Poindexter Sama
The Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 September 2013
The Call to Business (C2B) Foundation, striving to develop small and medium sized enterprises in Sierra Leone, has launched a printing press on Wednesday, at its office, along Old Railway Line, Brookfields, in the West End of Freetown.
Call to Business-Sierra Leone is a subsidiary of a UK registered charitable organization.
Their mission is to encourage Christian men and women in business to work out their faith in their daily work environment and in the marketplace, believing that biblical principles – if followed and practiced, will result in true transformation of society.
Performing an official launching ceremony at the office, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ahmed A. Ahmed explained that the C2B started as a small microfinance company, and has grown and expanded over the last five years to a group of companies involved in financing micro-small and medium scale business, print and publishing and management consulting as well as a charity arm.
He said that the ministry strongly believes that without the private sector, economic and commercial interactions, the ministry will not be successful in eradicating poverty and mobilizing the necessary domestic resources for education, health and social services.
He therefore called on the private sector to rise up to the challenge and play a pivotal role in the development process.
He promised that the government will continue to give necessary support to achieve programmes and objectives geared towards the development and promotion of the sector.
Christian Thorpe, a Member of the C2B Board noted that there is need to promote small businesses in the country as a way of capacitating and developing young entrepreneurs.
The Chairman of C2B Foundation – Paul Szkiler said that enterprises of this nature should be promoted in the country, so that the nation will experience economic prosperity.
He said that poverty will not exist in a systemic way if people were not corrupt. Therefore, he advised, people should change their mindset against small businesses, as they are the pillars on which a nation’s economy and development is built.
Joe Abass Bangura the Managing Director of the C2B Print and Publishing enterprise, said that; growing high quality, ethical, people-focused and profitable businesses have a key role to play in alleviating poverty and the inevitable social problems that come against it.
He said that they are committed to delivering the highest quality printing at highly competitive prices, prompt service and with a strict privacy policy.
