Muhammed Danso was born into a family of six and schooled in a rural community in Gambia. During a period when there was no electricity in his community, Muhammed’s parents depended on either candles or kerosene lamps to provide him light to do his assignments and read his notes at night. Muhammed started “enjoying the luxury of electricity, though unreliable, during the latter part of senior school”.
In 2016, Muhammed participated in the YALI Emerging Leaders Program with the goal of breaking away from any form of physiological bond to realize his self-esteem, personal confidence and motivation to ably speak up.
The YALI leadership program, according to Muhammed, “has helped me develop my leadership capabilities with an entrepreneur mindset to determine whether certain processes, products and services will be demanded by customers.” “In addition, I have learned how to finance startup ventures to drive social transformation and innovation in various fields like education, health, energy, environment and enterprise development to tackle poverty”, Muhammed added.
Now, Muhammed is the founder of ENERGY360, an electrical servicing startup that focuses on providing customized electrical services from installation to maintenance of electrical backup devices such as inverters, system batteries, U.P.S, solar power and generator control cubicles. ENERGY360 also provides services to financial institutions, I.T. infrastructure public and private residences and early adopters motivated by attraction to technology, energy independence, and environmental benefits.
Over time, Muhammed has developed a love for entrepreneurship development and has volunteered for the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Gambia with the aim of helping to shift the mindset of young people from being job seekers to job creators. In the process, the YALI Alumni has trained over 200 young people in identifying challenges in their communities and turning them into viable business solutions. Muhammed recently coordinated the second edition of the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit, which brought together over 400 young people, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and business support institutions to discuss ways of promoting entrepreneurship.
The YALI leadership program has helped Muhammed to develop his leadership capabilities with an entrepreneur mindset to be able to determine whether certain processes, products and services will be demanded by customers.