27-year-old Madeline Ileleji, beaming with smiles

Meet Madeline Ileleji, a 27-year-old Business Development Manager and Entrepreneurship Trainer from Kanifing Estate in the Kanifing Municipality, The Gambia. 

At just 27 years old, this Business Development Manager and Entrepreneurship Trainer has dedicated the past five years to mentoring young entrepreneurs. Madeline travels deep into the country's most remote communities, where opportunities are scarce to keep dreams alive. Every year, she takes ten young minds under her wing, guiding them to build businesses and create sustainable, meaningful futures.

For Madeline, every journey into rural Gambia is a mission to change lives, to empower, and to give hope to those who are often overlooked.

“I have always believed that true success is not just about making money.” Madeline shares. “It is about serving humanity, making sure that while we grow, our communities and our environment grow with us.”

But even for someone as passionate as Madeline, growth is a constant process. When she heard about the four-day learning programme [EM1] on Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) for business coaches and advisors organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Gambia Tech, and Alliance Française de Banjul, she knew it was exactly what she needed. For her, this was not another opportunity to be decorated with a certificate, her interest was to garner insight into the RAI model.

“I wanted to learn new, simple techniques to help these young entrepreneurs build businesses that would thrive without harming the communities they operate in,” she explains.

The training was intense, eye-opening, and at times, overwhelming. But one lesson stood out so powerfully that it reshaped the way she saw her work was the balance between People, Planet, and Profit.

For years, Madeline had focused on focused on supporting her mentees in running

 profitable businesses. But the RAI training helped her see the bigger picture.

One tool that changed her perspective was the Responsible Business Model Canva, a simple yet powerful way of mapping out how businesses function.

“I learned that sustainability is the foundation. It is what determines whether a business will still be standing five, ten, twenty years from now.”

Madeline left the training inspired and well equipped. “I am very much determined to equip my mentees with the tools they need to succeed financially, ethically, and sustainably.”

Madeline was not alone at the training. Musa Juwara, a youth leader, reflects on how the RAI training completely shifted his perspective on agriculture and business.

“The RAI principles opened my eyes to the realities of our agricultural sector,” he admits. “Now, I see both the challenges and the opportunities, and I am determined to pass that knowledge on.”

For Jerry Cham, a business entrepreneur from Gunjur, Southern part of the Gambia, the impact of the training was just as profound. “Understanding land tenure and accountability has been a game-changer for me,” he says. “Before, I never realized how crucial land rights were in building a sustainable agribusiness. Now, I have the tools to help others navigate these complexities.”

Seeing these participants speak profoundly about the skills they were armed with at the training, the project coordinator Boubacar Coly, is filled with optimism.

“The response to this training has been incredible,” Coly shares. “The next step is to connect these newly trained coaches with agro-entrepreneurs across the country. We are building something much bigger, we are creating a movement for sustainable agriculture in the Gambia.”

During the four days, participants underwent a comprehensive training programme on Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI). The event combined an initial online phase with an immersive face-to-face workshop, during which participants were introduced to the ten Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI), the RAI Accelerator Toolkit, and strategies to boost youth involvement in policymaking.

The training was conducted under the Agri-Accelerator Hub project which seeks to empower young agri-entrepreneurs through two strategies. First, providing direct incubation and acceleration support to youth-led micro, small and medium responsible agribusinesses; and second strengthening the investment ecosystem for responsible investment in agriculture by developing the capacities of business coaches and advisors.