The private sector is one of the sectors that felt the brunt of the Ebola out break in Sierra Leone. To revive this sector which was almost defunct by the out break, the Sierra Leone private sector on Wednesday held an Ebola response trade exhibition at Radisson Blu hotel, Aberdeen, western urban Freetown.
The Irish Embassy in collaboration with Elixir Marketing and Media organized this pro bono initiative.
The essence of this one day exhibition is to showcase goods and services which are readily available in Sierra Leone so that Non Governmental Organization (NGO) procurement officers will make use of these local services, which will subsequently boost the private sector, explained Elixir Marketing and Media Communications Consultant, Memuna Forna.
Officially opening the ceremony, the National Ebola Response Committee (NERC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) retired Major Palo Conteh said the private sector has a great role to play in Sierra Leone’s Ebola recovery programme. “I want to plead to our international partners not to use all the funding they are receiving to feed their NGO’s but to share some of that fund with the private sector which are very vital in the recovery phase of Sierra Leone,” he explained.
In his statement UNMEER Ebola Crisis Manager, Amadu Kamara buttressed that saying, “we can’t build resilience in the economy if the private sector is not an integral part in that venture.” He urged those present at the exhibition to find their niche in the recovery process. Mr. Kamara said their (UNMEER’s) intervention would be more meaningful if there is community involvement.
Standard Chartered Bank, Executive Director, David Mansaray revealed that the Bank is providing a grant for those businesses which are affected by ebola. This is to reaffirm “the bank’s commitment in supporting the community in both good and bad times” he said.
Friday February 13, 2015