On January 16, 2020, Empower Africa sponsored Kono District’s 2nd Annual Education Day held in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone. The festivities were organized by the Kono Artists’ Movement and hosted by Koidu Town’s mayor, Mayor Komba Sam.

By Shira Aliza

Approximate reading time: 4 minutes.

Around 7.7 million people live in Sierra Leone today – slightly more than the population of Washington State. But while Sierra Leone’s entire GDP stood at 4 billion USD in 2017, Washington State’s GDP from agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting alone exceeded 7 billion USD in that same year. Since almost 60% of Sierra Leone’s GDP comes from the agriculture sector, increasing agricultural productivity would significantly boost the whole Sierra Leonean economy.

One of the obstacles facing farmers in Sierra Leone is the lack of appropriate tools. Currently, the country’s agriculture sector consists mostly of small-scale farms operating at a near-subsistence level. Dizengoff Ghana’s mission is to provide farmers with the tools and training they need to do one of the most important jobs in the world – feeding people. This leading international company has been active in Ghana for the past 62 years, managing transactions ranging in size from large turnkey projects to single cans of merchandise.

The company’s agriculture division offers a variety of products and services within the following categories: seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides; farm machinery and mechanization tools; irrigation systems (drip, sprinkler and center pivot); and Dizengoff-Ghana’s flagship product, the “Dizengoff Farming Kits,” that offer farmers a one-stop-solution to setting up and operating small to large scale greenhouses adapted to the farmers’ needs and the local soil and climate conditions.

The company’s capacity to meet the needs of both large industrial operations and individual farmers makes its services particularly appropriate to the expansion of Sierra Leone’s food production capabilities. Dizengoff Ghana can provide Sierra Leone’s small-scale farmers with the tools and products needed to cultivate their land more efficiently and effectively. And as these farmers increase their yields and grow their operations, Dizengoff Ghana can draw on its expertise servicing larger clients to accompany the farmers as they move towards bigger harvests, guaranteeing food security for Sierra Leoneans and strengthening the country’s economy by exporting the surplus.

Dizengoff Ghana’s General Manager Waldo Boshoff and Irrigation and Greenhouse Manager Samuel Abbey’s first ever visit to Sierra Leone took place during the Empower Africa Agriculture Trade Mission. Waldo and Samuel joined the Trade Mission delegation with the goal of understanding the specific needs of the Sierra Leone farmers to ascertain how Dizengoff Ghana can contribute to improving their agricultural yields and boosting Sierra Leone’s agriculture sector.

As Waldo says:

“If you do what you did, you are going to get what you got. Farmers are doing a great service to the people of Sierra Leone. However, in order to improve the harvest yields and develop the agriculture sector in Sierra Leone, the farmers cannot keep doing what they have done until now. We came on this Trade Mission without much knowledge of Sierra Leone and its agricultural needs, and we observed several concrete ways in which we can help the farming community in Sierra Leone cultivate its land in a much more efficient manner. For example, we noticed the lack of small harvesting and seeding tools that could be used by individual, non-industrial farmers, and we were introduced to potential business partners with whom we can work to bring these tools to Sierra Leone. We are moving forward on some of the projects initiated during the Trade Mission, and we are already planning our next trip to Sierra Leone.

Empower Africa was instrumental in bringing us into the commercial and agricultural reality of Sierra Leone. The Trade Mission connected us with important local partners who will be vital to our success in the country. The field day and the visit to Sunbird Bioenergy was eye opening in terms of appreciating what can be done in Sierra Leone. The post-Trade Mission follow-up with Empower Africa has also been extremely helpful and consistent. We believe that Ezi and his team are in Sierra Leone to make a difference, and we are very excited to see where this partnership goes.”

Providing smaller farmers with the equipment needed to increase productivity and profitability is the one of many steps on the road towards a modern agriculture sector in Sierra Leone – an agriculture sector that can feed the population and serve as an engine for economic growth. If you would like to learn more about getting involved in agriculture in Sierra Leone, contact Empower Africa’s Director of Agriculture Maoz Aviv at maoz@empowerafrica.com.

Register now for early access to the Empower Africa Business Network.

