Mr. Saloum Malang, the Managing Director of SSHFC and members of the SSHFC subsidiaries.
By Landing Ceesay
The Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) held a Technical Family Concept Meeting with its subsidiaries on Friday.
The primary aim of the meeting was to strategize and optimize intergroup trade within the SSHFC Family framework. This gathering followed the successful launch of the SSHFC Family Concept on March 1st, 2023, with the goal of fostering intergroup trade among the diverse SSHFC subsidiaries.
The subsidiaries involved in this initiative are Trust Bank Gambia Limited, Gambia Public Transport Company (GTSC), Gampetroleum Storage Facility Company Limited, West Africa Leisure Group, and ECOTRA Group Gambia Limited.
During the meeting, each subsidiary presented its focus areas, outlining goals, objectives, and staff counts.
Mr. Saloum Malang, the Managing Director of SSHFC, addressed the meeting and elucidated on the rationale behind establishing these subsidiaries. He emphasized the need for flexibility and autonomy, citing government constraints on business operations. Mr. Malang assured the subsidiaries that the SSHFC Family Concept aimed to promote collaboration and competition for revenue generation.
“The reason we go for these subsidiaries is that the government cannot be a good businessman. Because command and control is not a business friend. You do not need a consultant to tell you why GAMCEL failed and Africell succeeded. It takes Africell an hour to buy and install equipment. But it will take GAMCEL a month. They have to seek approval from GPPA for this quarter, and from that quarter, and there are National Assembly issues and activity reports.
“So because of those constraints, flexibility is not as easy for them as their counterparts. So that is why we established subsidiaries. Under my leadership, I am assuring all the subsidiaries that you will enjoy the autonomy needed for you to offend. Because the SSHFC Family Concept does not necessarily mean supporting each other to fail, No. The idea is to give you something like a first-option choice to promote each other. But you have to compete because, as the owner, we are very much interested in making revenue for us,” Mr. Malang said.
As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of GTSC, Mr. Malang highlighted the importance of networking at the technical meeting, encouraging interaction between members of the SSHFC Family.
He expressed his vision for subsidiaries to network and collaborate, providing examples of key personnel exchanging contacts for potential partnerships
“What I want to see is that the finance director of Ocean Bay exchanges contact with the finance director of GTSC. I would like to see the deputy MD of Trust Bank and the deputy MD of Gampetroleum networking. So basically, I want to share with you that these are subsidiaries, but we are expecting to introduce more. We have plans to transform our housing department into a subsidiary, a construction company. To monopolize all SSHFC construction needs, our estate, and also compete with the construction companies in this country,” he said.
Mr. Malang revealed plans to expand SSHFC’s involvement in construction and healthcare, aiming to monopolize construction needs while addressing medical treatment gaps in the country.
Additionally, Mr. Malang shared SSHFC’s ongoing expansion efforts in coverage areas to increase revenue and empower the workforce.
“Currently, we are expanding our coverage. We are doing that because we need the revenue. We need the revenues to sustain our business. And also, as a social protection organization, we need to empower people. It is very sad for somebody to work for 30 years and retire, you don’t find anything. It is very sad. So we are doing an aggressive expansion in the formal sector up to September 2023. During this year, we registered 4,950 employees for the provident fund,” he said.