Meet Sadibou Kamaso – CEO of Creation Plus

Welcome once again to the Gambian Business blog that celebrates young Gambian entrepreneurs who take the Business World by storm. Our Entrepreneur today will be sharing his amazing story of how he has been managing his designs and printing business in the Gambia. You will be inspired by his story.

Who is this Entrepreneur?

Sadibou Kamaso, CEO of Creation Plus

Sadibou is the Chief Executive Officer and proprietor of Creation Plus, a Gambia based designs and printing Company. He has over 15 years’ experience in Gambia printing industry starting with DBC Quality Designs and Ultrasoft Print & Computing. Sadibou is also the Secretary General of Hawks Football Club.

Business-in-Gambia Blog had opportunity to chat with Sadibou about his inspiration and experience in the designs and printing business in the Gambia.

Business in Gambia: Please introduce yourself and the business to us.

Sadibou: My name is Sadibou Kamaso, a young Gambian entrepreneur who studied Science in high school with the ambition to become either a medical doctor or civil engineer but found myself doing graphic designs and printing after graduation.

Business in Gambia: What inspired you to start your own business?    

Sadibou: I had always had the desire to excel and succeed, so that has always been my source of inspiration and still is. I started working for Student & Youth Travel Organisation (SYTO) right after graduating from High School and the owners of this establishment had a separate business called ROC International in the same building. They were into graphics designs and printing and had two designers at the time one Ndey Touray and Mrs Gillen but credits to Ndey whose office I would always visit during working hours while looking at what she did on the computer. This eventually got me hooked to graphic designs till I met Ousainou Dambell of DBC who convinced me to join him in the year 2000 and the rest is history.

Business in Gambia: Please briefly share with us the products and services of Creation Plus.

Sadibou: At Creation Plus, we offer both pre-press and printing services because people tend to confuse the two in The Gambia. In other countries and most recently in Gambia, you have businesses that do just pre-press i.e designing, branding, colour separations etc and businesses that just print for you once you have your soft copies from the designers but we offer both.

Basically, we print any office or school stationery once it is on paper or card and we do designs and branding as well.

Business in Gambia: What has been your company’s achievements so far?

Sadibou: I always feel I haven’t achieved much even though friends and customers who patronise me feel I have achieved but I still think we have a long way to go in order to be at the same level with printing presses in neighbouring countries or Europe. However, I am grateful to the Almighty for bringing me this far because thanks to my business I am able to look after myself and family while providing employment for over 18 Gambians.

Business in Gambia: What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?

Sadibou: The two methods we have used to raise awareness are door to door and telemarketing to establish new clientele and also providing quality services with a timely delivery period at the agreed time with your clients or even earlier in order to keep them. They would in turn sell your service by recommending you. I think this has been one of our strongest paradigm because sometimes people will tell me in wollof “danga Buga haarlis, dor wacha legaay” meaning you adore money, why don’t you close from work? But then its not about that, its more about ensuring you deliver on the agreed time with the customers to keep them happy. I always tell my staff, I see no reason why we should keep people’s jobs in the office for long or delay them, the earlier you deliver the earlier you get paid and the earlier you can start the next job.

Business in Gambia: What are some of the initial challenges you faced when you started this Business?

Sadibou: The main challenges were pre-financing contracts with the meager resources I had without taking bank loans because most times customers would just give us a Purchase Order to do their jobs, deliver and get paid. Credits to a few customers who supported me with advance payments to get the jobs done and this has been because of the trust they have in me. The other challenge is getting the staff to stay extra hours to complete the job we had on time. The average Gambian wants to work from 8am to 4pm or 9am to 5pm and just go home whereas I am used to staying a bit longer and have the jobs ready sooner

Business in Gambia: They say: your health is your wealth – how do you manage work life balance?

Sadibou: I used to be a fitness freak and I used to work out almost five days week but over the past couple of years this has simmered down. However, I try to stay fit by working out three times a week after work. Being a big football fan and my engagement in football as Secretary General of Hawks Football Club, I try to play football whenever I can as well so this helps.

Business in Gambia: What are your top 3 favourite business books you would recommend to a new entrepreneur?

Sadibou: Unfortunately I never liked reading books. I am more into figures and calculations than reading. I tend to understand things pretty quick so most of the time I read the top, middle and bottom parts of books just to have an idea and relate it to whatever I am working on. I look up to some very successful people and keenly follow their progress to keep me inspired.

Business in Gambia: Any advice for other young entrepreneurs and small business?

Sadibou: Be extra committed to whatever you are doing and always believe in yourself no matter the circumstances.

Business tends to be tough for you as a starter because you compare yourself to very successful people without realising they probably had a rougher path than you did.

No two success stories are the same but there are similarities. Success comes with a lot of stress so one has to be really ready for the unexpected so with extra commitment and belief, you will get there.

Contacts for any designs and printing job

Sadibou: Our Office is located at : Kanifing East Layout, PMB 303 Serrekunda, The Gambia. Tel: +220 4399079 Cells: +220 3909040 / 9909040 Email: skamaso(at)yahoo.co.uk

Business in Gambia: Thank you for sharing your experience with our readers and we wish you all the best.

Sadibou You are must welcome and best wishes in your endeavours.