Sierra Leone Telegraph: 5 July 2021:
Last Wednesday, 30th June 2021, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai launched the Directorate of Science, Technology & Innovation;s Ecosystem Mapping Report which focuses on strengthening and growing entrepreneurial activity in Sierra Leone.
The Report provides data for policy makers to improve service delivery; providing opportunities for local entrepreneurs and investors to grow their business, and also provides resources for promoting the development of collaborative networks.
Rokya Ye Dieng, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, in her statement, expressed her delight at the launch of the report, noting that the UNDP together with partners have been working tirelessly to ensure the mapping exercise was done.
She said the ecosystem mapping would provide a holistic understanding of a digital and entrepreneurial environment in the country, identify gaps and provide the required policy direction for actions that would guide future planning in the digital agenda.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDA), Sharka Samuel Sannoh, said the data acquired would inform their program design and intervention. He said they would utilize the data to further understand the key challenges facing Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and solutions they could proffer.
Team Leader for INVEST SALONE, Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie said that they would organize a roundtable to present the ecosystem map to investors and present promising and invest-ready firms to potential investors, connecting the firms and investors to the pipelines.
In his keynote address, Minister of Planning, Dr. Kai-Kai said there is a clear need for national entrepreneurship and digital tool with credible data that could enable government, development partners of Sierra Leone to engage in planning.
He said the mapping is needed for monitoring and evaluation and also to inform coordination of the county’s economic development, which would guide and assist in preventing duplication of efforts.
Dr. Kai-Kai noted that the outcome of the Ecosystem mapping presented the country with numerous opportunities in pursuit of a sustainable development for Sierra Leone, informed by credible data and driven by technology and innovation.
Talk is cheap – Here we go again,another loser from the unproductive,lackadaisical corrupt crew spewing out his superficial ideas that he doesn’t know how to implement and bring to fruition.Talk is cheap,let the Minister come on this glorious forum if he has the guts and tell us how many jobs he has created out of the depths of resourcefulness and creativity for the people of Sierra Leone. Honorable,show me the tangible results of your efforts and not half baked, untested, speculative theories our uneducated struggling masses will never be able to understand. Geez! How disconnected
are these people?
Our priorities are the urgent daily needs of our teeming millions not empty ideas promoting future prosperity. Show me the results of your efforts since your SLPP assumed the reins and we can go for there. Hey! Do me a favor Sir; Go to King Jimmy and try to explain the meaning of the empty words ‘ ‘Ecosystem Mapping’ to angry market women languishing under the sun,trying to make ends meet and see if they don’t throw “Canyenne” pepper,RED HOT in your face…Good luck to you Sir…(lmao)
The author should have explained the meaning of ecosystem mapping. Many of us do not understand what it means and not having this understanding makes it difficult to comprehend the entire article.
Now Mr Weicha, according to your initial posting and I quote “Korean investor who commits sucide advised investors not to invest in Sierra Leone?” I am totally confused, and flabbergasted. And is not difficult to get me confused, especially about the life of a Korean man, who was determined to clock out of this world, making such a ridiculous statement, or was he? Tarnishing the image of Sierra Leone is the job description of the Bio’s government and some of his corrupt ministers not the work of anyone else,both locals or Johnny foreigners. And in my case, I not part of his government or employed by the Sierra-leone Tourist board. I am limited in space here. But if you want to know about Sierra Leone,and its wonderful and friendly people, you can visits their website. Now you might able to clear the air, so the scales in my eyes will fall off, and I can read your posting clearly,so I can get a better understanding of who is making this unhinged remarks about Sierra Leone.
For the life of me I cannot allow anyone to make such statements about a country, that is known to be welcoming to foreigners, to the extent if you happened to be one, you will come away thinking Sierra Leone is the best place a foreigner can call home.Now forgive me if I am reading too much into tbis story, but I will not allow anyone to paint a different picture of my country because they are not happy with their life. Is it the dead Korean man, or are you quoting him because you held the same views about Sierra Leone? I certainly don’t think you belong to the Sierra Leone bashing brigade, far from it. To add to my confusion, did the Korean man caution potential investors to Sierra Leone, made his unfortunate remarks before he took his life, or he made them after his unfortunate death?may his soul rest in peace. Or was he speaking from six feet below the earth?
Your point about climate change, and how Morden technology have damage community relationships and the nuclear family, I am totally in agreement with you. But at the same time Iam not an Eco warrior, or a tree hugger.Nevertheless, I will urge the Bio government to protect our rainforest. Some Islands in the South Pacific are already under water. Thats why whole island communities have to be moved to places like New Zealand and Australia. My only hope now, you are not secretly supporting this out of touch Bio government that have lost its sense of direction.
Mr. Jalloh, Ihave nothing to do with bashing. I’m 76 years now and I know your wonderful country since 1996. My interest is still to know exactly what is behind this suicide.
Hello Reinhard, the Sierra Leone Telegraph will tomorrow be publishing a story about this alleged suicide. I said alleged because sources in Freetown have told us they do not believe it was suicide. So lets wait for the story tomorrow. Regards.
