About GEN Sierra Leone

Freetown

In 2010, GEN partnered with the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) to launch Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Sierra Leone. At the time, entrepreneurial activity was scattered and largely driven by short-term donor cycles rather than a standing structure. GEN’s initial campaign successfully engaged Sierra Leone’s nascent entrepreneurial community by drawing together the emerging networks of founders and support organizations then active in Freetown. GEN's early GEW campaigns gave the community a shared moment under a common banner, planting the seeds for the more organized, year-round movement that would take shape over the following decade.

In 2016, as the campaign matured, GEN added Innovation Sierra Leone (InnoSL) to its coalition. Together, GEN and InnoSL secured the support of the Mayor of Freetown, a significant sign of local ownership taking root. With backing from the British Council and FCS Africa, GEW grew into a national platform. Sierra Leone sent large delegations to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Johannesburg in 2017 and in Istanbul in 2018.

As the movement coalesced, GEN responded by establishing an affiliate to carry forward its work on a year-round basis. Led by Francis Stevens George as the managing director and Sheka Forna as chair, GEN Sierra Leone organized the country's entrepreneurial ecosystem, identifying the stakeholders and support organizations for founders and channeling donor funding into effective interventions. The affiliate’s early work centered on Freetown Pitch Night, the monthly showcase where founders pitch to investors, customers, and mentors. GEN Sierra Leone operates out of Innovation Axis, a co-working space, incubator, and accelerator in Freetown that it opened in 2018 as the first full-service combined incubator and accelerator in the country. GEN Sierra Leone has also extended its reach by engaging members of the Sierra Leonean diaspora, among them Abu Kamara, co-founder and president of Grovara, to mentor and invest in the companies it supports.

A common thread running through GEN’s most recent GEW campaign in 2025, under the theme Together We Build, was women's entrepreneurship. Anchored by Dare2Aspire: Women in Entrepreneurship and supported by the Aurora Foundation, an Iceland-based organization active in Freetown, the program paired roundtable discussions with pitch competitions, bringing women-led ventures into contact with judges, mentors, and sources of capital.

A consistent feature of GEN's work in Sierra Leone is government engagement. Salima Monorma Bah, Sierra Leone's Minister of Communication, Technology and Innovation, participated in GEN's campaigns and described GEW as a vital platform for promoting collaboration and progress in the country's startup ecosystem. Her ministry's agenda, which includes a Startup Act developed with GEN-led stakeholder consultation, a national Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, and the planned Felei Tech City special economic zone in the Bo District, has developed alongside the ecosystem that GEN brought together. GEN has also carried Sierra Leone’s founders and government officials onto the global stage. Government representatives, including Mickail Turay, the Deputy Director of Industry at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, participate in Startup Nations, GEN’s community of policymakers.

Through its global programs, GEN supports Sierra Leone's founders. A Startup Huddle chapter operates in Freetown. Huddle is GEN's community-building program centered on regular peer-driven meetups alongside GEN competitions. Through the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC)—the global pitch competition GEN launched in 2019 that offers training, mentorship, and a share of $1 million in prizes—GEN Sierra Leone hosts a national competition that channels local founders toward the global stage. At the 2024 EWC Sierra Leone national final, the e-commerce venture Freetown Markit, founded by Emmanuel Kamara, took the top prize.

GEN maintains relationships with a broad range of Sierra Leonean institutions and partners, including the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, the International Trade Centre, the Aurora Foundation, the British Council, FCS Africa, Limkokwing University in Freetown, and the Orange Digital Center. With Orange, GEN Sierra Leone organizes the Orange Social Venture Prize. GEN’s reach extends beyond the capital: its work is tied to national priorities, including the Felei Tech City Zone planned for the Bo District, and to a wider push across the Mano River Union region.

Building on its momentum, GEN has begun to position Freetown as a connective point for the wider sub-region, marking what it has called a new era for startups in the Mano River Union region and organizing recent Freetown Pitch Night editions with the Orange Digital Center around smart mobility for growing cities. As Francis Stevens George has framed GEN’s purpose, the idea of treating the ecosystem as a way to support entrepreneurship was one that, only a few years earlier, was not yet on the table. GEN's continuing goal in Sierra Leone is to keep the idea moving forward, connecting the country's founders with the knowledge, networks, capital, and policy support they need to build and scale.