With – Akitania Nzally
Golden Hands Academy is one of the training schools in the country training young Gambians to acquire skills and knowledge in hairdressing, beauty, and massage, the school was established in 2013 by Mr. Kebba Dem who is the founder and CEO. He is also a business coach, an advisor, and a mentor.
Dem completed his Senior Secondary education at the Gambia Senior Secondary School in 1992, went straight to Hotel School to study the Front Office Technology course for two years, and started working at a Physical Therapy center in 1994. In 2007 he started a management course at MDI and completed it in 2010. In 2016, he graduated from the University of The Gambia with a Bachelor’s degree in Management. After that, he took a few entrepreneurial courses that earn him the qualification of being a senior coach and advisor to youths. He is currently employing over 10 Staff and has over 45 students currently due to the space but there is an annex in Barra to accommodate more Gambians.
According to Mr Dem, he started with a spa where he trains his newly appointed staff on all the necessary skills they need to do the work very well. Then he later decided to open a school where more people would be trained to acquire skills to work with other institutions or become self-employed.
The main aim of the school is to give a second chance to school dropouts, uneducated (formal education), and so on to have a place in society, being responsible as a human being boosts your self-esteem and this is very important. Acquiring a skill is very important not only to school dropouts and the like but even graduates because it enables you to have more than one career as an individual.
They have skilled teachers who train these students for six (6) months. The courses available are Beauty, hairdressing, massage, and IT ( in the Barra branch). The beauty course covers everything relating to beauty, that is eyelashes and nails extension, pedicures and manicures, facial treatment, make-up, and among others. The hairdressing course covers braidings, and wig sewing, while the massage course covers everything – full body massage, back massage. The students spend six(6) months in school, and later have a three (3) months training attachment in the field to allow them to interact with customers and learn more about the chosen domain. After the training attachment, students are expected to come back to the school for revision and exams and finally graduate.
The school conducts a graduation ceremony based on the required number of students they need which is why the graduation is not conducted every year. According to Mr. Dem this is done because it saves time and resources.
Mr. Dem advised the youths to have confidence in themselves, exploit their potential, and know that they can make it in the country, work in their country and earn a decent living while contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.
He noted that Golden hands are not only a school but a big family, he further encourages young Gambians that are interested in this field to apply and be a part of this family.
All interested candidates should visit the school, it is located at Kotu South not very far from the Manjai Speed Petrol Station.
