Afrigather Sierra Leone, the tropical nation on Africa’s west coast, could also be geographically small, however its tech ambitions are large. President Julius Maada Bio desires to make Sierra Leone “the Estonia of Africa.” Backed by political will and authorities funding, Sierra Leone desires to produce tech expertise to the remainder of the continent.
“The imaginative and prescient is to see Sierra Leone play a number one position in tech export,” Salima Bah, the nation’s Minister of Communication, Expertise, and Innovation, advised TechCabal throughout a latest go to to Lagos.
“This isn’t the primary time Sierra Leone has performed a worldwide main position in capability improvement. Sierra Leone was often called the Athens of Africa.”
The 32-year-old minister, who resumed workplace final September, believes that the nation’s dimension is advantageous. “As a result of we’re small, we are able to act sooner and modify to altering instances and a neater ecosystem to take care of, which places us in a greater place.”
In 2018, President Bio established the Directorate of Science, Expertise, and Innovation (DSTI) and appointed a Chief Innovation Officer. He additionally arrange the Ministry of Communication, Expertise, and Innovation and named Bah its first Minister in July 2023.
The ministry has spent the previous six months laying the groundwork for its plans to help its startup ecosystem, which the minister says, is “nonetheless at its nascent stage”. Sierra Leone will host a Nationwide Tech and Innovation Summit in Might to showcase its ecosystem to draw tech investments and safe partnerships.
The nation is placing its cash the place its mouth is. It would construct a tech and innovation metropolis—a particular financial zone—the place it is going to prepare younger individuals in numerous tech abilities to assist ship the federal government’s mandate to create 500,000 jobs by 2028.
“We think about digital abilities as an exportable commodity. We are going to give attention to the abilities we are able to export and supply infrastructure,” Bah mentioned. The ministry has acquired 130 acres of land for the undertaking which may also function accelerator hubs.
Sierra Leone’s technique includes listening and capturing from its regional counterparts, explaining the minister’s go to to Nigeria. It’s not shy about copying Nigeria’s blueprint on the right way to construct a thriving ecosystem. Highlights from the go to embody talks of cross-border collaboration with Nigeria’s tech regulator, the Nationwide Info Expertise Improvement Company (NITDA). Sierra Leone’s startup act can also be within the works.
Sierra Leone’s daring wager is an effective begin for Africa. Whereas the remainder of the continent will likely be watching how the nation pulls this off, its technique—a mix of political will and authorities funding—is price noticing. Catching as much as the continent’s largest gamers will take time, and Sierra Leone insists it isn’t competing however as an alternative collaborating. It would convene an African ministerial roundtable at its tech summit to debate open-source software program and methods on how the continent can collectively profit from AI.
“We’re prepared to find out how others have carried out it. We aren’t inventing the wheel, we’re studying from others. It doesn’t imply we’re simply going to repeat and paste the whole lot, we’re going to adapt and modify,” Bah mentioned.
