By Ibrahim Barrie
As part of the achievements recorded in 2021, The Director-General of the Local Content Agency, Fodeba Daboh has revealed that the agency already registered 322 Sierra Leonean-owned businesses in 2022.
Addressing the press on Monday 20th of December 2021, the Director-General highlighted the achievements and challenges in four departments: Operation, Business Development, Skills Development, and Communication Outreach.
In order to expose and give more advantage to local products, the Agency made linkages for local businesses with big companies.
“A total of four business linkages meetings between small business and big business across sectors were held with the mining Sector, all big mining companies invited into those round tables just so that we can link them with our small agro-businesses, hotel, and Tourism, and Manufacturing and this is still ongoing within other sectors,” he said.
He added that reporting system and compliance by Multinational Companies have improved from 6% to 66%.
He said the Agency through collaboration with the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Food Security engaged in two-day monitoring of products made in Sierra Leone across supermarkets in the Western Area.
He spoke on the need for skills development to fit into the available job market in the country, noting that they have started engaging with the mining sector, agribusiness sector, and hotel and tourism so they are able to identify some of the shortcomings and the way forward.
Dabor added that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with key partners such as the National Youth Commission, Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET), and the Tertiary Education Commission to ensure that their curriculum is in sync with the needs of the job market.
He said they have also developed a database for “critical Skills” in the country which will cover those that are living abroad with the aim of bridging the capacity gap.
Speaking on the challenges faced by the Local Content Policy, the Director said the “COVID 19” outbreak affects especially small businesses.
On the challenges encountered, he said the Agency remains totally understaffed and called on the government to support the institution expand its operations by hiring like-minded Sierra Leoneans in the local content crusade.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (22/12/21)
