Support for Women in Small Business
Building the markets, the finance, and the tools that match what women already contribute.
Women are the backbone of the Gambian market economy. They dominate the informal trade sector, run a significant share of small food processing and artisanal enterprises, manage household finances, and provide the primary commercial activity in markets that serve as the economic anchor of communities across the country. This contribution is real, it is large, and it is almost entirely without the formal support, the infrastructure, the finance, or the institutional recognition that equivalent economic activity in the formal sector receives. The markets where most women traders operate are overcrowded, poorly maintained, inadequately drained, and lacking the storage, sanitation, lighting, and security that makes commercial activity safe and efficient. Access to finance is blocked by collateral requirements that most women cannot meet. Business development support is available in some areas and not others, and rarely in formats that reach women managing businesses and households simultaneously. The result is a vast productive capacity operating below its potential, not because the women running it are inadequate, but because the system supporting them is.
A Gambia where the market a woman trades in is covered, clean, properly drained, lit, and equipped with lockable storage, clean sanitation, and the commercial facilities that make it a professional trading environment. Where she can access a business loan at an affordable rate without needing collateral she does not own. Where a Women's Business Development Centre in her region provides training, mentorship, legal registration support, and connection to buyers, suppliers, and digital commerce tools in her own language and at times that work for her. Where every market is a vibrant centre of social and economic life, attracting families, tourists, and the whole community. Women's economic empowerment is not a gender policy add-on. It is national economic development strategy. The National Builders Party will treat it exactly that way.
The NBP will build and upgrade markets in every region, constructing modern market complexes designed with and for the traders who use them every day, turning overcrowded, poorly maintained spaces into vibrant, professional commercial hubs.
The programme will invest in both the expansion of existing markets and the construction of entirely new complexes across all seven administrative regions, delivered in close partnership with municipal and local government councils. Every upgraded or newly built market will have organised and numbered stalls, covered trading areas providing shade and weather protection, proper drainage systems, adequate lighting throughout, lockable secure storage, designated zones for produce, fish, meat, textiles, and household goods, clean toilet facilities with separate provision for men and women, a food court section with stalls built to food safety standards, mobile money and banking agent services, and a trained full-time Market Manager. A National Market Standards Authority will set and enforce minimum hygiene and safety standards across all markets, with an annual public compliance report. Market Management Committees with majority women representation will govern each market.
The NBP will establish a National Women's Business Loan Guarantee Scheme, replacing the collateral that most women cannot provide with a government-backed guarantee, opening affordable credit to businesses that are creditworthy by every measure that actually matters.
The Scheme will provide government-backed guarantees for qualifying women-owned business loans through accredited commercial banks and microfinance institutions. It directly solves the collateral problem: government stands behind the loan in place of the land or property that most women traders do not hold. A Savings-Linked Credit Programme will work with existing savings groups and tontine networks, recognising that women who already demonstrate financial discipline through collective saving are strong credit candidates. A Women's Business Finance Report, published annually, will track how many women are accessing finance, at what rates, for what purposes, and with what repayment outcomes, holding the scheme publicly accountable for its reach and impact. The loan guarantee removes the structural barrier. The trained business development support that follows ensures the loans are put to profitable use.
The NBP will establish a Women's Business Development Centre in every administrative region, providing training, legal support, digital tools, and mentorship in local languages at times that work for women who are running businesses and households simultaneously.
Each Centre will be co-located with a major market where possible, staffed by a Centre Manager with business development expertise, a financial literacy trainer, a digital commerce specialist, and a legal advisor available on a scheduled weekly basis. Services will be delivered in English and the dominant local languages of each region. Evening and Saturday sessions will be offered, recognising that women cannot always step away from their stalls during standard office hours. The Centres will offer assisted business registration under the simplified framework established under the Tax Reform policy, enabling women to formalise their businesses in a single visit. A Tax Clearance Certificate issued on registration unlocks access to the government procurement market, the loan guarantee scheme, and digital commerce platforms. A national Women's Business Showcase, held annually, will celebrate excellent businesses and connect women entrepreneurs with buyers, investors, and export opportunities.
The National Builders Party will connect women traders to the digital economy and the government procurement market, giving businesses that have always operated locally the tools and the access to sell regionally, nationally, and internationally.
A Women's Digital Trading Platform will allow registered women-owned businesses to list products, receive orders, process mobile payments, and access the national postal service's e-commerce logistics programme to ship goods beyond their local market. Training delivered through the Business Development Centres will cover WhatsApp Business, Facebook Marketplace, mobile money for business, and basic product photography for online selling. A government procurement access requirement will reserve a defined share of qualifying government supply contracts for women-owned businesses, creating a guaranteed institutional market that rewards formalisation. A Diaspora Women's Investment matching programme will connect Gambian women in business with the diaspora investment appetite that targets the homeland, bringing capital and market knowledge together. A Women's Business Mentorship Programme will pair established businesswomen with those starting out, building the peer networks that grow businesses faster than any training alone.
For Women in Business
A covered, numbered stall in a clean, drained, lit market with lockable storage and a nearby toilet. A government-backed loan you can access without collateral you do not own. A Business Development Centre in your region where you can register your business in one visit, learn digital selling, and get legal advice in your own language on a Saturday morning. A government procurement market that is required to consider your products. Your contribution to this economy is enormous. The National Builders Party will match it with the support it deserves.
For Young Gambians
The Business Development Centres will need managers, trainers, digital commerce specialists, and legal advisors, creating professional career pathways in women's economic empowerment. The market modernisation programme will create construction jobs and permanent market management employment. And a generation of women traders who are better supported, better financed, and better connected to buyers will build stronger, larger businesses that employ more people across the communities they anchor.
For Every Family
When the woman running a market stall earns more, her household is more secure, her children are better fed and better supported in school, and her community is more economically resilient. Modern, clean, well-managed markets serve everyone who shops in them. Food courts and restaurants make them social destinations, not just trading spaces. Markets that attract tourists generate income that circulates through the whole community. Supporting women in business is not charity. It is one of the highest-return investments this government can make.
The New National Standard for women in small business is this: the woman who runs a market stall, processes fish, makes batik, or sells produce operates in conditions that reflect the dignity and economic importance of what she does. Her market is covered, clean, and functional. Her stall is numbered and secure. Her storage is lockable. Her toilet is clean. She can access a loan without having to own land she does not own. She can register her business in an afternoon. She can sell online. She can supply the government. She has a Development Centre in her region where she can get training, legal advice, and the peer connections that grow businesses. None of that is extravagant. All of it is achievable. The National Builders Party will build every element of it, because women's economic empowerment is not a gender policy add-on. It is national economic development strategy.
Walk through any market in The Gambia and you will find the economy of this country built on the labour and commercial intelligence of women. It is time the infrastructure, the finance, and the institutional support matched what they already contribute. The National Builders Party will build the markets, the Centres, the credit access, and the digital tools that take women's businesses to the next level.
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