COUNTRY FOCUS: SIERRA LEONE
“
WE WORK TO IDENTIFY
ORGANISATIONS AND BUSINESSES
WHICH HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO
UPSKILL AND EMPOWER YOUTH TO
SEEK EMPLOYMENT .
faced in Sierra Leone. Our approach is to
always learn and evolve, so that we can
constantly improve in the area we work in
and create impact.
“My continuous interest and determination
in developing experiences and education
in the fields of international development,
technology innovation, new media and
business led to me studying for a BA in
International Relations and New Media at
Kingston University London.
“After completing my BA, I took on further
post-graduate studies in International
Conflict looking at the role ICTs play in the
developing world at the same university.
Over the course of my career I have acquired
valuable skills and experiences, working for
a range of high level organisations in the
humanitarian aid sector, development, new
media, digital media, communications,
research, video production, innovation and
technology and business.
“I founded the Sensi Tech Hub project
because I believed ICTs and innovation
can play a vital role in helping to combat
poverty, enhance development effort, set
foundations to develop a community of tech
enthusiasts and entrepreneurs that could
contribute to development of the economy.
“My role here is to identify solutions,
opportunities and possibilities that exist in
the technology space and connect them to
challenges and needs of currents effort to
develop the country.
“Also, my understanding of Sierra Leone’s
culture, politics and issues helps me steer the
organisation through a localised approach in
implementing our solutions and services on
the ground.”
48
INTELLIGENTCIO
Morris Morah is a founding member of
Sensi Tech Hub
During the past two years, Sensi Tech has
funded, Incubated or accelerated, trained
and mentored 18 local entrepreneurs
and businesses and has supported
entrepreneurs and businesses with a
US$167,000 grant coming through the Fire
Starter Fund programme.
“We work to identify organisations and
businesses which have the potential to upskill
and empower youth to seek employment and
to help them strengthen their management
practices, processes and capacity so that
they can support more youth in the future
to find jobs,” added Marah. “We do this
through the provision of small grants,
physical and virtual spaces for collaboration,
training in organisational development
and for individual staff members, access
to technology resources, equipment and
mentorship. This support has led to the
creation of job for over 6,000 young people
in Sierra Leone directly and indirectly.
“Sensi has also provided financial,
administrative and technical support
for dozens of CBOs and social impact
projects. Last year, Sensi organised and
hosted over 50 tech, entrepreneurship
and creative events with over 2, 000
attendees. Currently, Sensi has around
150 active members, 50 to 100 daily
users of the hub and deliver over 100
hours of ICT and business-related
training per month to young people.”
Sensi has also successfully organised
and hosted the Sierra Leone
edition of the hackathon with 100
participants from various health, risk
communication, tech, journalistic and
entrepreneurship backgrounds.
www.intelligentcio.com