User:Talib Ahmed Bensouda

Talib Ahmed Bensouda (* 1986 in Serekunda) is a Gambian politician. Since 2018 he has been Lord Mayor of the Kanifing Municipality (Lord Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council).

Early life
Talib Ahmed Bensouda was born as the third son of Ahmed Omar Bensouda and the lawyer Amie Bensouda in 1986 at the West Field Clinic in Serekunda. Ahmed Omar Bensouda was a government official, most recently he had a position in the Ministry of Finance as a Ministerial (Permanent Secretary). He worked for the Jawara government until 1994. Talib's grandfather, Seedy Omar Bensouda, a Moroccan trader, immigrated to Gambia. He befriended Almami Jawara, the father of former President Sir Dawda Jawara, and married his daughter Nanonding Jawara. They settled in Kuntaur, Niani, and had six children, including Ahmed Omar Bensouda, Talib's father. Talib's uncle, Talib O. Bensouda, also worked as a civil servant and was a member of the House of Representatives for the Niani constituency for two terms (1982-1987 and 1987-1992) for the PPP-government.

Bensouda attended Marina International School until 2003, after which he went to Hamilton, Canada, and obtained his university entrance qualification. He then moved to Mississauga and enrolled at the University of Toronto in order to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Communication Technology in 2007. Bensouda completed his Insurance Foundation Diploma from WAII (west African insurance institute) in 2012.

 Work history  As an insurance salesman, Bensouda worked at Gray Power Insurance in 2009 and later as a sales manager at a company that deals with waste disposal. In 2010 he joined Millennium Research Group as a Market Research Analyst where he analysed medical equipment usage by hospitals in the USA and Canada. On his return to The Gambia, Bensouda was employed by the insurance company Takaful Gambia Limited as Marketing Director. He made his career up to Operations Manager and secretary of the board.

 Entrepreneurship  College Pro Painters – Partner Franchisee/Production Manager

Bensouda is an entrepreneur at heart; at just age 19, while studying in Canada, Bensouda started painting to pay his bills and work his way up to a partner franchisee at College Pro Painter, a seasonal painting business. He also doubled as the production manager (operation), hiring and managing 12 staff and 3 job site managers. At the close of 2 summers (10months), he oversaw the painting of over 150 homes within the Greater Toronto Area.

RCUBED (reduce, reuse, recycle) – Owner/General Manager

While working as a maintenance technician in the University of Toronto, Bensouda was privy to the mounting waste problem within the university and further more within the Mississauga Municipal School District Board. Bensouda discovered an opportunity in recyclables and convinced the University of Toronto and The Mississauga Municipal School District Board to work with him to reduce the cost of waste disposal by finding a home for recyclables. Given the green light he formed RCUBED, wherein he was able to recycle several tonnes of school furniture and appliances by repairing and selling them to schools in the Gambia.

Safaro Trading – General Manager/Owner

While working in Takaful, Bensouda was in close proximity to the trading hub of the Gambia. This is when he realised the vast opportunity in trade. He decided to resign from his position in Takaful and began developing his concept of a successful trading business. Bensouda realised the benefit in owning one’s brand (trademark). He then embarked on a journey of designing his own brands and bringing them to market. He developed the now successful ‘baby mariam’ diaper brand, the ‘sohnasi’ sanitary pad line, the ‘Amie’ tomato paste line and several others in the pipeline. With the distinctive trading formula, Safaro has grown to 40 staff members and over 5 brands that are all market leaders.

General Business Philosophy

Bensouda’s business philosophy is the realisation that human resources are the most valuable resource in a company. He therefore shuns the title of CEO and prefers the more modest and functional role of General Manager. He likes to be hands on and is proud to have worked in all units of the companies he has set up. He believes in the concept of mutual benefit for all stakeholders and also believes in moderation of benefits to all.

 Political career  After 22 years of former president Yahya Jammeh rule, Bensouda vehemently advocated for the formation of a coalition in 2016 and supported the Campaign of then candidate Adama Barrow representing the coalition. The euphoria that followed was quickly squashed by Jammeh's announcement rejecting the result a week later. In frustration, Bensouda banded with fellow like-minded youth and became one of the founding members of The Gambia Has Decided Movement. In the cloud of uncertainty and fear of arrest that pervaded, the group forged ahead, using their skillsets and resources to mount pressure on Jammeh to step down. By the time Jammeh was able to infiltrate the group and force some members into exile the movement had spread and was in the hands of Gambians.

Given the birth of the ‘NewGambia’, Bensouda decided to help fund and provide assistance to aspiring National Assembly candidates from his party the UDP. All six of them won their elections.

Talib recently formed an NGO called Gamsense, which aspires to promote the concept of self-help amongst communities. The campaign has recently been engaged in Ramadan sugar donations to Gambians, installation of public taps in areas without water and repair of septic tanks in markets. Gamsense’s main focus is to inspire Gambians to fix their own problems by pooling their resources together.

For the regional elections in Gambia on May 12, 2018, Talib Ahmed Bensouda ran as the United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate for the head of the Kanifing Municipal Council, and won the election with 43.6% of the votes in front of Ousman Rambo Jatta, the candidate of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), making him the youngest Mayor in the history of the Gambia. Bensouda is a widely considered to be one of the most popular politicians in The Gambia. In December 2020, Bensouda was elected to the National Executive Committee of the United Democratic as the National Organising Secretary.

As the National Organising Secretary, Bensouda is responsible for the organising of the UDP campaign for the 2021 Presidential Election. is unique campaign style frowned upon partisan attacks and focused squarely on bringing development to the municipality. The campaign included an ambitious manifesto to transform the municipality by providing services to its residents and creating employment for the youth.

Since commencement of his mayorship, Bensouda has made an impact with achievements including the deployment of 500 street bins to the municipality, employed 200 personnels in new projects, introduced street cleaning exercises and flood-prevention activities and he championed a D100 million small-business loan fund for women and D20 million loan fund for the youth.

 Fight against COVID-19 

Kanifing Municipality Council (KMC) launched the ‘made in the Gambia’ 50,000 face masks initiative (made by KM tailors) as part of pillar 2 ‘Stop the Spread’ in KMCs Covid-19 response. 5000 face masks will be distributed today as part of the first phase of this initiative, these masks will target the 18 markets in the KM. "We would like to thank the Ministry of Health for providing the scientific designs for the masks, Tiga for coordinating more than a dozen talented local KM tailors who produced the masks and our Covid-19 task force for the implementation. We are extremely happy that these masks are 100% made in The Gambia by our very own Gambian Tailors." As the country continues to witness a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases which coincides with students siting their exams, KMC has intensified its efforts to curb the spread of the virus by donating 500 face masks to the Management Development Institute to enable students to sit their examinations. It is envisaged that with the provision of these face mask, a potential spread can be averted.

Individual evidence

Category:Mayor (Kanifing Municipal) Category:The Gambia Category:Gambian born Category:Man Category:Politician (21st Century) Category:Member of the United Democratic Party (Gambia)