The National Investment Board has ended its Public Private Dialogue with the Small and Informal Sector, including other key partners in the country’s investment industry.
The investment dialogue was held at the Conference Room of the Vice President’s Office, Tower Hill in Freetown.
Speaking at the closing of the dialogue, the Executive Director of NIB, Dr Maada Mustapha said that for far too long such engagement has never been done and this has been the reason why many people in the business sector are facing acute challenges.
He said the President is very serious about private sector involvement in the development of the country, a reason he has decided to organise such engagement with key partners.
He maintained that, any country that decides to take the responsibility of employing everybody, that country is not ready to give opportunity to the private sector.
Dr Mustapha disclosed that, the President did set up this entity to making sure that people doing business do it with ease.
He further stated that when the President set up the National Investment Board, he asked the Secretariat to make law, and since that time they have been able to make those laws and sent to parliament waiting for ratification, and when that is done, NIB will automatically become law in Sierra Leone and that the investment base will be very much organise.
He said other countries around the world, the private sector does most of the employment, and any country that takes holistic employment of its citizens, that country is bound to face difficulties.
He said this is the reason the president want the involvement of the private sector so to shift from that idea of government employing everybody.
According to him this is the pre-Presidential public private dialogue and this seeks to arrange themselves.
He said informed that they recently engaged the leadership of marker women association, and after their explanation, he asked the question, why such engagements had not been done in previous years.
Dr. Mustapha reiterated the NIB is a holistic idea to move everyone forward.
He thanked the Ministry of Finance for providing them two technical staff who they whom they have assigned to assist them with technical support.
He also thanked their new partner Chamber of Commerce which he said they gave so much experience and they are working together and very soon they will sign a memorandum of understanding with them for a way forward on how to organize the investment base in Sierra Leone.
Other speakers who made statements during dialogue include the representative of ministry of finance, representative of National Revenue Authority, President of Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce among others.
The informal sector represents over 70 percent of Sierra Leon’s economy and plays a vital role in critical value chains. Informal businesses in Sierra Leone face a deferent set of constraints to those operating in the formal sector, however their voice is mostly absent from discussion about policy and regulation. Informal businesses are especially disadvantaged in a context where private sector representation in policy discussion is ad hoc and fragmented, and better resourced businesses and associations are better able to escalate their concerns and priorities. However informal businesses are traders also face some constraints in common with the formal sector.
