By Musa Paul Feika
Orange Sierra Leone (OSL), the leading Mobile Telecommunications company, has joined Agro Fishing Company in celebrating its 6th anniversary in Sierra Leone. This is not the first and last time OSL supports the empowerment of young people which has contributed to financial inclusion in the country.
The event took place on Wednesday 4th October, 2023 on Bathurst Street in Freetown. Inspiring Women and youth to Embrace Fish Farming’ is the theme for this year’s celebration. Head of Public Relations and Corporate Responsibility, OSL, Kamal Abass said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Agro Fish Farm SL, Aminata Kandeh is not a stranger to OSL.
OSL, Kamal says, has 17 affiliates in the middle East and Africa. The same way they are operating in Sierra Leone, he continues, is a similar way of doing thing in all its affiliate bodies in the world.
He explained that OSL social investment grant started in 2019 in the form of competition with a prize. He also stated that the competition was meant for everybody to apply and Aminata Kandeh emerged the lucky winner.
The grant, he said, was launched to support and finance innovators and create employment for young people in Sierra Leone.
Abass disclosed that they started the competition with a small amount, but in five years, they increased the price to Le100m (one hundred million Leones). Since the launching of the investment grant, he discovered that women were the ones that participated, disclosing that this year, there were eight finalists in the competition and all of them were females from Limkokwing University.
The OSL Public Relations Officer also reminds the audience that they are living in a dynamic world that calls for constant exploration. In the next 10 years, he said, certain people would become jobless because what they knew might not work for them.
He went on to state that it was only through e-commerce that they would create more jobs for themselves.
Abass revealed that OSL development trajectory targets health, education, agriculture and digital education. In this year’s OSL Social Investment competition, Abass says, OSL will send its finalist, Hawanatu Sesay for the international competition as they have been doing over the years.
Abass pointed out that OSL had been providing solar system to their various sites in the country to avoid environment pollution. In five years, he said, they had got 10 winners which were more of women since the launching of the grant.
He expressed Orange’s quest to support women while assuring Agro Fish Farm CEO Kandeh of the company’s financial support. In return, Kandeh expressed appreciation to OSL for their support over the years.
Kandeh went on to state that she started the Agro Fish Farm six years ago adding that her company worked tirelessly to sustain the project although there were challenges.
“Today we are celebrating our 6th anniversary which has marked a remarkable work, and I am proud of it,” she expressed joy.
She also noted that over the years, they had been working to set the pace and standards in the fish farm industry. She disclosed that although the investment was fraught with several challenges, they are slowly overcoming them as they had six ponds in six years.
Kandeh further informed the audience that through the Agro Fish Farm, she has represented Sierra Leone in Ghana, United States and other countries, and that she had learned a lot about the fishing industry. “Our vision is to provide sustainable and reliable fish for everybody in the country,” she assured.
Throughout the six years, she said, they had made marks by producing thousands of fish and training thousands of women in the fish industry and pledged to do more. She expressed Agro Fish Farm’s commitment to hard work to sustain the practice and innovation so that quality fish can be provided for every Sierra Leonean.
In the next six years, Kandeh assured, her institution would establish Fish Academy in Sierra Leone. She appreciated OSL for lending her a helping hand over the years support adding that women could earn more with OSL.