May 2023

EMC RE has been active across Africa and South America this month, with projects in The Gambia, Angola and Guatemala.

Charles and Ian were working on two separate projects in The Gambia concurrently- between them looking at the residential, land, office and hospitality sectors.

The office market in Banjul is small and unsophisticated, with most businesses operating from small residential units. Where purpose built office space does exist, it is generally either single tenancy or owner occupied, with banks and government entities constituting the bulk of demand.

The prime office market would is generally considered to be on Karaiba Avenue. This is the location of many of the banks (eg Standard Chartered and Zenith) and telecoms companies (eg QCell and Africell). That said, offices are occasionally developed away from this prime zone and often in isolation from any other particular commercial use.

Demand is generally focused on smaller units of up to 100 square metres and this is reflected in occupier trends and the nature of the supply. For example, in Hendon Court (a mixed-use development on the Bertil-Harding Highway) units are divided into spaces of around 90 square metres, with tenants needing larger spaces generally settling for multiple adjacent units.

For more information on The Gambia or any “new” or emerging market please contact us.