Ex-wife of billionaire Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, has showered words of admiration on Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister Dr. David Moinina Sengeh over what she described as: “His signature achievement so far is ending a ban on pregnant girls attending school.”

Melinda said: “David Moinina Sengeh has earned his place on this list several times over. He first made a name for himself at MIT, where he used cutting-edge technology to improve the fit and feel of prosthetic limbs—an urgent need in the aftermath of the civil war in his home country of Sierra Leone.

“After that came his stint as a researcher at IBM, combatting algorithmic bias long before AI was the front-page issue it is today. Now, David is the chief minister of Sierra Leone, where he’s worked to revolutionize his country’s education system to promote what he calls ‘radical inclusion’.

“His signature achievement so far is ending a ban on pregnant girls attending school. David is not yet 40, and I have no doubt he has several more careers ahead of him. The breadth of his intellect makes it hard to predict what he’ll do next—but what is clear about David is that empathy is his essence”.

Responding, Dr. Sengeh said: “What’s Next?! Thank you, Melinda French Gates for this very kind and generous reflection. Honored to be part of this year’s #TIME100NEXT list. Thank you, President Bio for believing in young people. Proud SierraLeone leader!”

On March 30, 2020, His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio announced that the Government of Sierra Leone had lifted the ban prohibiting pregnant schoolgirls from attending school.

The ban was introduced in 2015 as schools reopened after the Ebola crisis, which saw a rise in pregnancies among school-age girls.

Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist, former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft, and the ex-wife of its co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates. French Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes magazine.

Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men and his ex-wife has endorsed Radical Inclusion – a book written by Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Secondary School Education Moinina David Sengeh and was officially launched on Monday at the Harvard Book Stores on 1256 Massachusetts Avenue in the US.

In separate statements the ex-couple that divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage life, but promised to work together on philanthropic efforts through “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, did express their delight over the Sierra Leonean, commending him for his hard work.

Melinda French Gates being the first to publicize her reaction as she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “It’s finally here! The first title from Moment of Lift Books – Radical Inclusion, by the amazing Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, hits shelves in the U.S. I can’t wait for everyone to read David’s story.”

The following day, Bill Gates similarly endorsed the book, recalling his first encounter with the author. “The first time I met David Moinina Sengeh, he was a college senior studying biomedical engineering. I was blown away by his intellect, his ambition, and his sense of humour.

It was clear that David had a bright future ahead of him. Just a few years later, he became Sierra Leone’s first chief innovation officer and youngest ever education minister. His first-hand experience fighting for pregnant girls’ education rights in Sierra Leone is an inspiring call to take a step towards a fairer and more inclusive world.”

Their reactions to the book have attracted over 6,000 reactions across their social media handles specifically, Twitter and LinkedIn, and David Moinina Sengeh who says writing Radical Inclusion was a journey of learning, building, and flexing muscles for inclusion.

He has urged the public to join his movement with partners to make the world more inclusive. Change is not easy, but it is possible, has expressed his delights over Bill and Melinda’s reactions.

However, Minister Sengeh’s book which offers a step-by-step guide for anyone wanting to play a role in making the world a more inclusive place, drawing universal lessons from the movement David Moinina Sengeh led in Sierra Leone to protect pregnant girls’ right to go to school,” has been cataloged on Melinda French Gates’ platform named “The Moments of Life,” a space that aims to project to the globe stories that deserve to be told.

The imprint created by Melinda French Gates in partnership with Flatiron Books, is dedicated to publishing original nonfiction by visionaries working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls, and through which m-gat.es/40RVA0K Sengeh’s “Radical Inclusion can be purchased on 10 different stores including Amazon and Apple Books for less than 27 USD since May 1 this year.