The following day, during the visit to Sunbird Bioenergy, a sugarcane growing and processing operation, Roy discussed best practices for growing and protecting the sugarcane throughout the crop’s lifecycle. Sunbird’s CEO and staff were able to benefit from Roy’s insights accumulated over his 25 years of experience in the field.

Apx. reading time: 4 minutes

Empower Africa hosted a “Driving Business in Africa” Investors’ Breakfast and round table discussion at the Harvard Club of New York City during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) week in NYC. The breakfast, which took place on September 27th 2019, gave attendees a chance to hear about the investment and business landscape in Sierra Leone from senior government officials shaping the country’s economic future. The event was attended by representatives of international companies operating in the agriculture, tourism, energy, and finance sectors.

Shai Bernstein, Vice President of Business Development and Operations, opened the breakfast by introducing Empower Africa and its mission of driving sustainable economic development in Africa by facilitating private sector growth. The audience learned about the upcoming Empower Africa Business Network platform that will connect stakeholders with grassroots companies, international businesses, and various governmental agencies invested in growing Africa’s private sector. The network will streamline access to critical information, communication and the facilitation of major development and private sector projects.

Ezi Rapaport, Founder and CEO of Empower Africa, discussed his personal connection to Sierra Leone which led to the founding of Empower Africa. Ezi recalled first hearing about Sierra Leone as a child, when his father flew to the country during the Civil War on a World Food Program helicopter. Since then, Ezi had learned more about the challenges faced by the region, including the very low levels of foreign trade and investment and the underdeveloped private sector on the continent. As a result, Ezi created Empower Africa which acts to facilitate investment and deal making in Africa.

Ezi also commended the Sierra Leone senior leadership for its integrity and vision of bringing economic growth to the country through human capital development, and highlighted the window of opportunity for change opened by the current government. Ezi urged the international business community to increase its attention towards the continent, in general and Sierra Leone in particular.

After Ezi, Florizelle (Florie) Liser, President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), discussed the importance of increasing US and international trade with Africa. Florie described how many African economies are still today exporting mostly raw resources and importing finished products, instead of adding value to the raw materials on the continent and exporting the finished products to the rest of the world. In the name of the CCA, Florie encouraged investors to do business with Africa and help create the operations needed to process African raw materials in Africa, thus creating jobs and contributing to sustainable and real economic growth.

Following the introductory speeches, senior Sierra Leone officials shared their vision for the economic future of the country. The attendees got a chance to hear about the government’s initiatives to boost private trade and investment to the country directly from the people shaping the country’s economic policy.

Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, the Honorable Prof. David John Francis spoke first. Professor Francis, who returned to serve in President Bio’s administration after holding the UNESCO Chair in African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford, discussed the shift in national priorities underway in Sierra Leone, and the current administration’s commitment to increasing private trade and investment in Sierra Leone in order to promote human capital development.

For many decades Sierra Leone’s natural reserves of multiple strategic commodities did not bring benefit to the people of Sierra Leone. Now, however, the government is committed to harnessing Sierra Leone’s natural resources to develop Sierra Leoneans’ human capital. Professor Francis described the first national airborne geological survey undertaken by the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources. The Survey is underway, and when completed the government will know the quantity of Sierra Leone’s strategic commodities that can be used as collateral to obtain loans that could fund infrastructure and other high priority projects. Prof. Francis encouraged the attendees to invest in Sierra Leone.

Mr. Abubakarr Augustine Kaikai, Special Envoy for Trade and Investment for the Republic of Sierra Leone declared that “our arms are wide open to strategic partnerships.” He discussed the President’s Medium Term National Development Plan and the Office of the President’s Infrastructure Initiative, highlight President Bio’s new direction for Sierra Leone.

Chairman of Presidential Infrastructure Initiatives Dr. John Edward Tambi presented some of the governments’ infrastructure initiatives, highlighting the government’s Lungi bridge project. At present, Freetown can only be reached by boat from Freetown International Airport. The current Sierra Leone government is launching a major construction project to build a seven kilometer bridge over the Lungi estuary in order to connect the airport to the capital by land. The Lungi bridge project also sends a symbolic message that the government is investing resources in making Sierra Leone more attractive to international visitors and investors.

Our next Investors’ Event, in coordination with the Sierra Leone Government, will take place in London from January 16-22, 2020. More information will be updated closer to the event on our events page