An Assessment of the Mentoring Services of (Paperback)

The performance of SMEs in The Gambia is very poor; a possible solution is to provide mentoring service to them. Mentoring is the function of nurturing and supporting by providing SMEs with professional skills development, and moral support to positively impact on the business sustainability. However, little studies relate to mentoring of agricultural SMEs in The Gambia. This study empirically investigates the basic profile of agricultural business mentoring, the skill sets; and to represent the importance of the skills as represented in the model and to understand the mentoring for start-up business in the country. Semi structured questionnaires with reference to literature studies from other countries were used to gather data. Data was collected from staffs. A sample size of 100 respondents from the agro-enterprises was identified, out of which 62 were received. Results indicated that limited numbers of female staffs were involved in agro-enterprises. Male dominated in all areas (83.3% for managers; 78.0 employees), probably due to cultural influences.