sixteen districts in the country.
He disclosed that the project is about complimenting the “Feed Salone” initiative of President Julius Maada Bio’s government, explaining that the two key value chains are part of the Feed Salone initiative.
“If we depend heavily on importation of food commodities, it will pose national security threats that is why the President wants all of us to sustain the Feed Salone initiative” he said, noting that with support from the district councils and the SMEs the Feed Salone will increase an opportunity for the locally produced goods to be exported which will bring foreign exchange.
He disclosed, “A total of ten SMEs were announced as winners per district, five winners in each value chain. So, a total of 40 SMEs will participate in the national competition.”
“At the final competition, the SMEs will compete against one another and the best three SMEs in each value chain will emerge as winners,” D.G. Daboh said. “The good news here is, as long as you have won at district level, you will receive a reward from ILO. He said that, “for us to transform our economy, we need to look inward, we need to ensure that we compliment the effort of President Bio who believed that the lonely way to transform this nation is when we produce locally.”
The Project Technical Expert at the Agency, Mr. Augustine Sesay talked on the judges’ guideline of the competition for the two value chain.
The winners thanked the Agency and ILO for supporting them throughout the entire process, and they promised to double their efforts in their respective value chains.