The Managing Director of SALCAB Ishmael Kebbay on 9th May 2019 added to his shelve another award; the National Development Award, awarded to him by a humanitarian organization called The Patriotic Sierra Leoneans at his SALCAB office at Johnson lane Aberdeen.
Chief executive officer of the organization, Mr Peter Conteh, whilst presenting the award to the MD said that his organization as part of its mandate, gives award to people who selflessly contribute to the service of humanity through the provision of humanitarian assistance and livelihood support to less privileged and vulnerable people who live a deprived state of life within their communities.
In his words, “We resulted to awarding you the Humanitarian award for the year 2018 stemming from your commitment and dedication to the promotion of the welfare of youths, women, and children who form a critical mass of the population of our society and who are also very pivotal to the advancement of our country”.
MD Kebbay is one the organization has chosen out of a careful assessment and selection from a list of three caliber nominees as a humanitarian who deserves the award as he has been noticed implementing humanitarian activities within and outside his community to the amazement of many.
Kebbay is described as a fine gentleman whose generosity and kind gesture knows no limit. He thus exclaimed the possibility of having a more serene and comfortable environment with happy people should we have the likes of Kebbay in more communities who give themselves up to the course of pulling others up. He concluded by pleading with him to stay focus on his humanitarian drive by supporting others for the attainment of a better life. This affirms the saying that, it pays to be generous and generosity has a ripple effect.
In his calmed and relaxing mood, he expressed appreciation to the CEO and his organization for having recognized the efforts he has been making to touch the lives of people in his community. “it is to me a great surprise to be presented this award in recognition of my humanitarian activities as I wasn’t expecting it. I was only doing my bits to promote the lives of people in my community and which I love doing, as it’s fulfilling. He further averred that there are more influential people in his community, but for him to be identified and awarded, shows how critical are his contributions to promoting human development in his community. He described the award as a stimulus which has warranted a more resilient response from him by doing what he has been doing best.
His contributions are categorized in variable life impacting ways that led to his reception of this award. In the area of youth empowerment, Kebbay has personally provided motorbikes (Okada) to youths on their own to help enhance their self-employment. He is as well engaged in the provision of seed capital to women within his community to help boost their small scale business. His name is also on the lips of his people for his passion for education and his contribution to assisting the students in accomplishing their academic studies.
Since taking over as MD of SALCAB, he has not only re-engineered a vibrant business operating model for profit making as evident in the Presidential statement in the state opening of parliament but has also injected in his workers the sense of humane artistry. His compassion and emotional intelligence shown to his workers have left SALCAB to becoming the ideal place to work with a high spirit of motivation which is glaringly evident in the satisfactory performance of the company of late. In the estimation of many of his staff, his appointment as MD of SALCAB is the greatest thing that has happened to the institution since its establishment in 2012.
Just before this award, Kebbay has been honored with other prestigious awards for his leadership style and contributory role in upholding the tenet that fosters social development and nation building.
