BE REEL (Building Empowerment: Rural Economic Engagement in Life) is a UK based charity working in The Gambia. It is registered in both the UK and in The Gambia.

The Gambia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with little indigenous industry and very high unemployment.  There is little publicly funded vocational education or community development programmes.  

In line with the national Gambia Government strategy, BE REEL contributes to building the economy from the ground up.  Whilst we are a small charity, we help to reduce poverty by training people to set up and run sustainable micro-businesses, to live independent, healthy and meaningful lives. We work primarily in rural communities, with our current base in Gunjur, South-West of Gambia.  

We are passionate in our belief that education underpins these development objectives.

A micro-business is little more than a cottage industry, designed to achieve sufficient independent income for the owner to support their extended family 'compound', often at or just above subsistence levels, and aim to make enough margin to allow growth beyond this level.  It is normally operated by single individuals and may develop to include partners and employees. 

A high proportion of young men and women leave Gambia to seek better lives in Europe, which can devastate communities.We hope that our work helps elevate this serious problem.

BE REEL was set up by Trevor Long and Nikki Swan, a husband and wife team, who fell in love with The Gambia and were asked by the community if they could use their professional skills in business training to help people in Gunjur develop their business skills. 

We provide business management training and support for those who do not have access to appropriate training due to levels of poverty or lack of schooling, with a view to helping them develop economically viable micro-businesses. Applicants are interviewed to ensure they have a viable idea and motivation to succeed. Apart from needing a working knowledge of English, there are no other requirements for being welcomed onto the programme.

Examples of micro-businesses include: tailoring, hair cutting, growing vegetables and selling them at markets, poultry farming, and making craft items, for the local community and tourist markets.

We delivered our first programme in 2018 and reviews have shown participants to have grown in confidence, financial aptitude, product and service development, marketing and customer-facing skills. In 2021 we have opened our Gambian office to facilitate the further growth of the programme in The Gambia.

From 2021 we are delighted to have secured funding to grow the programme through increased participant numbers, more development activities from UK aid from the UK Government. We also have secured funding for the introduction of a micro-loans scheme from other funders (see our funders page).

BE REEL GAMBIA

BE REEL Gambia’ office was opened in 2021 to provide on-the-ground day-to-day support for the management of the programme and for mentoring participants.  The Programme Director is Buba K Touray and the Senior Project Officer is Lamin L Touray.  Whilst they have the same surname, Buba and Lamin are not directly related. In January 2023 we also employed Mansey Jabang as a project officer.