UNDP Gambia Accelerator Lab

We are facilitating new approaches for entrepreneurs and youth and working to digitally transform informal markets. 

The UNDP Gambia Accelerator Lab came into being in October 2019 to facilitate a new approach to how things are done in development. The Lab recognized the need for a drastic change in development practice against a backdrop of pressing but evolving issues and widening inequalities within and between countries. As the Lab advances on a number of fronts, we have developed activities and interventions in The Gambia around youth unemployment. We also aim to provide an enabling environment for budding entrepreneurs to co-work and network. The Gambia possesses significant talent that must be harnessed if we are to further map potential solutions to our shared challenges. 

The Lab supported local informal traders, particularly women and youth, through "My Lumo," a digital e-commerce platform allowing local informal traders to market their goods and services and transact electronically. The Lab was recruited to support a digitization aspect for the Lumos (informal markets) thereby creating an opportunity for our work on informality and informal markets in particular.

As long as it is around, the Lab will continue to engage and challenge young people and entrepreneurs so that we can indeed build a more sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.