Hahahaha. Question here. Has the minister ever had or run a business? Does he think that entrepreneurship is a dissertation? First, the port and the airport are bottlenecks for diaspora people trying to invest in Sierra Leone. A comparative flight to Guinea, Conakry in December costs £430.00, conversely in Sierra Leone, the cost is £1300.00. How many diasporans have gone to invest in Sierra Leone and because they were not from the right tribe or village had their dreams smashed.
There is a lack of law and order in the country, land grabbing, baseless accusations of murder, theft has become a culture. There is no justice in the courts. Truly, only a scoundrel would invest in Sierra Leone at the moment and by the way, when you google Sierra Leone, the picture that comes up is that of an amputated child or child soldiers. Have these people never heard of Public Relations or PR.
Totally agree with you Mr Mr Sorie. This government ministers, with their power point presentation, is not for the local farmers, or anybody eles that is struggling every day fighting for their survival in Bio’s Sierra Leone. More like this educated westernised Sierra Leonean brothers are talking to themselves, instead of talking to the general public that elected them to represent their interests. Our country might have the characteristics of an emerging economy, but there is an unequal distribution of economic activities in the country. Maybe a public officials working in the high rise office buildings in Freetown, might be more open to your ideas, and those ideas stays within the confine of those government ministries. For some of us that lives in the real world, thats a millions miles away from the life of a family trying to feed their children in KrooBay, Devil Hole, or the hustle and bustle of Fulani cow traders in our towns in the North, trying to reach the Freetown for the early morning tarding at COWYARD.
These freshly minted PHD holders , turned Ministers have never asked for anything in their lives, because they were born with a silver spoon dangling in their mouth. Or how can you explain their behaviour and taking ideas of the shelf packaged, and clearly marked for ADVANCED ECONOMIES NOT STRUGGLE ECONOMIES, where the government of the day have all their priorities the wrong way around , and think their ideas will make a jot of difference to ordinary joe average.Our ministers and the Bio government needs to go back to the drawing board and starts all over again. In the eyes of tbe vast majority of Sierra Leoneans, his government have failed the credibility test. They should be given tbe Red card when the opportunity arise to do so.
We are tired – very tired – of policy adoption or statements. We need tangible evidence . All these outmoded and useless terms like ecosystem mean nothing to Sierra Leoneans, most of whom do not know where the next meal will come from. We are not mesmerised by PhDs anymore, we need common sense actions which the least educated or illiterate person in the country can implement without the country being sold to foreigners who believe we are incapable and stupid.
The commerce of the country is hardly controlled by Sierra Leoneans. What we need are sustained and productive policy measures which place Sierra Leoneans at the centre of all economic activities in the country without barring the activities of any foreigner or foreign-based business. An economy in the hands of foreigners is extremely vulnerable. Francis Kai-Kai should be aware of this . If he needs any suggestions let him put out a message through the Telegraph. Again we are sick of futile policy statements. We’re not children to be fooled with a packet of biscuits.
May the soul of this Korean man rest in peace. To any potential foreign investors, wishing to come and invest in Africa as the new economic frontier of making profits in your investments, there is no better place to go than Sierra Leone. As a foreign investor, one thing I will guarantee that you will not be asked on your arrival at Lungi International Airport,Freetown, is for your sucide note and your family will. A Korean saying Sierra Leone is a dangerous place to invest, is not only misleading, but a smear campaign that would not stand the test of times. You can say anything that’s gone wrong with our country since Independence, corruption, RUF wars, full of natural, human and minerals resources , where in some parts of country, to be precise Kono District, it is sometimes rumoured, locals have found daimonds in their back gardens with out digging for it, but you can never say our country is the suicide capital of the world, because a Korean man happens to commit suicide in the Sierra Leone.
May his soul rest in peace. Infact more people commit suicides in the Europe , south East Asia, North and South America, but is not given the same level of publicity because Africa the socalled “DARK CONTINENT”not anymore, is full of savages that barbecue children for breakfast and for dinner, pounded grandma and jollof rice . What a load of horse sxxt.To anyone looking to invest for the long term, Sierra-leone is your ideal destination. We are one of the most friendly people you can come across in the whole of Africa. And is not me saying it, but foreigners that have been to places and have given Sierra Leone and its people a five star rating.
Just in case you are worried and wondering and is still having second thoughts about visiting Sierra Leone, never mind investing in the country, here is the top table of countries where people commit suicide around the world. South Korea. 28.6 per hundred thousand people. Kiribati in the south Pacific 28.3, Micronesia 28.2, Lithuania 26.1 Suriname 25.4 Russia, 25.1 and last but not the least, South Africa 23.5. all of the above per hundred thousand people. Give Sierra Leone a break. This scare tactics will not work.
Hello Mr. Jalloh, many words, but no explanation. Sure Sierra Leone is not the suicide capital. There are many states in so so-called civilízed western world with high rates of suicide. And it will become more. Why? In my understanding the main reason is the 4. and 5. “Revolution”. Because of the digitalization more and more people are separated, individualization is the aim of the neo-liberalism. For heavens sake in Africa specially in the country-side it will take longer.
One word about kiribati. One main reason for the high rate of suicides is that because of man-made climate change, these islands soon will not exist any more.
I just read in “the organiser” today: “korean investor who commits suicide in sierra leone advised foreigners not to invest”? So, what are the problems?