AYV News, June 12, 2024

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Communications, Technology and Innovation, Salima Monorma Bah has said young people are at the forefront of innovation, adding that through innovation, they have the potential to transform the country’s economy and improve lives.
Minister Salima Monorma Bah said: “Young people have the potential to transform our economy and improve lives. They will realise this potential if we provide a platform for them to shine and connect with the resources they need.”
The Minister was speaking at the 2024 Sierra Leone Innovates Tech Summit at the Bintumani International Conference Center in Freetown, attracting over 3,000 delegates, 50 panelists and 10 sectors drawn from 4 Mano River Union countries.
Speaking earlier, His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio stressed the need for Sierra Leone to make a speedy move to catch up with the rapid transformation in global innovation.
He said: “With the rapid transformation in the Innovative world, it is imperative that we, as a country, make timing strategic decisions and investments to ensure that we can be comparative to the industrial revolution that is approaching us.
“Our world today is going through an unparalleled transformation as a result of the outpouring of human intelligence and ingenuity in the field of innovation and technology, catalysed by the advancement in computer science. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is already at hand. As a nation, we cannot afford to just stand-by and watch as mere end-users. Rather, we must leverage the opportunities availed to us to enhance service delivery.
“This summit offers an invaluable opportunity for us to recalibrate our collective achievements in technology and innovation and to chart our shared vision for a brighter and a more prosperous future for Sierra Leone and the region in the digital world”.
Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh said many young Sierra Leoneans have benefited from government’s human capital development.
Dr Sengeh said: “Many of these young people who we see are products of the human capital development and it is incredibly to see. We are about to see the launch of a big thing today, internet connectivity. We will see how young Sierra Leoneans are solving problems.”
Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BellaNaija, Uche Pedro has expressed hopes of acquiring more knowledge from the 2024 Sierra Leone Innovates Tech Summit currently being held at the Bintumani International Conference Center in Freetown.
Uche said: “I’m looking forward to this conference because I want to learn more about the innovation and technology agenda of Sierra Leone. I know there has been lots of recent progress around digital transformation, which I want to get a feel of on people, especially young people in entrepreneurship and job skills creation”.
The Managing Director of Africell Sierra Leone, Shadi Gerjawi has described the 2024 Sierra Leone Innovates Tech Summit currently being held at the Bintumani International Conference Center in Freetown as timely and appropriate.
Shadi said: “The whole idea about the Tech Summit is to bring tech people together so that they can be able to share knowledge. On a daily basis, we are always working towards finding those tech innovators, reach out and form synergies with them. It’s good that government has brought all of them into one place where we can now discuss the future”.
See page 9 for President Bio’s full speech.