Rlg granted five-year tax break in The Gambia

Roland AgambirE -ceo, RlgRoland AgambirE -ceo, RlgIt has been said that African businesses will thrive if the business owners leverage the huge market potential on the continent instead of looking outside of the jurisdiction.

Our businesses and governments in Africa are always looking for partners in the advanced economies instead of encouraging South-South co-operation that facilitates business exhcnages among developing countries.

There is very little trading engagement among the 250 million people in the West African sub-region. Any business exchanges are at the informal level, where citizens of neighbouring countries exchange foods and services for daily survival.

It is good news that a company like Rlg Communications Limited has decided to extend its operations beyond the Ghanaian borders to other West African countries and beyond.

Last weekend, The Gambian Vice President, Aja Dr Isatou Njie Saidy, has inaugurated the country’s first ever ICT Devices Assembly Plant Complex owned by Rlg Communications in Serekunda, near, the capital Banjul, with an announcement that her government had granted Rlg a five-year tax holiday.

The plant cost $ 500, 000, bringing the total cost of Rlg’s investment in the West African state to $7.5 million since 2009.

The plant complex has two training centres, an ultra modern showroom, a two-line state-of-the art production plant capable of producing 500 phones  and 200 laptops  daily  as well as after sales and repair facilities.

Scores of people, including an array of dignitaries from The Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, witnessed the historic ceremony watched by a large number of elated ordinary Gambians.

The inauguration of the Rlg  Assembly Plant and Showroom marked the official commencement of commercial business by Rlg in The Gambia.

Eight Gambian ministers, many of whom with cabinet ranks, were present , as well as a delegation from the National Communication Commission of Sierra Leone and the World Bank office in Freetwon who are seeking to support Rlg to replicate the investment in the war ravaged country.

The event coincided with the graduation of 30 trainees of the Youth-in -ICT training programme which is being run by Rlg Communications, Gambia and the The Gambia  Priority Employment Programme (Gamjobs) under The Gambian Ministry of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment.

Rlg has been operating in The Gambia since 2009, implementing a project to train Gambian youth in ICT with support from The Gambian government.

Vice President Saidy told the ceremony The Gambian government had taken a decision to grant a five-year tax moratorium to Rlg in view of the crucial social impact implications of their training and job creation interventions in The Gambia.

She said by the moratorium, Rlg would have taxes on imported mobile phones and computer parts waved under a special corporate tax certificate issued to the company.

“This facility will forever deepen Gambia-Ghana diplomatic, bilateral and economic relations which have existed for many years and also give real meaning to the ECOWAS regional integration agenda”, Dr Saidy told the gathering.

The inauguration of the plant brings to two the number of such facilities in West Africa after the one in Accra and it comes few months ahead of the opening of a similar facility in the Nigerian state of Oshun, where Rlg is also working with the federal government to empower the youth through entrepreneurship and ICT training.

The Gambian Minister ofr Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, Kebba Touray assured Gambian youth of more social interventions and schemes to address youth unemployment.

The Gambian Minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure, Nana Grey-Johnson, said the setting up of the plant would  provide the country with the trained manpower needed to drive our ICT agenda and also offer choices in the world of ICT devices.

The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education of the Gambia, Fatou Lamin Faye, said the facility would enhance education delivery, especially at the technical level.
Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Victoria Hammah,  said the government of Ghana  strongly supported the  relationship between a proud Ghanaian firm and governments of neighbouring countries to expand ICT services, accelerate e job creation and revitalise the economies of the beneficiary countries.

“By so doing, we will also be seeking to render a unflinching commitment towards trade and economic integration among our neighbours and members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” she said.

The Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Public-Private Partnerships, Alhaji Rashid Pelpuo, who led the government delegation, commended the PPP arrangement through which the project was conceived and funded, saying “PPP lends itself as an important tool to facilitate the implementation of the nation’s critical investment programmes in other developing countries”.

The Chief Executive of Rlg, Roland Agambire, reiterated his desire to build an African brand worthy of the ever-changing competitive global market while helping governments on the continent to solve youth unemployment challenges.

He was grateful to the Gambian government for the support.

The Country Drirector of Rlg Gambia, Papa Yusupha Njie, said the facility would enable more Gambian youth to gain access to ICT training at a much cheaper cost.

The company, he said, had also begun a new project offering solar-powered kiosks to beneficiaries of the trainings to facilitate their set-up.

Rlg intends using the Gambian success as springboard to enter neighboring Sierra Leone, Senegal and Liberia.

Daily Graphic