Contact Details:
 Head Office
address
ASSET
Website:
www.asset-gambia.com
P.O. Box 4587
Bakau
Gambia
West Africa
Telephone number: 449 7675
Email: info@asset-gambia.com
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Background Information:
ASSET stands for the Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism
and their headquarters are situated in
Bakau just off the (New Town
Rd.) Garba Jahumpa Road. Its chairperson is Geri Mitchell,
owner of Safari Garden Hotel and the
Sandale Eco-Retreat.
The organisation represents the informal sector of the Gambian tourism
sector.
By informal sector is meant all those individuals and
micro enterprises, which engage with tourists and the tourism
industry, but are not members of the Gambian Hotel Association
or the Ground Handlers and Equipment Hirers Association. The Association of
Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET), resulted from a previous
British High Commission sponsored Gambian Tourism Concern Workshop on
Private Small Scale and Community-Based Tourism Enterprises held in
The Gambia in October 1999. It was established in April 2000, bringing
together some 40 small and micro enterprises. These include
craft
market vendors, tourist taxi drivers, official tourist guides, juice
pressers and fruit sellers as well as a number of small hotels, guest
houses and Ground Tour Operators. The main objective of ASSET is to
enable small-scale tourism enterprises to benefit more from their
participation in the tourism industry and it works with its members on
product development, marketing training, access to finance and quality
assurance, and represents its members’ interests to government and the
formal sector. It functions as a trade association for the SMMEs in
the informal sector.
ASSET played a key role in establishing co-operative working
relationships between different informal sector groups and in
assisting them to develop codes of conduct for their own members.
ASSET established a conflict resolution group and a new products
group.
Two editions of Mango News were produced by
ASSET in January and April 2002. This kept the membership informed of
developments and provided a mechanism for sharing examples of good
practise in the informal sector.
The taxi drivers
became enthusiastic members of ASSET and have increased their own
level of organisation, learning from ASSET practises.
ASSET has developed a new product: gift baskets which are composed of
a range of craft and produce (soap/beeswax/honey) for sale through
markets stalls and supermarkets and at the airport.
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