Building Cities and Finding Contentment In The Gambia with Taf N'Jie | Ep 4

Season 2
Written By Pam Cheney

Today’s conversation is with Mustafa N’Jie Taf who is based in the Gambia in West Africa. Taf is a successful and well known businessman who builds cities, literal cities of affordable houses in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia, and 6 other countries in West Africa. 

Now many projects that require funding in West Africa will identify Taf as a potential funder due to his regional profile here, his foundation, and his commitment to solving Africa's chronic housing shortage. 

As you're about to find out, Taf is full of enthusiasm and passion. He was born, raised, educated, and lives in the Gambia, and wears this lifelong connection like a badge of honor. He has his own YouTube channel and more than 50,000 followers on TikTok. 


During this episode, three takeaways stood out amidst our discussion:

  • First, Taf's lifelong immersion in the Gambia fascinates me. It feels like a deep and authentic connection to his community and a grounding for the values that underpin his business choices.

  • Second, that the accumulation of wealth does not have to be separate from social impact. And Taf's feels more authentic in some ways than the many Westerners who self identify as philanthropists, who have made their fortunes historically without real consideration of social justice, and then make a major philanthropy pivot in later life.

  • And third, there's this wonderful idea of finding contentment that bounds ambition and wealth and brings satisfaction. A sense of having done enough. 


Enough. That's another powerful word to leave you with today. Both in relation to the understanding when donors give, how much they give, but also enough in relation to the limits of our own organisation's ambitions, goals, and growth. Because if our leaders can't define what enough impact is, then fundraisers will always be catching up and burning out, which leads to a very different expression of enough. 

No conversation with Taf is ever dull, and I'm sure you’ll enjoy listening to my conversation with him today.

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode of the Fundraising Radicals podcast and that this conversation has challenged, informed, and maybe even inspired you and your fundraising leadership practice. 

This podcast has been made possible by the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, Care International, the Ashmore Foundation, and our growing community of strategic partners.

We're excited to explore and share alternative views and experiences so we can all move beyond the narrow experiences that dominate global fundraising practise today so that we're all better equipped to resource our causes and communities wherever in the world we are.

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New episodes drop on the 1st & 15th of every month, so make sure to tune in to get more global perspectives on fundraising and leadership in the non-profit sector.

More about Fundraising Radicals:

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And we're always looking for new perspectives. So if you would be willing to share some of your experience of global fundraising within a future episode of the podcast, please do email us. It's [email protected]

Pam Cheney

Graphic Designer and traveller

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